Three Canadians will race in next weekend’s 12 Hours of Sebring.
Tony Burgess of Toronto is a veteran of prototype racing in the ALMS and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He’s being joined in the classic Florida event by Kyle Marcelli of Barrie, who’s entering his first year of big-league competition after apprenticing in the minors the last couple of years, and Mark Wilkins of Toronto, who’s stepping out of his regular ride in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series for a one-off at Sebring.
Burgess will race, as he has for several years, with P1 class Autocon Motorsports in their Lola B06 10. He’ll partner Bryan Willman of Seattle and Pierre Ehert of Germany in the 12-hour marathon.
Marcelli and his driving partner, Joel Feinberg of Fort Lauderdale, will race an Oreca FLM09 in the LMPC class while Wilkins will join Scott Tucker of Leawood, Kan., and Christophe Bouchut of France in the same car and class.
Wilkins, who regularly drives the AIM Autosport No 61 Ford Riley in the Grand Am Rolex — he and co-driver Burt Friselle just missed the podium at the recent Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway and had to settle for fourth — is excited about the opportunity of going to Sebring.
“Sebring is one of those tracks that is steeped in history and the 12 hours is one of those races every racer would like to have on his resume and this is an opportunity not to be missed,” he said before heading south for a seat-fitting.
Now, big-league sports car racing is pretty safe stuff generally but the ALMS has had to endure two incredibly serious accidents recently. Scott Sharp managed to get out of a wreck at Road Atlanta last autumn that totally destroyed his car (I still can't figure out how he emerged unscathed) and then on Monday of this week, Ohio driver Jon Field, survived an equally vicious wreck at Sebring (ditto).
Take a look. The photographs will have you
shaking your head.
The 58th Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. EDT on Saturday. The race will be shown live on Speed TV.
All you’ll miss will be the sunshine and the no-see-ums.
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