Florida-based team takes a significant step forward with the re-introduced Ligier JS P217
SEBRING, Fla. (16 March 2024) – Sean Creech Motorsport (SCM) made a significant step forward in Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, putting its Ligier JS P217 into the top four in just the second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race for the re-introduced chassis – and in one of the world’s most grueling endurance races.
Lance Willsey, João Barbosa and Jonny Edgar achieved the team’s goal of putting the No. 33 SCM Focal One Ligier JS P217 in position to take a shot at a podium late in the race. Making steady progress throughout the weekend, the trio avoided – for the most part – most of the incidents that set back their LMP2 class competitors to bring home a fourth-place finish at the team’s home track, Sebring International Raceway.
Through three practices on Thursday – including night practice, required to certify Edgar and re-certify Willsey to run night laps during the race – the SCM team worked to find an ideal set up for a track that is notoriously fickle and very sensitive to temperature changes.
The team continues to write the database on the re-introduced Ligier JS P217, competing against teams that have utilized the Oreca chassis for years.
After the car qualified P13 for the 12-hour race on Friday, Willsey took the Saturday morning green flag and immediately settled into a rhythm, managing traffic and focusing forward. Recovering quickly from a early quick spin, Willsey pushed hard through the remainder of his double stint, coming into pit lane P7 and handed off to Barbosa. Over the next 90 minutes, the three-time Sebring winner laid down his typically quiet, consistent and efficient laps before pitting for four tires, fuel, and a change back to Willsey. With a lightning-fast stop by the crew, Willsey returned to action in third position. He was in the groove and pacing solid laps when the car ahead braked early into Turn 16 – Willsey spun avoiding an incident and the car stalled, requiring a complete systems reset, which put him two laps down.
“The car was so good, which makes the incident even more unfortunate,” said Willsey. “I was running my race and everything was going to plan. I don’t know if he didn’t see me or he braked very early, but I had to really get on the brakes trying to avoid hitting him and tearing up both cars. I spun and it just took a while to cycle through and get going again.”
Through the final six hours, Barbosa and Edgar traded stints, battling hard on Sebring’s unforgivingly bumpy surface. The team focused on strategy, aiming pit stops to overcome the lap deficit – and with just under three hours remaining, the No.33 Ligier was back on the lead lap and aiming forward, reaching sixth position ahead of the penultimate driver change.
Barbosa continued to press hard as night fell, with Edgar jumping in for the final hour. Running laps competitive with the rest of the LMP2 field, he held eighth position – with the top eight running nose to tail. Coming into pit lane for a final top off of fuel at the end of a caution late, Edgar stormed back on track, making smart passes and staying out of trouble, bringing home a fourth-place finish.
“This was a great result for the team,” said Edgar. “We’re continuing to develop the car and we made a good jump this week. The car was definitely better than where we had it on Thursday, and compared to Daytona, we seemed more competitive as well. The team did a great job with the strategy to get the laps back when we needed to and then at the end, hitting the fuel stop at exactly the right time. The car was really good at night, so job one is really digging in to understand why. If we can repeat that consistently, I think we can have good results.
“I know I’m saying exactly what Lance and Jonny said, but the car really was quite good,” said Barbosa. “Super proud of the entire team for all the hard work since Daytona, and with a great strategy today, we all just kept fighting. We are still working on straight line speed but it’s easy to see that the progress is there – from Daytona, and from tests we did here at Sebring over the past few months. I was able to push the car and it responded well, and everything we learned today is added to the database.”
“I’m not usually prone to celebrating a P4 but I think that, given the challenges that we have undertaken, with limited testing and facing some teething pains and challenges at Daytona, this is a definite positive,” said Willsey. “I think it is a testament once again to the hard work and the dedication of this team and the drivers. It was a true team effort.”
Team principal Sean Creech echoed Willsey’s words at the end of 12 grueling hours of racing.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this entire team,” said Creech. “We were two laps down but at no time did a single team member back off the gas. We have a huge amount of information to sort through from this entire weekend but today, we definitely placed a good number of positives into the information database going forward. We set laps close to the Orecas around us, so we know we are moving in the right direction.”
SCM thanks partner Focal One for its continued support.
Next up for SCM will be the Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen at Watkins Glen International, June 20-23, 2024. The race will be broadcast live in the U.S. on Peacock and USA Network. International viewers can watch via IMSA.TV, with IMSA Radio also available at IMSA.com.
About SCM
Team leader Sean Creech has competed in a multitude of sports car series from 1990 until the present day, including Group C, IMSA GTP, WSC, Grand-Am, SRO World Challenge, and IMSA. SCM will contest the full WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2024 with João Barbosa and Lance Willsey. http://seancreechmotorsport.com/
About Focal One
One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime in the United States. The Focal One® HIFU Prostate treatment offers patients a non-invasive outpatient procedure to target prostate tissue while avoiding the common side effects such as loss of urinary continence and sexual function. The Focal One treatment uses high-performance, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to precisely target and ablate the prostate, allowing patients to quickly return to normal activities. http://www.focalone.com/
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