Little things to look forward to at the 12 Hours of Sebring

Thank goodness IMSA is back this weekend. Starting the year off with the Daytona 24 is a tradition that should never be questioned, but it does leave the paddock with a bit of a hangover. After the gap, though, Sebring is like another first race of the year, and some programs do treat it as such since it’s such good testing environment (in that it is constantly trying to break your car). The Aston Martin Valkyrie debuted there last year, for example, rather than at Daytona. And with this race’s long history, most teams still like to bring a little extra flair to the second round.

Good examples to look out for this year: Pfaff Motorsports will introduce the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 to the world after having one last crack in the Huracán in Daytona, and yes, it will be dressed in plaid. AO Racing will bring Roxy — the pink one — to her first endurance race. And Porsche Penske Motorsport has bedecked its Porsche 963s in Mobil 1 liveries harkening back to the swirly livery of the Porsche 911 GT1 in 1996 — not the most attractive livery to my eye, but a pretty famous one nonetheless.

One other, less heralded debut at Sebring this week is the new Porsche 911 Cup car. Porsche Carrera Cup North America will run its first two 40-minute races with the Type 992.2 car, which also has a brand new Pirelli tire. There are 27 entries for Sebring. I know a lot of people don’t watch single-make series, but this is a pretty big upgrade for the Cup car, and c’mon, you gotta watch a new race car at least once.