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Ford Posts Overall Sebring Win

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EcoBoost V6 powered Felix Sabates Riley prototype from Chip Ganassi Racing takes the overall victory at the 2014 Twelve Hours of Sebring
Sabates Riley Prototype shown at SEMA13
Sebring

Originally established as an Army airfield during World War II, the racetrack at Sebring, Florida hosted its first event on December 31, 1950. Since that time, it has seen the likes of Mario Andretti, Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, Jim Hall, Sir Stirling Moss, Juan Manuel Fangio, John Surtees, Hurley Haywood, Peter Gregg and Geoff Brabham (to name just a few).
Chip Ganassi with Scott Pruett at SEMA13
Manufacturers that have claimed victory in the 12 hour endurance race include Cunningham, Jaguar, Ferrari, Maserati, Ford, BMW, Nissan, Porsche (which dominated the series in the 1970s and 1980s) and last year’s champion Audi, which has recently prevailed, winning the LM1 (now the P) class from 2000 thru 2007 and again in 2009, 2012 and 2013.
Sabates Riley Prototype at SEMA13
Classes

Entrants in the new-for-this-year United SportsCar Championship series (USC) are currently divided up into four classes consisting of two prototype classes (P and PC) as well as two Grand Touring (modified production sports car) classes (GTLM and GTD). The P class consists of Grand-Am Prototypes, American Le Mans Series P2 prototypes and DeltaWing cars, while PC (Prototype Challenge) is a spec class featuring Oreca chassis, Chevrolet engines and Continental tires.
Sabates Riley Prototype at SEMA13
GTLM are production-based highly modified cars such as the Porsche 911 RSE, SRT Viper GTS-R and Chevrolet Corvette C7.R while GTD cars are production-based and only slightly modified such as the Porsche 911 GT America and the Audi R8 LMS.
01 Sabates Riley Prototype racing at the 2014 Twelve Hours of Sebring
Ford makes it back

Ford, for its part, has also taken the checkered flag, winning two straight and, after skipping a year, yet another. But that last win – by a GT40 MK1 – occurred more than 9 years before Marino Franchitti was born.
Sabates Riley Prototype at SEMA13
We only mention this because Marino had a hand in Ford’s triumphant return to Sebring this past weekend.

“You read about stuff like this,” said Jamie Allison, director of Ford Racing. “The last time Ford won overall was in 1969, and what really makes it so sweet is that this is a win made possible by a production-based Ford EcoBoost engine. It literally comes out of our production vehicle. It just makes it so, so sweet because it validates what we do at Ford, that the technology we have in our cars is good enough to power an all-out win here at the Sebring 12 Hour.”
Sabates Riley Prototype at SEMA13
In fact, three Ford 3.5-liter EcoBoost prototypes were fielded this past weekend: The 01 and 02 of Chip Ganassi Racing and the 60 of Michael Shank Racing with all three finishing in the top 10.
Sabates Riley Prototype at SEMA13
In addition to the team of Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Marino Franchitti in the 01 car that placed first overall, the 02 car piloted by Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and Sage Karam placed sixth, while the 60 car of John Pew, Ozz Negri and Justin Wilson finished ninth, overall.
Marino Franchitti, Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett at the 2014 Twelve Hours of Sebring
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