IMSA Sebring 12 Hours, H1: Porsche holds 1-2 after early BMW penalty

Porsche led the way after the opening hour of the Sebring 12 Hours, as an early penalty dealt a major blow to the pole-sitting BMW.

Dries Vanthoor was found guilty of changing lanes before the start line when the race went green at 10:10am local time, with the race control hitting him with the drive through penalty for the offence.

The sanction dropped the #24 RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 to the middle of the GTD pack, not helped by an early full-course yellow bunching the field up.

The biggest beneficiary of Vanthoor’s error was Felipe Nasr, who claimed the lead in the #7 Porsche Penske after passing the #60 Meyer Shank Acura of Tom Blomqvist on lap 1.

Mathieu Jaminet also overtook Blomqvist at the first FCY restart, establish a 1-2 for Porsche at the head of the GTP order,

Blomqvist settled into third place, ahead of the sister Acura driven by Renger van der Zande.

Ricky Taylor held fifth in the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.

In LMP2, Steven Thomas comfortably retained his lead in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca 07, circulating almost five seconds clear of Daniel Goldburg in the #22 United Autosports Oreca 07 until a late FCY.

Likewise, DragonSpeed driver Albert Costa led from pole in the GTD Pro class, holding a near-one second lead in the #81 Ferrari 296 GT3.

His closest rival was Laurin Heinrich in the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, with Tommy Milner running third in the #4 Pratt Miller Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Meanwhile, Philip Ellis leapt to the front in the GTD class in his #57 Winward Mercedes AMG GT3, with Jack Hawksworth running second in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

The pole-sitting #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 lost a heap of time due to a front-left assembly change in the first 30 minutes, leaving Simon Mann, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Lilou Wadoux four laps down.

Another GTD-class Ferrari hit early trouble, with the #023 Triarsi car of Charles Scardina at Tower Turner after a run-in with a Wayne Taylor Cadillac GTP car.

That brought out the second FCY of the day, which remained in place as the first hour was completed.