McLaughlin’s IMSA Sebring victory still sinking in

Scott McLaughlin says that the significance of his team’s brilliant late swoop for an IMSA LMP2 class victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring is only just sinking in.

The former Supercars champion and Team Penske IndyCar star drove the last stint in the #8 Tower Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07, capturing a narrow victory after 12 hours of racing by just 0.834s.

Not only did they manage the class victory, but a late smash involving the GTP LMDh leaders meant that they finished third outright.

McLaughlin shared the driving duties with John Farano and Kyffin Simpson at the second round of the IMSA series, after also sharing the duties with them at the Daytona 24 for a P5 finish.

The Kiwi superstar isn’t entirely used to winning a race whilst not crossing the finishing line first, saying that the class system of taking a victory, meant that the significance of the team’s effort took a bit of time to realise.

McLaughlin’s late stint the final 90 minutes saw him take his first IMSA vicory in his second attempt in an LMP2 prototype.

“I don’t think it’s sort of sunk in with me how big a win that was just from a career perspective because I guess I usually put more of emphasis on winning a race outright,” McLaughlin admitted.

“That’s not taking away from what we did. … You realise regardless of what class you’re in, it’s such a big deal and such a historic race. 

“It wasn’t really until after the race seeing how happy everyone was, seeing everyone talk about how cool it is to win, that you realize, ‘Well, this is actually really good!’

“It’s not that I didn’t respect the race because I’ve always wanted to do the race, but it’s just it’s not until something cool like that happens that you’re like, ‘Wow, that’s actually an awesome thing!’”

Things looked dire at the halfway point following Simpson making contact with the Turn 1 tyre barrier, but the team was able to turn the damage around quickly under the full course caution.

The Hamilton born racer took his last stint with 90 minutes to run at the iconic Florida track, with the team having fought back into P3 in the dark conditions. 

Despite McLaughlin having experienced such conditions at Daytona, he says he wasn’t prepared for just how hectic it was at Sebring in the very dark and bumpy conditions.

“Sebring was probably the darkest race I’ve ever been a part of, I’ve Never seen anything like it. I was just building up confidence every lap out there at night.”

McLaughlin taking over for his final stint in the dark of the Florida night

In the remaining hour, a pit stop for fuel under a yellow put the #8 ORECA 07 right in the firing line for a victory following a crash from a GTD car, giving them a late fuel and tyre advantage.

Having leapfrogged the field, he then managed to hold off the very experienced Mikkel Jenson, a two-time winner at Sebring, as a big crash in the GTP’s saw the field bunch up again.

“I don’t know if I was struggling, just thinking as fast as I could and I didn’t care if I didn’t know what the hell I was doing,” he continued. 

“But I was just trying to drive it as fast as I could, and keep it as wide as I could.

“There were some pretty big blocks going on and doing what I could to manage the cold tires.

“And that was another thing, just learning that and what was working well under the safety car to keep the (tire) temps up and the pressures up. I learned a lot on the run but hopefully that sits better when hopefully I come back and have another crack.”

With the Tower Motorsports #8 now leading the championship standings after Sebring, McLaughlin’s IndyCar commitments are also ramping up, and although he’s certain to miss most of the IMSA season, he’d love to be back at the back end of the year at Indianapolis and the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

“Ultimately, the goal for the team is to win that championship and if I could be a part of trying to win the (IMSA Michelin) Endurance Cup with the team, that would be awesome.

“Not sure I’ll make Watkins Glen, that’s probably gonna be a stretch, but I’d love to try and make Indy and Petit if I can. I’ve really enjoyed it so I’m hoping to do it.”

The 29 year-old Penske driver will be hoping to take his first IndyCar win of the year at the  Texas Motor Speedway on April 2, for Round 2 of the North American series.

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