WWR aims to withstand the bumpy track
Despite a late driver change, WINWARD Racing heads into the Sebring 12 Hours highly motivated with a strong line-up in its Mercedes-AMG GT3.
With the traditional Sebring 12 Hours, the WINWARD Racing team faces another season highlight on the North American continent next Saturday (19 March). The second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with the slim official title “Mobil1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Advance Auto Parts”, presents the 53 participating teams with a very special challenge.
The race distance is half that of the Daytona 24 Hours in January, but the track in central Florida is considered particularly demanding. A third of the 6.02-kilometre airfield circuit is concrete rather than asphalt, and the surface is extremely bumpy, which puts the cars’ suspension and tyres in particular through extreme torture.
After the disappointment at the Daytona opener, WINWARD Racing is again aiming for a podium in the GTD category, which is strongly contested with 17 of the 28 GT3 cars. Shortly before the race, however, the team was forced to make a driver change. The reason: the FIA, motorsport’s world governing body, had at short notice upgraded WWR regular Mikaël Grenier (29, Québec, Canada) from Silver to Gold driver status. IMSA regulations only allow one Gold or Platinum driver per car in the GTD class (exception: the Daytona 24 Hours). And WWR already has a Gold driver at the wheel of the number 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in Philip Ellis (29, Zug/Switzerland).
The WINWARD management quickly managed to sign a strong replacement in young German Marvin Dienst. The 2015 German Formula 4 champion has built an excellent reputation as a lightning-fast GT3 driver in recent years. Like the third man in the WWR trio, Russell Ward (29, Seabrook/USA), the 25-year-old from Worms holds FIA Silver driver status.
“I’m delighted that Marvin was available at such short notice. I could hardly imagine a better replacement for Mik. He is fast, reliable and an excellent team player. He also knows the car very well,” says WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel. “Sebring will again be a tough test for the whole team. The track is torture for the car, and more than 50 cars, including the fast prototypes, once again mean a lot of traffic. The risk of mistakes is always there. But anyone who wants to fight for the front positions in this strong field simply can’t make any. We will always give our best.”
The Sebring 12 Hours starts on Saturday at 10.10 am local time (3.10 pm CET). Race fans can follow the gripping action via live stream and live timing at www.imsa.com.