Point leader to garage in opening hour at Sebring

A major development took place 42 minutes into Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, when the race-leading -- and championship leading -- No. 7 Team Penske Acura ARX-05 went to the paddock.

Ricky Taylor started on the pole and led the opening 19 laps before a routine pit stop. However, after exiting the pits his Acura began to lose boost and Taylor fell back through the field. He pitted on the next lap, and after 2m31s on pit road, Taylor exited his pit stall and headed to the paddock to change the failed turbocharger.

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The Penske team’s main challenger, the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R of Renger van der Zande, also had early race problems. Van der Zande started on the outside of the front row, but the driver crossed over prior to crossing the start/finish stripe. Van der Zande served a drive-through penalty, and returned 31.116s behind Taylor.

After the opening stops, Dane Cameron leads in the No. 6 Acura. Van der Zande was seventh at the 51-minute mark, while Taylor was five laps behind and still in the paddock.