Dixon Leads GTLM In Second Segment Of Patrón Endurance Cup

Subtitle:Action Express Racing Maintains Position In Prototype

SEBRING, Fla. (March 19, 2016) – João Barbosa regained the lead at the eight-hour mark of Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida, enabling Action Express Racing’s No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP to lead the second segment of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.

With co-driver Christian Fittipaldi leading at the four-hour mark, Action Express has earned the maximum 10 points for leading both segments in the competition composed of the four major endurance races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Patrón Endurance Cup began with the Rolex 24 At Daytona and continues with the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in July and the Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta in October.

As the eight-hour mark approached, Scott Pruett was leading in Action Express Racing’s other car, the No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP, but was low on fuel and pitted one lap before the end of the segment, earning four points for running second.

Rolex 24 winner Pipo Derani was third to earn three points for the No. 2 Tequila Patrón ESM Honda Ligier JS P2. All other competitors earned two points. The No. 5 Corvette DP has now accumulated 23 points, unofficially leading the No. 2 Honda with 21 points, and the No. 31 Corvette DP with 19.

Scott Dixon led in GT Le Mans (GTLM) in the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT. Patrick Lindsey earned the five-point bonus for the GT Daytona (GTD) in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche GT3 R, while Colin Braun scored the five points for the Prototype Challenge (PC) No. 54 CORE autosport ORECA FLM09 team.

Patrón Endurance Cup points will also awarded at the finish on the same five-four-three-two basis.

NOTEBOOK

• Racing resumed following a two-hour, 15-minute, nine-second red flag period due to lightning and heavy rain. After running under yellow as track drying continued, the track went back to green with 6-hours, 31-minutes remaining.

• The complexion of the GTLM race took a major turn with four hours, 49 minutes remaining when Jan Magnussen tangled with Kevin Estre in Turn 1 while battling for the lead in the class. The two drivers passed on either side of a GTD car entering the turn, and then got together in the corner. Both Magnussen’s No. 3 Corvette C7.R and Estre’s No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR were eliminated from contention in the incident. Magnussen and co-driver Antonio Garcia were defending Sebring winners for Corvette Racing, while Estre was co-driving with Porsche North America’s 2015 GTLM champion Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy, last year’s overall winner in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

• After taking over the No. 54 Flex-Box/Composite Resources ORECA FLM09 in seventh place in the PC field, Colin Braun needed only 26 minutes to work his way up to take the class lead. Braun won the TOTAL Pole Award but the team elected to switch drivers prior to the start of the race, putting Jon Bennett at the back of the Prototype/PC grid for the start of the race.

• Running in perhaps his final Prototype race, Scott Pruett led 23 laps in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP prior to pitting seconds before the eight-hour mark. A 45-time winner in major Prototype competition since 2004, Pruett is scheduled to switch to the F Performance Lexus team midway through this season in the GT Daytona (GTD) class.

“If this is going to be my final race in a Prototype, I damn sure want to try to win it,” said Pruett, who drove Action Express Racing’s No. 5 Corvette DP in the Rolex 24. “Action Express has given me a great car. You don’t know what it’s going to be like when you join a new team – especially when you’ve been beating and banging on each other for so long – but everybody’s really welcomed me and it’s a pleasure to be here.”

• The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring is currently being streamed live on IMSA.tv through 10 p.m., and then switches to FS2 from 10-11 p.m. on FS2. The entire race is being streamed live on the FOX Sports GO mobile app.