NSSN Correspondent

If one prefers quality to quantity, then this year’s Mobil-sponsored 12-Hour Sebring long distance classic could be one of the best of its kind in many years.
For the first time in North America in a long time, the Audi contingent will face a strong challenge for the top spot in the LMP1 category when it squares off against Peugeot, while in LMP2, the contest between Porsche and Acura should be even more fierce and more equally balanced than it was in 2007.
And that’s just on the prototype side.
On the production-car front, the lackluster GT1 universe, where last year the factory Corvettes fought among themselves, will now have the full-time presence of an Aston Martin DBR 9, the current version of the British car that defeated the Corvettes at Le Mans last June. Moreover, in GT2, the on-going war between the Ferrari 430 GTs and the Porsche 991 GT3 RSRs that was settled in the last hundred yards of the last lap in 2007, should resume with equal, if not greater, intensity.
In the headlining LMP1 category where Audi has ruled supreme since 2000, first with the R8 and now with the turbocharged diesel R10, Peugeot will enter its own turbo diesel 908s with Nicolas Minassian, Stephane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy sharing the controls.
Given the fact that the Peugeot was faster in pre-season testing at Sebring Int’l Raceway than the R10, it could make the clash up front one of the most interesting since the days of the old Camel GT when the Nissans and the Toyotas took on the Porsche 962s.
Audi has entered a pair of its latest specification R10s.
In LMP2, the championship-winning DHL-backed Penske RS Spyders will return, with Sascha Maassen, Patrick Long and Ryan Briscoe in one and Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Emanuel Collard in the other. Similarly, there will be two Dyson Racing Porsches — one driven by Butch Leitzinger, Marino Franchitti and Andy Lally and the other by Chris Dyson and Guy Smith. Also in a Porsche will be Fredy Lienhard, Didier Theys and Jan Lammers.
On the Acura side, David Brabham, Scott Sharp and Stefan Johansson will race for Patron Highcroft, while Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz are listed in Fernandez’s entry, with Bryan Herta and Christian Fittipaldi in the seat for Andretti Green Racing.
All the Acura teams will run the latest Courage-based Acura ARX-01bs.
In GT1, the Corvettes will have their usual driver pairings — Johnny O’Connell, Jan Magnussen and Ron Fellows in one car with Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin and Max Papis in the other. The Jim Bell-prepared Aston will feature Terry Borcheller, Chapman Ducote and Antonio Garcia.
On the GT2 front, the Risi team Ferraris will be back with reigning champions Mika Salo and Jaime Melo joined by Gianmaria Bruni in one of their 430 GTs, while Tracy Krohn, Nic Jonsson and Eric van der Poele will handle the second car.
Tafel Racing will also field a pair of Ferraris at Sebring, with Dominick Farnbacher, Dirk Mueller and Robert Bell piloting one, and Jim Tafel, Allan Simonseri and Pierre Ehret handling the other.
Leading the Porsche charge will be three 997-based GT3RSRs from Flying Lizard Motorsports. As has been the case with the Ferraris, the Porsche factory has worked hard over the winter to find that extra bit of performance to overcome the obvious advantage shown by the 430 GTs in 2007.
All in all then, this should be a Sebring worth watching.