Robertson Racing hour 4 report

Sebring 12 Hours

Eventful start to Sebring 12 Hours for Robertson Racing

#40 Robertson Racing Doran Ford GT: David Robertson, Andrea Robertson, Boris Said

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

Robertson Racing has enjoyed an eventful start to the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida which has seen one of its Ford GT cars briefly lead the hugely-competitive GT class and the other lose a significant amount of time with a starter motor problem.

After a strong performance in the morning warm-up session, Anthony Lazarro started the team’s #004 car from 12th on the GT class grid, with Boris Said in the #40 car one place behind, and the Atlanta-based team’s machines were involved in their own private battle early on as Said moved ahead of his team-mate.

Up to tenth and 11th in class as the pits opened on lap 15 during a Safety Car period, Lazarro came in immediately reporting handling issues but, while most of the rest of the field also stopped, Said stayed on track and moved to the head of the GT pack.

As the race went green a couple of laps later, Said bravely held on to the top spot for several tours as the works-backed Corvettes, Ferraris and BMWs closed in, before eventually slipping back ahead of his pit stop on lap 27, where Andrea Robertson took over the car.

Unfortunately, things weren’t going as well for Lazarro in the #004 car as he suffered a starter motor failure as racing resumed and had to be wheeled behind the wall for repairs, costing the team seven laps.

Another yellow flag period after 47 laps then added to #004’s problems when it was handed a four minute stop/go penalty for passing the Safety Car too early, dropping the car down to 15th.

Dave Murry (#004) and David Robertson (#40) then both enjoyed strong stints at the wheel as the team’s fight back began with Murry climbing up to 14th in class and Said, who took over from Robertson on lap 71, to 12th as the race reached the four-hour mark.

David Robertson: “At the moment we are ahead of the #004 car but that is due to the amount of time they lost replacing the brand new starter motor when it failed. The team did an amazing job to change it so quickly and only lost a few laps.

"Neither car is perfect. #004 has a handling issue we don’t understand but that is slowing it down. It also appears to have a small power issue that comes and goes."