Marino Franchitti enjoyed a fine start to his American Le Mans Series campaign after helping the Dyson Racing team to second place overall in the Sebring Twelve Hours.
At the wheel of the #20 Porsche RS Spyder alongside Butch Leitzinger and Andy Lally, Franchitti was never outside the top ten overall although the trio lost time during the early pitstops because a failure of the team's fuel rig.
Nearly ten hours into the race, Franchitti found himself in the race lead as he prepared for the end of his second stint, producing a storming in-lap that saw him get the LMP2 Porsche sideways as he entered pit-road.
I had no idea I was leading the race at that point, he said. I just kept pushing, the car felt great and it was important I got the car into the pit as quickly as I could so that we could get out and hold track position. The team have done such an incredible job all week, and their strategy and hard work throughout the race has just been amazing.
There were anxious moments in the closing stages for Leitzinger, who suffered a power steering failure preventing him from capitalising on a strategic pit stop which should have put him ahead of the pack when the final splash-and-dash pitstops were taking place.
However, he was still able to bring the car to the flag in third place on the road, which became second when the Lowe's Fernandez Acura was excluded.
It was really close at the end with four cars still on the lead lap, Franchitti said, but it was a fantastic result for my race debut with the team, and for that I can't begin to express enough thanks to Rob, Chris, all my team mates at Dyson and Porsche for giving me this opportunity. It's a home from home here with this team and I can't wait to come back for St. Pete.
