SEBRING — Jr III Racing felt confident heading into this weekend’s IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. It turns out there was good reason for that, as Bijoy Garg captured the checkered flag in both races on Sunday.
In the early race, Garg, in the No. 3 S2 Cyber Ligier JS P320, led right from the start and built up a comfortable lead before a late caution came out in the final 15 minutes after Tim Probert’s No. 65 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 had a mishap. The race stayed under yellow for nearly 10 minutes, going green again with just under five minutes remaining.
Garg had a good restart and went on to post a 3.479-second victory over Dan Goldburg in the No. 73 JDC MotorSports Duqueine D08. Antonio Serravalle in the No. 18 Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine was third, followed by Lance Willsey in the No. 30 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier.
“I feel really good after that win,” Garg said after winning the first race. “I feel like we really controlled the race this morning. It did get a little bit sketchy with traffic, and with the late race caution you never know what will happen. The Jr III Racing guys brought a great car and deserved that win.”
Luca Mars captured the GSX class in the No. 59 KOHR MOTORSPORTS Ford Mustang GT4, making a late pass of Gregory Liefooghe, in the No. 43 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4, to take the win. Sebastian Carazo was third in the No. 27 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.
The late race didn’t start out how Garg would have liked, but he was able to make a pass of Goldburg with 15 minutes remaining and never looked back. He won by 4.949 seconds over Serravalle and Goldburg recovered from a late spin to finish third.
In GSX, Liefooghe cruised to the win, with Mars having mechanical issues. Carazo finished second and Patrick Wilmot drove the No. 88 Split Decision Motorsports BMW to a third-place finish.
The IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge was held during the World Endurance Championship’s Prologue — a two-day test session for WEC teams ahead of Friday’s 1000 Miles of Sebring.
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing set the fastest lap of all the WEC teams in the GR010 HYBRID. Toyota led the way in three of the four test sessions and had the top two overall laps over the two days. Cadillac posted the fastest time in the second session to prevent a Toyota sweep.
Tickets and parking are still available for SuperSebring weekend. Gates open at 2 p.m. today, March 14, for spectators, with practice scheduled to begin Wednesday at 8:55 a.m.
Five races are on the schedule, including two Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup series races on Thursday (9:15 a.m. and 5:35 p.m.), the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series on Thursday (1:20 p.m.), the FIA WEC 1000 Miles of Sebring on Friday (11:55 a.m.), and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Saturday (10:10 a.m.).
Visit SebringRaceway.com to purchase tickets and parking in advance. New for 2023, no sales will take place at the main gate. All on-site purchases must take place at the Sebring Ticket Trailer located inside Gate 3 at the front of the Raceway property.
