The Drive Cult 12 Hours of Sebring live blog is up and running! We'll be watching the race on Speed and monitoring driver and team twitter feeds. Be sure to check back often for updates.
Endurance racing season kicks off today with the 12 Hours of Sebring and Drive Cult will be giving a go at this live blogging lark. It should be entertaining. Whether our not it's at my expense remains to be seen. Marc Gene has put one of the Peugeots on pole in P1 and Jorg Bergmeister inherited the GT2 pole after the fastest of the Rahal Letterman BMWs failed scrutineering. We'll also see the debut of the brand new GTC and LMPC classes. The latter of which should be ultra competitive. Speed Channel coverage starts at 10 am EST. Scroll down to view the spotter guide for all the entrants and live blogging madness.
10:30: And that's it. Peugeot wins Sebring for the first time after a virtually trouble free one. No one was even close. Thanks for watching the race with us here at Drive Cult. Good night.
10:28: The Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder continues to lead after capitalizing on Patron Highcroft's misfortune. The three Alex Job Porsches continue to dominate GTC and the #55 Level 5 Motorsports leads LMPC.
10:25: No surprise here. Peugeot still dominating 1-2. The caution laps didn't add up for BMW and the Risi Ferrari still leads.
10:23: Less then ten minutes to go in the race now. Teams making their final pit stops.
9:09: The three Alex Job Porsches are running 1-2-3 in GTC. Not a bad return to the series for Alex Job.
8:39: BTW Scott Sharp is out of the car and OK.
8:35: Scott Sharp's Ferrari F430 goes up in flames. Full course caution. This could be just what the BMWs need to catch the Risi Ferrari.
8:21: Drayson Lola is back in the pits with the engine cover off.
8:09: The commentators were just talking about how the don't allow camp fires on the infield. Probably for the best, since I saw a hammered drunk guy intentionally burn down his entire camper at Sebring.
8:05: Correction, the BMWs are still 2 and 3. #62 Ferrari about half a lap ahead.
7:59: Risi Ferrari dropped to 3rd after that round of stops. BMWs are now 1-2. We may see some fireworks yet.
7:54: Drayson Lola was experiencing a misfire and water pressure problems, but seems to have fixed them.
7:52: #52 LMPC is off and unable to continue. Full course caution. Pit stops to come.
7:30: #40 Ford GT limping back to the pits after a big off at the exit of turn one.
7:22: Highcroft are back out on track but are six laps down.
7:11: The Muscle Milk P2 Porsche has passed the Highcroft Acura for the lead which is still in the pits and has incurred a penalty for having two many men over the wall.
7:02: Lead Highcroft Acura in for an unscheduled stop. Puffs of smoke coming from the cockpit. Possibly electrical.
7:00: Starting to get dark out. Infield spectators are now knee deep in empty Bud Light cans.
6:44: The two Peugeots are way ahead in P1. The Highcroft Acura is way ahead is P2, but they're still racing in GT2. The two BMWs are on the same lap as the Risi Ferrari and catching up bit by bit.
6:13: Watching the replay of the #45′s off. Fully airborne, nose digs in to the dirt, car rejoins unscathed. That's one stout race car!
6:06: #45 Porsche is now two laps down, but both BMWs are now on the same lap as the #62 Ferrari.
5:54: The leading Risi Ferrari was pushed off track by the sister Krohn Ferrari. They were able to continue with no major damage. Full course yellow.
5:50: #45 ..and it flew in to the side of the #45 resulting in a flat, a bent wheel and some raggedy body work.
5:48: #17 has lost ANOTHER wheel. Sounds like the center locking nut is stripped.
5:37: #17 Falken Porsche just tossed a wheel. Long drive back to the pits. A wheel guy in the pits is going to get a talking to.
5:17: Just past halfway and the top three in GT2 are all still on the lead lap. Bruni/Risi Ferrari, Bergmeister/Flying Lizard Porsche, Milner/Rahal Letterman BMW
5:03: 'Guy Cosmo' is an extraordinarily cool name.
4:42: The Genoa racing #32 LMPC got in to a tire wall. Full course caution. Well timed for Dirk Mueller in the BMW.
4:17: Because I have the sense of humor of a six-year-old, I can't help but giggle every time they show a replay of the Jaguar RSR peeing water out of its quarter panel.
4:13: The 007 Aston sounds awesome! That's how a racecar is supposed to sound!
4:03: Just noticed the 55 Level Five Motorsports LMPC car is running 7th overall. Good jobs boys!
3:55: Bill Auberlin is all over the back of the Risi Ferrari. The race for the GT2 class lead is on!
3:52: Tweet from ALMS: Through five hours, the field covered 4,248 laps and 15,717.6 miles
3:39: Aston Martin has been pretty quiet, but they're still chugging along in 3rd.
3:18: Back from Jack in the Box and enjoying a steak teriyaki bowl. Why are the Vettes smashing in to each other in the pitlane?
2:41: Speed TV's bandwidth seems to have run out for the live streaming. I'm going to run to Jack in the Box for lunch and be back in time for the television coverage. Any one need anything?
2:31: The Drayson car is currently in the pits for a new alternator.
2:27: For those wondering Peugeot is running 1-2 in the Michelin Green X Challenge followed by Drayson.
12:38: Number 3 Vette back on track. Broken power steering hose fixed.
12:28: Corvette takes the number 3 to the trailer with power steering problems.
12:13: speedtv.com is live streaming the race. Go here: http://stream.speedtv.com/
12:02: Speed channel, in all their wisdom have broken away from Sebring coveragefor Nationwide qualifying.
11:46: Rear suspension is broken on the Primetime LMPC car, but is fixable. Dyson are still trying to diagnose an oil pressure problem on their P2 Lola Mazda.
11:43: I was just about to type that Bill Auberlin was leading GT2 but he was just passed by the Risi Ferrari.
11:38: Sebring is a strange place to watch a race. In the paddocks, it's very professional and sophisticated, but venture in to the infield and it like being in Tijuana.
11:28: Alright, a Hot Rod Grills commercial. Their website is very much worth checking out: hotrodgrills.com. Wonder if they would want to sponsor a fledgling website.
11:25: Primetime LMPC car is in the tire wall. First full course caution.
11:23: ALMS Twitter is saying Gentilozzi Jag RSR has retired. Unfortunate for those guys.
11:19: Lead Peugeot makes first pit stop.
11:17: Drayson Lola looking legitimately racy, but you get impression that the Peugeots are just bidding their time.
11:02: GT2 cars are constantly shuffling in and out of the top three. Bergmeister currently leads.
11:00: WOW! What a move by Pirro to take second!
10:56: Tweet from Corvette Racing: RT Magnussen passes 62 Ferrari (Melo) for P3. Gavin P5 in 4 #Corvette. Top 5 in GT2 within 1 second.#alms #sebring
10:48: Rut Ro, Jaguar RSR in the pits. Might be terminal.
10:43: Pagenaud in the Highcroft car has 19 secs on the rest of the P2 field.
10.39: Emanuelle Pirro in the Drayson Lola is giving the second place Peugeot hell.
10:35: Wolf Henzler in the Falken Porsche leads a very eclectic GT2 convoy. These guys are going to be going at it for the duration of the 12 hours.
10:30: …and we're off. Peugeot 1-2.
10:26 am: Just to recap, the pole sitters are Marc Gene/Peugeot/P1, Marino Fanchitti/Highcroft Acura/P2, Gunnar Jeanette/LMPC, Dirk Müller/BMW/GT2, Leh Keen/Alex Job Porsche/ GTC
10:17 am: We're about 15 minutes away from the green flag. Normally I'd be crack a beer right now, but it's a little early to get started now that I live in California.