Team Orders Controversy Clouds Another Porsche Penske 1-2 at Sebring

Michael L. Levitt/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA

By Dennis Krause

On a day when Porsche Penske Motorsport dominated the 74th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, leading all but 60 of the 343 laps completed, there were hard feelings between drivers of the team’s dominating Porsche 963s.

Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 car took the checkered flag 1.515 seconds ahead of the No. 6 sister entry driven by Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP). It was the second straight win for Nasr and co-drivers Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to start the season, and Nasr’s second consecutive Sebring win.

However, in a tense media session afterwards, Estre accused Nasr of violating team orders when the Brazilian passed him on track with just over an hour remaining. Nasr’s pass of Estre came after he was ordered to swap positions, giving Estre the lead after a pit stop that saw the leading No. 6 Porsche take four tires while the No. 7 took fuel only, thus beating his teammate back onto the track.

“We were on similar strategies,” Estre claimed. “We stopped pretty much at the same time, just at some points on different tires. We were back and forth but definitely at some point there was a call from a pit stand which was not respected on the other end.

“I was driving the car, respecting what we were saying, trying to optimize our strategy and trying to get to the end because we needed to save some fuel, so that’s what I did. But somehow Felipe did something else. That’s when the pass happened.

“Towards the end he had the pace in clean air and he was fast enough that I couldn’t attack. I would definitely have done it, but there was no opportunity.

“On pace, for sure towards the end they were there, but we had a brilliant race and we had a shot, and somehow just one hour before the end something happened that was not too fair from my side.

“That’s why we are all very frustrated and it’s not nice. But it’s the way it is.”

Estre said the Penske team confirmed that Nasr had been given the same instructions as both cars needed to save fuel in case there weren’t any full course cautions before the end of the race.

Asked to expand on his frustrations with Nasr, Estre was at first reluctant.

“No, we're not redoing the race here. We had some calls from the pit stand. While driving you assume being 1-2 that both cars had the same call, which I got the confirmation we both had the same call. Felipe decided to do something else, which in the end brought him the race. That's it really.

“There's nothing more for me to say. I just respect what the team told me. It was not to play or anything. It was just to save fuel to go to the end with the amount of yellow. We didn't know. In the end there was a lot of yellow. We didn't need to pit again. Otherwise, we'd be tight on fuel.

“That's what happened in the end. I don't know. Felipe can say what he feels. I just know what I felt, what was the rule, what was the communication. I think it was quite clear from both sides from what I understood.

“But in the end it didn't happen that way, so... That's the way it is.”

As for his side of it, Nasr was tight-lipped.

“I don't think I have much to say, honestly. I'm here to win at the end of the day. I did it for the team. That's what it matters. It's a 1-2 in the end. Big point today for the whole organization.”

Asked whether there was a call from the team to hold position after the final restart while he was in the lead, Nasr clearly didn’t want to get into it.

“I can't go in details, guys, honestly,” said Nasr. “I'm here to race. That's what I did today. What those guys did today, that's why we should be celebrating here today. It's a victory, right?

“There's always going to be two, three sides of the story. But what matters is today we come out winning, winning for the team, for the brand. This is what we're here for. That's what we do our jobs for.”

Given how dominant the two Porsches haven been at Daytona and Sebring to start the year, it’s possible this situation will come up again this season.

“We were fighting the whole race,” Estre said. “Being 1-2, we were ahead, you know? We were always knowing that this could happen. It's always the case when teammates fight. We have the same car. We have the same weakness and the same strength. It's always difficult to fight.

“We also have to think about Porsche, which is paying us, and Penske, and respect what they say. I will not say more.”

“I think it's a great organization,” Vanthoor added, “what we drive for, and we're all privileged to drive for them, and we are clearly the strongest in the last 36 hours (Daytona and Sebring combined). That's why we're all sitting here.

“It's a great organization which has rules and things in place for us to be the most successful.

“That's why we swap on pit lane. That's why we do. There's certain rules connected to that. It only works if we all play the same card. Obviously, yeah, that's where some frustration now is created.

“But yeah, I think it's important to know, though.”

Although he was not made available to the media post-race, Team Penske President Jonathan Duiguid told IMSA Radio immediately after the checkered flag, “I think the best way to describe it is we had to make some difficult decisions today, but we made the right decisions to make sure we finished one-two. That was the goal, to make sure a Porsche finished first and if we could finish one-two, that’s what we did.”

Brandon Badraoui/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA

While there was tension among the two Penske Porsches, it was all smiles between the No. 2 United Autosports ORECA LMP2 07 and its No. 22 sister car, finishing one-two in LeMans Prototype 2 (LMP2). It was a second Sebring win for Mikkel Jensen but a first for co-drivers Hunter McElrea and Phil Fayer.

“It means a lot,” said Jensen. “It's my second race with the team. Obviously, we'll be with them for the Hypercar project with McLaren.

“It's a great start to the journey to already be winning my second race with them and to see the team perform with a 1-2 finish here. I'm really proud to see that because we had some issues in Daytona to be up front on the pace, and also here in practice we didn't really look to be the strongest guys.

“I think we were surprised about our pace throughout the whole race. We had a fast car. The sister car was fast. Just super happy for the package that the team put together and made us able to be 1-2 today.”

It was also a Porsche one-two in Grand Touring Daytona PRO (GTD PRO), with the No. 911 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) leading home the identical No. 77 entry of AO Racing, which led a good portion of the 12 hours.

It was a third consecutive Sebring win Klaus Bachler, who won last year’s race while driving for the AO team.

Bachler, who shared the car with Ricardo Feller and 2023 DTM champion Thomas Preining, gave credit for the win to the Manthey team, which is contesting the five IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup rounds of the WeatherTech series for the first time.

“Yeah, big thanks to the team because without the team, it's not possible. Yeah, I'm really speechless. I really hoped we can win this race after a tough Daytona, I have to say. I had such a good feeling going into this week. In the end it worked out. We were fast when it counted. We had the car which we had zero problems. I mean, really reliable everything. Perfect stops. Perfect strategy.

“Both of my teammates drove really brilliant, zero mistakes. In the end Thomas went for the move. He took the lead with one and a half hours to go and stayed there. Yeah, was not easy to watch because, I mean, especially the last safety car when it came, you never know what is happening at the restart. Have enough IMSA experience (to know) that everything is possible.

“But luckily, he did again a great restart and he could win this race. Very proud of the whole team, of my teammates.”

It came down to the final lap in Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) when the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, driven by Tom Gamble, slid wide entering turn 10, allowing the No. 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Antonio Fuoco to slip inside and take the win, despite being penalized three times during the race, including in the last frantic hour.

“Yeah, I mean, we still like to understand how we get three drive-through,” Fuoco said, “because I think two of them was not there, I would say. But we were not able to review with the steward, so...

“Anyway, we went through. I think was really chaotic race, some up and down. At the end we managed to win. I think how the guys did an amazing job, (co-drivers) Lilou (Wadoux), Simon (Mann), all the team, to never give up until the end.

“On the last safety car,” Fuoco recalled, “we were P7 I think, 26 minute to go, then we were able to win the race. I think it was a really good one. Quite similar to the one I won in 2022. I think Sebring is always like this, is always a lot of close race.”

The next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the first sprint race of the season – the 51st Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 17-18 on the famous Long Beach street course, for GTP and GTD competitors.

Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.

Team Orders Controversy Clouds Another Porsche Penske 1-2 at Sebring

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