PK Sport At Sebring – Friday Report
Moving Forwards
After a frustrating day on Thursday for Qualifying, both the night practice session and the Friday Morning Practice gave PK Sport a real boost as Saturday’s big race draws closer.

All of the drivers in both the #60 and #61 Porsche 911 GT3-RSs put in their required three laps in darkness last night and the team then took the opportunity to give David Warnock and Piers Masarati further time out in the #60 car.

A stroke of luck might have helped to solve one problem for the team. Robin Liddell had reported that the #60 car was somewhat slower in a straight line in the qualifying session than it had been earlier in the week. By chance, dailysportscar’s photographer David Lord emerged with a shot that showed the car’s passenger side window was being forced ajar at high speed. Could the extra drag have made the difference?

“It’s quite possible,“ said Team Owner Mike Pickup, “it’s a simple problem to fix. Knowing it was there in the first place was the real challenge.”

See the whole image at the foot of yesterday's report.

Piers Masarati: “It was a really good couple of sessions (last night and this morning), we found a little bit of understeer after making a minor chassis change and that was just what we wanted. I managed my best time of the week so far (a 2:10.8). We’re looking very good for the race, the car is working really well on these Pirellis.

“Remember that several of the teams ahead of us have been here for two weeks, our schedule has meant we’ve had far less testing time, but we’re coming up fast.”

David Warnock too was pleased with the sessions, both in the evening and again on Friday Morning: “We tried a new set of Pirellis this morning and I had a very good session, the times were very good and very consistent. I think we’ll find a good race pace. I’m comfortable in the car and that’s very important in a race this long.”

As the light begins to fade on Friday evening an enormous electric storm is closing in on the Sebring International Raceway. After several days of sweltering temperatures the motor racing gods have seen fit to give us a weather forecast which (accurately) predicted rain tonight and a 70% chance of further heavy showers during the race tomorrow.

The challenges for tomorrow’s race are now clear. With rain now on the menu, coupled with the dual challenge of trying to find an early way through the GT class pack and keeping a watching eye for the very rapid Bentleys approaching from behind (the two Bentleys will start from the back of the field after having their qualifying times disallowed) both Robin Liddell (down to start the #60 car) and Ian Donaldson in #61 will have their hands full for the first hour or so.

The 12 Hours Of Sebring starts at 10:30 am local time on Saturday morning.