HSR HISTORIC SPORTSCAR RACING PHOTO
Four-Pack of Potential First-Time Winners Lead Halfway at the Mission Foods HSR Sebring Classic 12, Pistons & Props, Presented by the Alan Jay Automotive Network
SEBRING, Florida (December 7, 2024) – A four-pack of potential
first-time winners stepped up to lead their respective Run Groups at the
halfway point of the ninth running of the Mission Foods HSR Sebring
Classic 12 Hour, Pistons & Props, Presented by the Alan Jay Automotive
Network Saturday at Sebring International Raceway.
The mid-race leaders include a debuting Chevron B19 based in the UK, a
former IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship winner and a pair of GT
Porsches nearly 40 years apart in age.
Run Groups A and B share the track this weekend, and the respective
leaders at halfway represent a longtime HSR team seeking its first
Mission Foods HSR Classic victory and the debuting Chevron team looking
for the win in its HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour debut.
With the help of his countryman and multiple Mission Foods HSR Classic
race winner Nigel Greensall, Englishman John Emberson brought his
UK-based car and team to North America for the first time last month to
compete in both the HSR Classic Daytona 24 and this weekend’s HSR
Classic 12.
Emberson, Greensall and the Foxcraft Racing 1970 No. 15 Chevron B19 were
quick from the very first test session at Sebring on Wednesday. They
converted that early pace into a class-leading Group A performance after
the first two of four HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour rounds on Saturday.
The solid performance included the No. 15 team and drivers taking the
overall Group A/B win in segment two after taking division honors and P2
overall in Saturday afternoon’s opening round.
Kenneth McKinnon and Larry Ligas are veteran HSR competitors with
Predator Racing but both the team and drivers look for their first
Mission Foods HSR Classic race win at Sebring. McKinnon and Ligas drove
the Predator Racing 1972 No. 01 Porsche 911 RSR to an overall and Group
B win in Saturday’s opening race segment and backed it up with a close
second-place in class in Round 2.
The results put the No. 01 Porsche in the Group B lead by more than a
lap at halfway, in addition to topping the combined Group A/B standings
by nearly a minute at the mid-race mark.
An in-season win record is on the line in Run Group C but another team
has stepped up in a competitive “spoiler” role this week at Sebring. In
Thursday’s one-hour B.R.M. Endurance Challenge race, which was part of
the season-ending HSR Sebring Historics schedule of events, Bob Neapole
and Guy Cosmo broke through for their first Historic Prototype and
overall race win in the series in the RBN Motorsports with Cosmo-Sport
2020 No. 60 Acura ARX-05 prepared by Hudson Historics. Neapole and Cosmo
came out on top in a race-long battle with their friends and on-track
rivals Pierce Marshall and Eric Foss in the 2017 No. 02 Matador
Motorsports Cadillac DPi.
Proving it was no fluke, Neapole and Cosmo kept the pressure going on
Saturday and lead the Run Group C standings at the halfway mark. The
mid-race lead came after finishing just one second behind the No. 02
Cadillac in the first segment and a more than one-minute victory in
Round 2. Marshall, Foss and the No. 02 team trail the No. 60 team by 90
seconds at halfway and will have to make up the gap and more if they
hope to be the first team and drivers to sweep all three Mission Foods
HSR Classic races – Watkins Glen, Daytona and Sebring – in a single
season.
Run Group D offers the competitive GT and production car showcase that
is part of every Mission Foods HSR Classic race and typically delivers
some of the closest racing.
The British duo of Mike Jordan and his son Andrew Jordan narrowly lost
the battle in the GT Run Group at last month’s HSR Classic Daytona 24
and are determined to not be denied this weekend. The Jordans swept the
opening pair of Group D segments on Saturday in their Jordan Racing Team
2011 No. 77 Porsche 997.2 GT3 Cup but have built a class lead only 11
seconds ahead of the nearest competitor. The Group D race is still a
wide-open battle with the top six cars split by 90 seconds or less.
With Round 3 races for all Run Groups slated to conclude Saturday’s
schedule, Classic Sebring 12 Hour competitors return to the track
Sunday, December 8, at 12 p.m. EST with each Group getting one final
segment to decide this year’s winners. Overall Run Group winners will
be presented with all-new and custom-made Wall Clocks from B.R.M.
Chronographes. Displaying the same dial design as B.R.M.’s unique time
pieces, the oversized clocks have been a big hit this year with the race
winners at The Glen and Daytona.