A wet racetrack and a ton of IMSA sports cars make for wild racing, and the 12 Hours of Sebring provided plenty of wild racing scenes, but not many were wilder than the tangle-up between Porsche driver Kevin Estre and Corvette Racing driver Jan Magnussen. Both cars were battling it out for the lead in GTLM and had run up on the GTD Audi R8 at a wet corner. Estes dove left for an inside line on wet pavement, while Magnussen went wide on the Audi’s right side. What happened next was inevitable: Magnussen came around the Audi trying to cut the corner and Estre, not seeing what was going on, slammed on the brakes, slid into the Corvette, and followed the spinning Chevy right into the tire barrier, hard enough to shove the concrete barrier back. Estre’s day was done but Magnussen was able to fire up the C7.R and limp it around before hauling it into the pits to fix damaged suspension. The Corvette even managed to get patched up and finished the race, a testament to the Corvette racing team.
That was a tough race for all. Heavy rain, the red flag due to lightning, and constant changing temperature and track conditions made it very difficult for every team.
Special Congrats to GTD #540 Black Swan Racing. You guys fought hard despite a lap deficit and still muscled your way back to finish the race. We’ll get ’em next time!