SEBRING, Fla.—The final day of Historic Sporstcar Racing’s Sebring Fall Classic was devoted to competition: from 9 a.m. until late afternoon cars were cutting and thrusting their ways around Sebring’s 3.7-mile racecourse.
The highlight of the weekend, the Sebring Four Hours, was cut to 2.5 hours due to attrition—“The fastest four hours in racing,” the track announcer wryly called it. Too many cars broke and went home, and the remaining drivers agreed to the shorter format, which included three mandatory pit stops.
Despite the slightly shorter schedule, the ultimate day of the event was better than the first two: the racing seemed more intense, the competition closer.
Take just one contest as an example:
[etssp 462]Dennis Olthoff and Jody O'Donnell finished 1–2 in Saturday’s International/American Challenge race, with the team of Lary Ligas and Jim pace in their 1961 Jaguar XKE sixth. This trio resumed their struggle in Sunday morning’s Group 5 & 5c Classic GT/Cayman race.
O‘Donnell’s ’66 Corvette unfortunately broke halfway through the race, just after passing Olthoff’s Ford GT Mk II for the lead. Then Olthoff and Larry Ligas and Jim Pace traded the lead on almost every lap: the Jag would nip inside the big Ford entering Turn Seven, while the Ford fought back through Turn Ten, or on the straights where the 7-liter Ford V8 overpowered the Jaguar’s 4.2-liter inline six.
Olthoff took the lead on the final lap and opened enough of a gap on the long straights to reach the finish line first, but it was a real battle.
This kind of racing went on all day.
The Sebring 2.5 Hours was a high-speed Porsche parade, lead by a Ferrari and a Lola. Most of the field consisted of 911s, as old as 1966 and a new as 2011 (the newer cars raced in the Exhibition class.) Alone and far ahead of the field raced Jerry Vento and Guy Cosmo in their Ferrari F430 and the father/son team of John and Paul Reisman in their Lola B2K40.
[etssp 461]The Reisman Lola led until lap 19, when it pitted, handing off the lead to Ary Krau’s 2006 Porsche 997 Cup car. The Lola retook the lead on lap 20 and held it until halfway through the race, when the senior Reisman spun exiting Turn Five.
Track Workers got Reisman going but not before the Vento/Cosmo Ferrari had taken the lead, which it never relinquished. The Lola was marginally faster but couldn’t get the lead back; Guy Cosmo’s inspired driving kept the Ferrari in front.
Behind this pair, the various Porsches fought it out. Brad Blum and Ron Zita passed Peter LeSaffre for third eight laps from the end; the pair were second and third in the Exhibition class.
In fifth and sixth overall, Juan Lopez-Santini and Brady Refenning in their 2-liter 1969 Porsche 911S took the class win over Ronnie Randall in his 1966 2-liter Porsche, taking the lead on lap 46 and lapping Randall by the end.
[etssp 463]Historic Sportscar racing heads to Savannah Georgia for its next event then finishes the season in Daytona on Nov. 11–13.
[related-right 62843]For tickets or more information, contact HSR at http://www.hsrrace.com/.
