Home Field Advantage: Performance Tech Motorsports Heads to Sebring
DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. (March 13,2018) - Performance Tech Motorsports will make the Rolex 24 At Daytona look like a walk-in the park this weekend.
24-hour races are grueling but a weekend on your home turf makes for a more hectic schedule on and off the track. The drivers and cars are lined up for various appearances throughout the week, including Q&A and autograph sessions. Not to mention Performance Tech will fine tune seven car as the No. 38 LMP2 is joined by the IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda lineup for the first time this season.
The week begins with Performance Tech partaking in festivities around historic downtown Sebring Tuesday, March 13. James French and Kyle Masson will be available for questions and autographs at the Twelve-Hour Fan Fest. The team has provided a LMP3 car for fans to enjoy up close. Fans also have a chance to win tickets to the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advanced Auto Parts.
Once the fans head home it’s straight back to Sebring International Raceway. The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advanced Auto Parts is Performance Tech’s home race, giving the team confidence on the historic World War II air base. An airport run-way turned race track can make for a bumpy and uncomfortable ride, a truly physical test for car and driver.
But Performance Tech learned to love the 3.74-mile road course last year after winning the 12-hour endurance event in the Prototype Challenge class. Performance Tech’s Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda lineup also has a long history of success at Sebring, Kyle Masson pulled back-to-back wins in 2017. In the last five years, Performance Tech has only been albescent on one Prototype Challenge podium.
The second race of the Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda series takes place Friday, March 16, the day before the Twelve Hour. The team will be running a total of six cars in the series. Robert Masson, Stephen Dawes, Howard Jacobs and Wyatt Schwab represent Performance Tech in the MPC class. Cameron Cassels will hold down his No. 75 P3 entry while the Charles Wicht Racing, Performance Tech No. 7 entry will be split between Leo Lamelas and Patricio O’Ward. Cassels, Lamelas and O’Ward join the largest LMP3 field to date.
Once O’Ward makes history with the LMP3 field he’ll turn his attention to qualifying with Kyle Masson and French. The qualifying driver has yet to be set but O’Ward’s fourth place qualifying effort at Daytona International Speedway in January surely places him in contention for the job. Regardless of driver the No. 38 will need to be in working order to fight off the other 15 prototypes for pole position.
“There’s always a lot going on the week of Sebring,” O’Neill said. “It’s our home race so there’s always more commitments with driver appearances and people wanting to use the cars at different places. But we really enjoy it you know, it’s cool to see people get excited because it makes it more fun for us.”
“We’re excited to get to the track this weekend in general because we felt like everyone did a great job at Daytona. Robert won the first IPC race at the Roar and we finished eighth at the Rolex. It was good showing. I think we proved something, we aren’t going to be some pushover team. We’re here to win, just like always. This week, we have to take advantage of being at home. I think all the guys are ready, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Saturday, March 17, at 10:40 a.m. ET the green flag will fly over the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship field for the start of The 66th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advanced Auto Parts. The race will broadcast live on FOX, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2 and FOX Sports GO through segments of the race. IMSA.tv will support the race through its entirety.
IMSA PC
Qualifying: 12:20 p.m. ET Thursday March, 15
Green Flag: 9:20 a.m. Friday, March 16
IMSA PC Tune In
Thursday, April 5, 8 p.m. ET FOX Sports 2
WeatherTech
Qualifying: 1:20 p.m. Friday, March 16
Green Flag: 10:40 a.m. Saturday, March 17
Checkered Flag: 10:40 p.m. Saturday, March 17
WeatherTech Tune In
10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. FOX Sports 1
12:30 - 3:30 p.m. FOX Sports 2
3:40 - 6 p.m. FOX Sports GO
6 p.m. – 11 p.m. FOX Sports 2