Two weeks on from a thrilling ten hour affair in Qatar, the endurance racing world once more turns its attention to the North American scene, with the iconic 12 Hours of Sebring just days away. But who will be vying for LMP2 honours in Florida?

First up, we have the winners from Daytona in United Autosports. They’ll have two cars attempting to take another LMP2 class win, with the #2 featuring Ben Hanley, Nick Boulle and Juan Manuel Correa, as their sister car that won Daytona also returns. #22 may have only won Daytona thanks to the post-race disqualification of a rival, but Paul Di Resta, Dan Goldburg and Rasmus Lindh were strong contenders throughout. They’ll be in good stead to do well here, and will be hoping to win the class for the first time. 

The team that lost the win post race, Tower Motorsports will no doubt be seeking vengeance and victory in wake of their cruel Daytona loss. John Farano as always will be present in the #8 car, alongside two Sebastians, Bourdais and Alvarez. 

One team well versed at victory here is Era Motorsports, who are looking to make it three wins in a row here. It’s a much changed lineup to the #18 to the one that took victory last year though, with Connor Zilisch moving on to NASCAR and no Dwight Merriman or Ryan Dalziel. Instead, they’ve chosen former JOTA alumni David Heinemeier Hansson and Super Formula race winner Kakunoshin Ohta, with Canadian software developer Tobias Lutke completing the trio. It’s still a strong lineup no doubt but certainly a different one, and their competitiveness remains to be seen.

Ever present in IMSA’s prototype scene are Riley Motorsports, who’ll also be running the Lamborghini programme in GTP this year. They’ve kept their Daytona lineup, with Felipe Fraga, Gar Robinson and Josh Burdon to pilot the #74 car. 

Inter Europol meanwhile will add Jeremy Clarke to their lineup in the #43 car, with Tom Dillmann and Bijoy Garg completing the trio. Clarke most recently competed in the Asian Le Mans Series for AF Corse, where he showed good pace. 

PR1/Matheson will be another team to drop a driver, with Ben Keating not present for the team. They’ll be running their three remaining drivers from Daytona with Mathias Beche, Rodrigo Sales and Indycar driver Benjamin Pederson driving the #52 car.

AF Corse will be back again, with Luis Perez Companc driving with fellow Argentinian Mathias Perez Companc, as Le Mans winner Nicklas Nielsen forms the third driver in a promising trio. 

Another team well versed in IMSA competition, and competing once more at the illustrious race is TDS Racing. They’re back with the #11 car featuring team owner Steven Thomas, Mikkel Jensen and Hunter Mcelrea.

One of the biggest contenders for this race will no doubt be Algarve Pro Racing’s Crowdstrike sponsored entry. George Kurtz will be alongside Toby Sowery and Peugeot factory driver Malthe Jakobsen in a really strong lineup. Expect this team to be towards the front all weekend. 

Coming into this race with a smile on their face will be Pratt/Miller Motorsports, who’s Corvette LMGT3 car recently won their class at Qatar last weekend in the first World Championship victory for the car they engineered. Now running in LMP2, they’re here with Pietro Fitipaldi, James Roe and Chris Cumming and are hoping to make it two class wins in a row for the team. 

And last but not least in an incredibly competitive LMP2 field might just be the most competitive of the lot. AO Racing’s ever popular Spike will be hoping for its first taste of glory at Sebring, with team founder PJ Hyett, and Daytona competitors Johnny Edgar and Dane Cameron completing a strong lineup indeed.

And that’s my complete rundown of what’s set to be an incredible LMP2 class at the 12 Hours of Sebring, with one thing left to say:

Respect the Bumps!

thumbnail credit – Rick Flores from USA, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons