#31: Whelen Cadillac Racing, Cadillac V-Series.R, GTP: Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, Tom Blomqvist take the lead at the start
Sebastien Bourdais, from Cadillac, leads the 12 Hours of Sebring after one hour of racing. The experienced French driver overtook Pipo Derani, who started on pole position with the Cadillac V-Series.R #31 from Action Express, just over an hour into the race.
Derani, driving the Cadillac V-Series.R #31 from Action Express, started on pole position with Bourdais behind him in the Cadillac V-Series.R #01. Felipe Nasr was in third place driving the Porsche 963 #7. However, a yellow flag and a safety car period caused a change in order when the GTP pack went to the pits.
As a result of the pit stops, Louis Deletraz, in the Acura ARX-06 #40 from WTR Andretti, moved up to second place behind Derani. Deletraz initially started in third place, but lost a spot to Nasr on the first lap. He then dropped even further due to a less impressive pit stop. The WTR Andretti team quickly recovered and promoted Deletraz to second place, with Bourdais in third.
Once the race resumed, Bourdais quickly overtook Deletraz and Derani to take the lead.
In the LMP2 category, Ben Keating was leading with the Oreca 07-Gibson #2 from United Autosports before the pit stops during the yellow flag period. He took the lead from his teammate Dan Goldburg, who had been leading the race from the start with car #22 from United Autosports. The Oreca 07-Gibson #99 from AO Racing, driven by pole position PJ Hyett, had an issue on the formation lap.
After the pit stops, Nick Boulle, who was in third place before Goldburg, took the lead with the Oreca 07-Gibson #52 from Inter Europol. Keating is currently in second place in the class, with Goldburg in third.
Jack Hawksworth leads in the GTD Pro category, maintaining his pole position with the Lexus RC F GT3 #14 from Vasser Sullivan. He held onto the lead during the pit stop cycle while the safety car was on track. Mario Farnbacher, driving the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo #23 from Heart of Racing, is in second place, followed by Madison Snow in the BMW M4 GT3 #1 from Paul Miller Racing.
Early on, there was an incident involving the Ferrari 296 GT3 #62 from Risi Competizione in the GTD category. The car spun on the track after turn 1 due to contact with other cars. This forced the two McLarens from Pfaff in GTD Pro and Inception in GTD to take evasive action, resulting in contact between the two McLarens. The Pfaff car had a flat tire and had to be repaired, causing it to fall 13 laps behind. Fortunately, the Risi Ferrari managed to avoid any damage.
Finally, in the GTD category, Frankie Montecalvo leads with the Lexus #12 from Vasser Sullivan, followed by Misha Goikhberg in the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 #78 from Forte Racing. John Potter is currently in third place driving the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo #44 from Magnus Racing.
