Calamity struck the Corvette pits as the two ZR1s collided with each other in pit lane. Photo credit: Rick Dole

It seems like only yesterday… well… actually it was the day before, we presented the secrets to success at Sebring. The consensus of our informal survey of team managers, drivers, crews and race engineers was that the keys to success here in the 12 Hours of Sebring boiled down to three factors; speed, reliability, and having a bit of luck.

One of the things they mentioned was to avoid contact, especially with your teammates. Well, ten hours into the twelve hour race we have found that these men and women actually know their stuff. How else to explain that the legendary Corvette Racing team not only took itself out of contention for the win, but also saw its season championship hopes take a hit when the two Corvettes collided with each other while entering and exiting their respective pits.

Want more? The GT2 class-leading Risi Competizione Ferrari took a side-to-side hit and a shove off course from… you guessed it… its teammate, the Risi prepared Krohn Racing Ferrari. Even the Porsches were not exempt. While not technically teammates except in the season-long effort to secure the manufacturer championship for Porsche, the No. 17 Porsche and the then-second place running No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche were involved in an unlikely wrong place, wrong time incident.

The No. 17 Porsche lost a right rear tire and wheel assembly on track, stopped in the pits for a fresh tire and wheel and proceeded to lose that one as well. Unfortunately, this time the wheel came off, bounced, and struck… the passing No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche, heavily damaging its left rear wheel. That wasn’t even the bad part. That came when the No. 45 pitted to repair the damage and replace its own broken wheel just as the yellow caution flag came out for the limping No. 17. That meant the pits were closed with no work allowed. The crew had to wait three agonizing laps to replace the No. 45’s broken wheel as the pace car collected the field.