Grueling Sebring Raceway Strikes Dick Barbour Racing Porsche


The 12 Hours at Sebring International Raceway is known as perhaps the world's most punishing racing circuit and on Saturday afternoon in the 49th running of this classic American enduro it struck hard at the #15 Dick Barbour Racing Porsche.

In his first start with the team, Grady Willingham took the green flag at 10:40 am under hot, humid conditions and almost immediately gained a position on the GT field. Just an hour into the event however, Willingham spun in turn three, backing the car into the wall. While the damage wasn't too severe, the angle of the hit was just enougAlong with some minor body repairs, replacing the hot exhaust header took 11 minutes, dropping the team to 22nd position in the GT category.

Co-driver Randy Wars took over and everything proceeded according to plan up to the 2 PM driver change placing Mark Neuhaus behind the wheel. Neuhaus put in a long stint and worked the car back up to 18th in GT before handing over to Willingham for his second stint. Steady driving by Willingham kept the #15 Dick Barbour Racing Porsche moving up the GT field until – just before the fifth hour of the race – the car was 14th in GT.

Unfortunately, the race was not to last much longer for the silver, blue and red Porsche. A half-hour after taking over from Willingham, Randy Wars ran down the pit straight, swept into turns one and two and as he downshifted for turn three, he suddenly found himself without any power. A broken half-shaft was the cause. Coasting off at turn three, the race was over for the team as Le Mans regulations preclude any repairs other than those the driver can perform on his own with tools and parts already on board the race car! The car was stuck and a dejected Wars returned to the pits.

The final results listed the car 15th in GT with 121 laps completed. The hotly contested GT category was won by Sascha Maassen, Lucas Luhr and Emmanuelle Collard whose Porsche finished a strong 8th overall.