Charlie Eastwood is confident he can hand the DXDT Racing Team something tangible at the Sebring 12 Hours, the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
He survived a heart-stopping episode at January’s 24 Hours of Daytona when his Corvette Z06 GT3.R suddenly caught fire midway through the event at the International Speedway.
The pro-rated driver detected flames at the rear on one of the cockpit’s displays and swiftly pulled off the track at the Tri-Oval section where fire responders dealt with the incident.
Eastwood later praised the fire team’s actions on the day, describing them as “insanely good” and suggested that they had saved the machine from potential destruction.
Eastwood is doubly keen to break into the podium places around Sebring in light of the Z06 GT3.R’s success in GTD at Daytona under the AWA Racing banner, and class triumph with TF Sport at last month’s World Endurance Championship opener — the Qatar 1,812km.
“To keep our Endurance Cup Championship hopes up, hopefully we can give the team back something, because they worked so hard pre- and post-Daytona,” said Eastwood.
“We need to find a way to piece the bits of the puzzle together so we can show the car’s performance.
“It’s been shown by others, so we want to get a good result for DXDT Racing.
“GT racing at Sebring is always one to watch if you are not involved,” continued Eastwood, who is co-driving the No.36 car in south-eastern America with Alec Udell and Salih Yoluc.
A 56-strong grid has been secured for the 73rd Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, with 20 of these making up a congested GT Daytona (GTD) field that includes entries from Aston Martin, Lexus, Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG, Lamborghini, Ford, Porsche and BMW.
Also taking part in the race — which has a UK start time of 2.10pm — is Hillsborough’s Dan Harper.
The BMW M Motorsport driver returns to the series with Paul Miller Racing hoping for a much better outcome after a rival needlessly rear-ended his M4 GT3 EVO at Daytona.
The 24-year-old has already completed tests around the 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring and with these going well, the multi-GT3 champion said: “I cannot wait to tackle another legendary US endurance race.
“To be racing through the day and into the night is going to be very cool.”