SEBRING, Fla. (March 17, 2024) — On Saturday evening at Sebring International Raceway, Wright Motorsports secured a well-deserved spot on the GTD class podium in the Twelve Hours of Sebring, clinching third place with the No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer, and Jan Heylen.
Despite facing high temperatures in the 80s throughout the week, the drivers and crew exhibited remarkable resilience to deliver a strong performance in this challenging race. The classic endurance event marked only the second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race for Adelson and Skeer, who relied on veteran Heylen’s expertise and familiarity with his home track’s marquee event.
Adelson qualified the team in 13th place out of 22 cars, and shortly after the green flag waved, an incident near the Wright Motorsports Porsche resulted in contact with another car, necessitating an early pit stop to repair the front bumper and temporarily putting them a lap down in the GTD field. However, they swiftly recovered during the first full-course caution, regaining their lost lap and rejoining the rear of the field from 19th position.
Despite facing further setbacks due to untimely full-course cautions, the team persevered. Hour by hour, Adelson, Skeer, and Heylen executed flawless driving duties, steadily advancing the Porsche up the ranks. By the halfway mark, they had reclaimed a position in the top three, maintaining consistent lap times and benefiting from quick pit stops by the determined crew.
They encountered another obstacle in the early dusk hours, as the No. 120 Porsche was in the middle of a three-wide battle for position coming to a restart. As the field went to green, the Porsche was stranded after a spin in turn 17, and came straight into pit lane for fresh tires and a splash of fuel. Undeterred, the team pushed through the final two hours of night racing with unwavering determination.
The closing stages of the race were marked by intense competition and numerous full-course cautions, totaling 13 over the 12-hour duration. Skeer showcased his skills during the final stints, relishing his first experience of night racing at Sebring International Raceway and holding his ground with the lead pack, ultimately securing a third-place finish for Wright Motorsports.
This impressive result not only marks the team’s first podium of the 2024 season but also represents Adelson and Skeer’s inaugural WeatherTech podium. Looking ahead, the young duo will return next month for the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 19-20 before continuing with their six-race Michelin Endurance Cup Championship effort alongside Jan Heylen at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen from June 20-23.
DRIVER QUOTES
Adam Adelson
I genuinely am at a loss for words. I can’t believe we just podiumed at both Elliott’s and my Sebring debut. Obviously, we got all the experience from Jan and we definitely leaned on that when we needed to. This is an unbelievable feeling, and it just makes me hungry for more with the team. The team did an absolutely incredible job. The strategy calls were on point. We had so many unfortunate occurrences out there that put us a lap down on multiple occasions, and they just got us back right where we needed to be. The car was unbelievable. Porsche makes an incredible race car and a big thanks goes to Porsche, Wright Motorsports, my co drivers, and to John Wright because this was just an incredible experience.
Elliott Skeer
The Twelve Hours of Sebring to me, is my favorite race in the world outside of Le Mans. So not only to do it as a rookie, but then to do it with my favorite team in a Porsche 911, alongside my best friend, and alongside one of the best in the business, that’s a dream in itself. To be in it at the end is otherworldly, and with a chance to fight for the win was just the coolest experience in my life. It’s an entire career’s worth of effort and patience, all coming down to those final 45 minutes, and realizing you can do it. It’s truly unbelievable. The amount of preparation that this team has put into the car over the last year, in addition to the work Adam has put in alongside of his natural talent, really shows that you can bring people in and achieve these higher levels. We had issues here at Sebring, but I think the most important thing is how we bounced back from all of them. This entire team did an unbelievable job.
Jan Heylen
I’m super excited for the team after we’ve had a couple of near misses for our last couple of races.
I’m excited for Elliott and Adam to achieve their first result on the podium, and to have it at Sebring is just awesome. Anytime you can finish on the podium here is a good thing.
Wright Motorsports
Wright Motorsports is the premier Porsche race engineering facility in Ohio and a multi-series and international racing team known for superb car preparation, expert race strategy, and driver development. Located in Batavia, Ohio, it is owned and directed by John Wright, a certified Porsche factory-trained technician. As a crew chief John Wright has played a key role in winning eight driver and seven team championships in World Challenge, IMSA (ALMS) and the Grand-Am Rolex Series. Wright Motorsports won the team championship in Porsche GT3 Cup USA in 2012, 2013, and 2015, and went on to win the Pirelli World Challenge Overall, Sprint, Team, and Manufacturer’s titles in 2017. In 2020, the team captured the GT World Challenge America Am championship. In 2021, Wright Motorsports had a wildly successful season, capturing nine championships across their five racing efforts.
