Lamborghini secured a clean-sweep of the IMSA SportsCar Championship GT Daytona Michelin Endurance Cup titles courtesy of Paul Miller Racing at the season-closing Sebring 12 Hours. The Michelin Endurance Cup comprises of four rounds across the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season with a total of 52 hours of racing. The Endurance Cup began at the 24 Hours of Daytona before heading to Road Atlanta for the Petit Le Mans, with the 68th running of the Sebring 12 Hours completing the year.
Having delivered Lamborghini the GTD Manufacturers’ crown at the Petit Le Mans last time out, Madison Snow, Bryan Sellers and Corey Lewis scored the necessary points in the GTD Endurance Cup at the eight-hour mark to clinch the Drivers’ and Teams’ championships.
Coming into the weekend, the trio held a nine-point lead over their nearest rivals Cooper MacNeil and Jeff Wesphal in the #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari and knew a top three finish would guarantee the title. More importantly, the #63 had to pick up the five maximum points in the final two segments of the race (with Endurance Cup points allocated at the fourth, eighth and 12th hour) in order to take the championship.
Sellers, Snow and Lewis qualified their #48 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo ninth in class, four places behind the #63 Ferrari but worked their way up to second behind MacNeil by the end of the first hour. With pit strategy dictated largely by teams manoeuvring their cars into points-paying positions at each quarter, the Ferrari picked up the five points after four hours, with the #48 Lamborghini securing two points for eighth.
Recently crowned Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America champion Snow then stayed in the car for the next three hours and kept the #48 at the top of the standings before the eighth hour. Snow pitted on the 210th lap, while the #63 Ferrari came in just as the clock hit eight hours. Snow, Sellers and Lewis therefore collected five points for leading GTD and mathematically claimed the title.
The Sebring weekend caps off a successful 2020 season for Paul Miller Racing, who took victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona with Snow, Sellers and Lewis joined by Lamborghini Factory Driver Andrea Caldarelli.o It is also the second time in three seasons that Paul Miller Racing have won the Drivers’ and Teams’ titles in GTD, with Snow and Sellers taking the overall championship in 2018.
The pair of Grasser Racing Team affiliated Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evos had an up-and-down race. The Magnus GRT line-up of Spencer Pumpelly, John Potter and Andy Lally – which finished second to the #48 Paul Miller Racing in the 24 Hours of Daytona – had a solid run to 7th at the end of 12 hours, the best placed Lamborghini.
The main #11 Grasser Racing Team of Steijn Schothorst, Franck Perera and Richard Heistand started well and led the class after two hours, before suffering a driveshaft failure in the third hour, dropping eight laps. The team worked hard to get the car back out and the #11 made the finish in 11th place.
Source. Lamborghini
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