The race for victory at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring slipped into high gear as the race entered the evening hour with classic battles continuing in multiple classes and one famous racing family aiming to add to a significant Sebring history.

At the three hour to go mark, ESM Racing’s David Brabham was in third place but soon after the clocked ticked past that moment the Australian veteran began a charge back to the front.

At the 2 hour, 52 minute to go mark, Brabham sliced down the inside of Joao Barbosa at the hairpin to take the lead. Brabham’s father for Sir Jack Brabham clinched his first Formula 1 World Championship in 1959 and both his brothers Geoff and Gary have won the 12 hour.

David Brabham has class wins in GT2, GT1 and LMP2 but has yet to win overall.

In GTLM Tommy Milner and the No4 Corvette held the lead while the sister car of Jan Magnussen suffered a delay with the crew having to replace a fuel pump.

“The C7.R is performing perfectly, and we have a fantastic AC unit. The Michelin tires are doing a phenomenal job. The only cars that seem to be able to out-brake us in the whole field are the P2 cars. It seems like we’ve got some good performance from the tire,” Milner’s teammate Oliver Gavin (pictured right) said.

“It’s going well, and there is still plenty of racing to be done here. You just never really know. It only takes one guy to drive into the side of your car and you’d be taken out like so many of these cars today. It is just what happens with so many cars on the grid. It’s certainly very entertaining, and non-stop Sebring 12 Hours.”

Porsche with Joerg Bergmeister and SRT with Kuno Wittmer were second and third.

CORE autosport had its sights set on back-to-back enduro wins with James Gue holding off Davdi Heinemeier Hansson.

3 HOURS TO GO – SEBRING 12 HOUR

PROTOTYPE
(1) #5-P Joao Barbosa (Corvette DP) 210 laps
(2) #42-P Gustavo Yacaman (Morgan Nissan) 210 laps (2.571- in class) (2.571- overall)
(3) #1-P David Brabham (HPD ARX-03b) 210 laps (2.863- in class) (2.863- overall)

GTLM
(12) #4-GTLM Tommy Milner (Chevrolet Corvette C7.R) 207 laps (-3 Laps overall)
(13) #912-GTLM Jorg Bergmeister (Porsche 911 RSR) 207 laps (4.750- in class) (-3 Laps overall)
(14) #93-GTLM Kuno Wittmer (SRT Viper GTS-R) 207 laps (5.091- in class) (-3 Laps overall)

PC
(10) #54-PC James Gue (Oreca FLM 09 Chevrolet) 208 laps (-2 Laps overall)
(11) #09-PC David Heinemeier Hansson (Oreca FLM 09 Chevrolet) 208 laps (0.821- in class) (-2 Laps overall)
(18) #8-PC Renger van der Zande (Oreca FLM 09 Chevrolet) 206 laps (-2 Laps in class) (-4 Laps overall)

GTD
(22) #555-GTD Jeff Segal (Ferrari F458 Italia) 202 laps (-8 Laps overall)
(24) #94-GTD Markus Palttala (BMW Z4) 202 laps (12.676- in class) (-8 Laps overall)
(25) #46-GTD Charles Espenlaub (Audi R8 LMS) 202 laps (18.655- in class) (-8 Laps overall)