2014 12 Hours of Sebring - Post Race

For a long time, LMR's endeavors in the TEC have never been something we like to remember. If we didn't get run into problems on track, we lagged out. The first glimmer of success came in June of 2013, when the team of Midnight LMR, j0hnny2shoes, and LMR leadgodasse took 3rd overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. To add to it, the Mushroom Kingdom Racers team of LMR DarthMario, LMR WARSPITE, and IRT YT RICE placed 3rd in GTE giving LMR 2 podium finishing cars! We were quite happy to have made it to the end of the race with something to celebrate, but we knew we were more than capable of taking the top spot. In September at the 12 Hours of Silverstone, we got one step closer as LMR Deftone MX and rainonef1 placed 2nd in the Corvette ZR1. December brought the final round of the 2013 TEC. The expectations were very high as LMR had the front row after qualifying, followed by F4H Motorsport. From the drop of the flag, the problems began. By the 6 hour mark, both cars had lagged out from 1st and 2nd place overall. At this point, many were convinced we were cursed to never win a TEC event!!

For the Sebring 12 Hours, Le Mans Rennsport was on maximum attack. With 2 Lola's, 2 Ford GT's, a BMW M3, and a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The MPD Lola was quick to take provisional pole in LMP1. The time of 1:44.116 by j0hnny2shoes stood for most of the week, until The Bulin Wall5 in the sister car set the time that would stand as pole by just over 3 tenths to the first of the Barry Scott Racing entries of HMR Motorhead. The Ferrari of HCR Mad Dog held provisional pole in GTE for most of the qualifying week, until ONR Faith for LMR Leatt Motocross took the top time by 3 tenths. With the conclusion of qualifying, LMR had pole in both classes, as well as 3rd in LMP1, and 4th in GTE. Due to a tight scheduling conflict with the drivers of the Champion Racing Team LMR Porsche, they qualified near the bottom of the grid in lobby C.

From the drop of the green, II ALEX P II in the pole sitting Lola went to work, opening up a substantial gap very quickly! Meanwhile in GTE, rainonef1 in the pole sitting LMR spent the first hour under pressure from Koenigsegg R in the HCR Ferrari, before the F4H Motorsport LMP1 entry collected him while attempting a pass through the back section of the track. This cost LMR Leatt Motocross 12,000 feet over the now leading HCR Scuderia Ferrari. It didn't take long for LMR's TEC curse to rear it's ugly head. We got word early on that the M3 had not started the race, putting them out of the running right from the start. Nearing the 5 hour mark, j0hnny2shoes, pilot of the MPD Lola was disconnected with approx. an hour left in his stint. They were down but not out. Velox Canadian jumped in the car to take over, only to get disconnected no more than 20 minutes in to his stint. While the LMR Red Dragon Lola spent the morning gapping the field, the LMR Leatt Motocross team was under pressure to make for the time lost early on. In the end, they would close a 15,000 foot gap down to under 5,000, but it just wasn't quite enough. The sister car to this had run flawless all day, until it too disconnected with just over 2 hours left. It cost them 20 miles, and a few positions in the end, but it could have been much worse. Despite qualifying troubles for the Porsche, it soldiered on all day without a problem. In the end, LMR Leatt Motocross took 2nd in class with the Champion Racing Porsche 4th, and LMR Leatt Technology, despite a laggout, took 8th. Through all the problems we had faced throughout the race, one car rained supreme for LMR, and in the race all together. LMR Deftone MX, II ALEX P II, and The Bulin Wall5 for LMR Red Dragon won the 12 Hours of Sebring overall by 2.2 laps after finishing 1st in every stint except the final due to a lag crash involving The Bulin Wall. Despite everything, this signaled the breaking of LMR's TEC curse. After nearly 2 years of terrible luck, the hard work had finally paid off.

While people outside Le Mans Rennsport may not understand, this represented something much bigger to the team than just another race win. With LMR's new direction in other forms of sim racing (primarily iRacing) the teams feathers have spread out. This race brought everyone back together. And to win it for the team, with the team at our side, was something truly special.

  . Nice write up Collin, it was a fun event. Glad the LMP team broke the curse of not winning a TEC race. Looking forward to the next and have LMR on the top in both classes.

Hell yeah man!!!

Much honour to LMR Family.

Except for the M3. The M3 brought no honor at all.

LMR Bandit wrote:Except for the M3.  The M3 brought no honor at all.

Should've won brandon, I had ONR Faith in you.

LMR Bandit wrote:Except for the M3.  The M3 brought no honor at all.

The M3 brought so little honour that it brought absolute shame the size of all of the universe

I felt honored to race with you guys it really did. Ive come a long way since last year being in D lobby and finishing 13th overall in LMP. Im glad deftone gave me chance to be part of this team, I've had my shining moments in the Euro GT and plan to bring it to the TEC like I did at Sebring. On to le man's boys!!! Lets get it

I was really sad to see the chance of an LMP 1-2 domination disappear over nothing more than connection issues, moreover because of LMRs and mine own struggles at Sebring TEC '13, but I could not be prouder of this team and all the drivers for the effort they put into this event. We all know we are growing into different areas but to see the team rally like that and all come together to break the curse, was outstanding. You should all be very proud of not only the Red Dragon and the absolutely dominant +2 lap performance it ran, but by all of your combined efforts on and off the track to ensure that one way or another we, as a team, were going to break the curse. That's a job well done boys!

Midnight LMR wrote: I was really sad to see the chance of an LMP 1-2 domination disappear over nothing more than connection issues, moreover because of LMRs and mine own struggles at Sebring TEC '13, but I could not be prouder of this team and all the drivers for the effort they put into this event. We all know we are growing into different areas but to see the team rally like that and all come together to break the curse, was outstanding. You should all be very proud of not only the Red Dragon and the absolutely dominant +2 lap performance it ran, but by all of your combined efforts on and off the track to ensure that one way or another we, as a team, were going to break the curse. That's a job well done boys!

This

This has also been posted on the TORA forum in the team news section. Be sure to give it a shout on there too!