36 Hours Down - 16 to Go

With the 2021 motorsport season barely underway, it is extraordinary to think that Gradient has already completed the equivalent of a full Formula 1 Grand Prix season’s worth of racing. January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona and last month’s 12 Hours of Sebring make up the ‘36 Hours of Florida’ and the first half of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.

Sebring_Pits.jpg

The opening two rounds of the IMEC showed just how intense the competition is within the GTD category and how hard it is to score points in a Championship where they are awarded for your positions at four-hour intervals as well as at the Chequrered Flag. The key is to have a car and drivers that can run consistently at the front throughout each race and not just in its final stages.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway is the traditional curtain raiser on the North American sportscar racing season. The Sun Energy 1 driver lineup of Kenny Habul, Mikael Grenier, Luca Stolz and Raffaelle Marciello grabbed some early headlines with its choice of hair colour. As a sign of unity team owner, Kenny Habul, asked his team to all dye their hair blue to match the #75 AMG.

It’s hard to argue with the effectiveness of that decision as the North Carolina based team slowly worked its way to the front of the pack in GTD and was narrowly beaten by the AMG of Winward Racing. Just sixteen seconds separated the teams after 24 Hours of intense racing in the most competitive class in the series. The slow progress to an eventual second place did mean that fourth place in the standings was the scant reward for the team’s work throughout race week.

When the teams arrived at Sebring International Raceway in mid-March, the #75 AMG GT3 had a different look and a revised driver line-up to match. Maro Engel joined regulars Kenny Habul and Mikael Grenier, and he was hoping to make it two-in-a-row having taken Victory for AMG and Winward Racing a few weeks earlier at Daytona.

After an encouraging start, the #75 Sun Energy 1 car developed Traction Control and ABS issues. The initial diagnosis meant the loss of three laps to the leaders in the GTD Class. One of the laps was gained back under a full curse caution but a spin at T7, late in his stint, meant the car lost further laps as Kenny Habul finished his mandatory drive time and handed the car to Maro Engel for his opening stint. The German ace had an uphill task as the car was almost a full five laps behind.

Sebring_Stop.jpg

Over the next several hours, Engel, Canadian Grenier and the crew behind the wall did an extraordinary job to keep pace with the leaders and use the multiple caution periods to work their way closer to the lead lap. With just under two hours remaining the #75 Sun Energy 1 AMG finally clawed its way onto the lead lap in sixth position.

Despite the car’s lack of traction control or ABS, Maro Engel was able to run the car’s fastest race laps as he did everything he could to claw back the 55 second deficit to the GTD Class leaders. Unfortunately with 35 minutes to go, a loose wheel put Engel into the wall on the exit of Turn 17 and the day-long efforts of the team were only good enough for ninth in GTD.

With two rounds and sixteen more hours of racing to go, the Gradient Racing-run Sun Energy1 Team sits fourth in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup standings just six points off the lead. The battle will be rejoined on June 27th with the Six Hours of the Glen at the historic Watkins Glen Road Course in New York.

There is still all to play for!

Declan Brennan