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With 13 drivers taking part across 5 cars, this years Sebring 12 hours attempt was to be Prestanda NOMADs biggest yet. A mixture of LMP2 and GT3 cars were fielded after weeks of preparation, and here's how they got on.
#561
Drivers: Chris Chadderton and Ryan Hamilton
Car: Mercedes AMG GT3
The #561 entry from the team was filled with currently in form drivers, and had high hopes of success despite relatively minimal pre-race availability from Ryan. They qualified 6th in class in Split 10 of 36 – that number of splits showing just how popular these special events have become in recent years. The 10th split of this race 5 years ago would have been the bottom, and now in the GT3 class that was an incredibly competitive split.
An early spin and a little contact with a prototype got this race off to a less than perfect start, but only dropping to P7. However, the pairing continued to do what in form endurance drivers do best: minimal time loss in traffic, minimal unnecessary risk, and tick the laps off. After 351 of those laps the car finished in a fantastic podium position: 3rd place for this car.
#562
Drivers: Daniel Gilding and Matthew P Doyle
Car: Dallara P217
This years #562 entry was driven by a pairing who have been less active in recent times but are always capable of great results. Unfortunately their first attempt at this years race didn't go well and they had to DNF early on. However, that happened early enough to have another attempt in the next time slot, in which they qualified 11th in the top split.
From the very beginning Dan and Matt were clear that this was a highly competitive race, with some incredibly quick teams who'd presumably suffered similar fates in the "main" race and had a point to prove. The two drivers worked on a strategy early on though that took a long view of the race, removed a pit stop from their race and helped to catapult them up to a fantastic 3rd place.
#563
Drivers: Jon Williams, Nic Veltenaar, and Tom Stanley
Car: BMW M4 GT3
The first of our 3-driver lineups this year was the BMW fielded by Jon, Nic and Tom. This was another car that had issues early on in the main race and DNF'd. Once again, though, they got that second chance that sim racing allows us compared to real life and they got going again in the 4pm time slot. The car qualified P9 in class in Split 2 of that time slot. Getting through the melee of the start in that race saw the car in P11 and looking to the long game of saving fuel, which worked great during the first stint. However, at the end of the 2nd stint disaster struck again for the car causing around 10 minutes of repairs and multiple laps lost.
A long recovery drive for all three drivers saw them up to P7 right up until the last lap, when Tom suffered a hardware failure dropping the car back to it's starting position of ninth for the end.
#564
Drivers: Oliver E Bunn, Pablo Arteaga, and Taylor Lane
Car: Dallara P217
The third and final of the cars that suffered DNFs in the target race, and again luckily early enough to have another go at the 4pm time slot. As it turned out, this car ended up in the same split as the #563 car and qualified 2nd in their class in what appeared to be a strong opportunity to add a great result for the team.
This car had a clean start to the race until a small bit of damage towards the end of the first stint, but luckily nothing that affected the race materially. While cycling through the drivers, the only major issue was a pitstop that missed putting in the vital fuel and tyres dropping the car to P5. Consistent pace from there to the end of the race, coupled with a couple of issues for cars ahead in the closing stages, meant that this car finished in a brilliant 2nd position.
#565
Drivers: Ayden Refaie, Dean Timms, and Håkon Eide Lindmo
Car: BMW M4 GT3
The fifth and final car for the team this weekend was a GT3 entry which managed to soldier through the early stages of the target race split after qualifying in 7th in class of split 24.
The car suffered a couple of contacts with faster classes throughout the race, but showed a lot of determination by continuing on for whatever recovery drive they could get. This team were consistently the fastest on track in their class, bagging the fastest lap on the final lap of the race on their way to a strong 4th position.
Closing Thoughts
As a team we would have loved to have all five of our cars complete the first race that they attempted this weekend, but sim racing does give us the opportunity of second chances. To get three podium finishes from five cars is an incredible result overall, and all the drivers involved have positive things to say – whether that's just the positive aspect of taking part, or to grind out a top split podium in the most intense race of their career so far.
2023 continues to build in pace for the team, and we move forwards to a packed set of league races between now and the next major iRacing special event of Nürburgring 24 hours.
Driver Comments