IMSA Lites Series Kicks Week Of Racing At SIR

The racing action of the Mobil1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida will have an early start this year as competitors in the IMSA Lites presented by Frisby Performance Tire take to the track for the first two races of the season March 14 and 15.

Last year's second-place finisher Joel Feinberg of Fort Lauderdale, comes to Sebring as one of the favorites in Saturday's 30-minute opening round. Last year's Sebring Lites Two winner Tom Drewer of Adelaide, Australia, has made the move to Lites One and hopes to continue his winning ways in the faster class.

"In some ways this year is rather similar to last year. I'm with a new team, Comprent, racing in a new class, L1, and learning a new car," Drewer said. "I'm more confident because I won here last year, on a circuit I had never been to before."

Sunday's round two will be a different format, featuring a 75-minute race with a mandatory pit stop. The 2008 season ended with the same endurance race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

"I think you have to carry a different mindset into this race. At Laguna last year we learned that this race is won and lost in the pits," Drewer explained. "There is a fair amount of luck involved when it comes to pitting and yellows. You have to prepare your race strategy with a fair amount of flexibility and work out ways to make sure you're the lucky one."

The IMSA Lites series features three classes racing at the same time, much like the American LeMans Series racing later in the week.

Returning to Sebring in the Lites Two category are 2008 podium finishers Eric Vassian, Atlanta, Ga., and Alain Nadal, Miami. The Lites Two cars are smaller, lighter West WR1000 prototypes.

The Lites Three class features the Elan/Van Diemen DP-06 chassis powered by a 2.3-liter sealed four-cylinder Mazda MZR engine that develops 170hp.

Teams and drivers will practice today with qualifying taking place Saturday at noon. The green flag will fall on round one at 3 p.m. Round two will start at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.

The IMSA Lites presented by Frisby Performance Tire is a championship comprised of 14 rounds at seven famous tracks in North America including Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. And Road Atlanta, Braselton, Ga.