Open-Wheels

Winter testing for the 12 hours of Sebring begins this next week, and 13 teams will participate in the test. From the prototype ranks Muscle Milk Pickett Racing will be bringing thier Championship winning HPD ARX-03c. GTE marks the return of Risi Competizione and thier Ferrari 458 Italia. Other teams to be on hand in GTE will be the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR’s of Falken Motorsports and Paul Miller Racing, and a pair of Ferrari 458′s out of the Extreme Speed Motorsport sponsered by Tequila Patron. The V10 powered Vipers from SRT Motorsports return to the runways and asphalt of Sebring for the winter test.

Four teams from the LMPC ranks join the LMP1 and GTE on track with two cars from BAR1 Motorsports. Former CART driver & owner and two-time Lemans winner Stefan Johansson will join Kyle Marcelli and Chris Cumming in one of BAR1′s Oreca FLM09. Performance Tech and Core Autosport will also participate in the test bringing one Oreca FLM09 each.

In the GTC catagory, thre Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars are listed to participate. Flying Lizard Motorsports steps out of GTE after Porsche Factory development of the 911 GT3 RSR stopped at the end of the 2012 season. Flying Lizard will run a GT3 Cup Porsche in the GTC class this season, and will be one of three teams testing Feburary 6-7. Alex Job racing coming off a spectacular win in the GT class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona bring thier 911 GT3 Cup car to bask once again in the Florida sunshine at the two day test. JDX Racing will also participate in the winter test. 2002, 2004 Toyota Atlantic Champion, current co-driver of the Bob Stallings Corvette Daytona Prototype, Jon Fogarty joins Mike Hedlund and Jan Heylen for the test.

Notable teams missing from the Testing Entry list are Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing, who are preparing the BMW M3 GT replacement Z4 GTE. Also in GTE, Corvette Racing is not listed on the entry list posted this past week. Corvette Racing and thier C6R ZR1′s tested at Sebring two weeks ago. In LMP1 the Lola’s of Dyson Racing and Rebellion Racing are not on the list. With the announcement of Level 5 Motorsport pulling out of LMP2, and no other team commited to the cost capped class there will not be a LMP2 entry at Sebring. The LMP2 class in the past had Indycar teams such as Conquest Racing, Andretti Autosport, Penske Racing, and DeFerran Motorsport to name a few. No word yet on what WEC teams or one-off teams will enter the LMP2 class for the 61st Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled By Fresh From Florida.

Tags: ALMS, CART, indycar, Risi, Sebring, SRT, Toyota Atlantic