Terry Borcheller - Sebring race

so close ...

 

Terry Borcheller had a podium finish in sight at the Mobil 1 12 Hours of
Sebring, but an engine problem late in the race took him out of contention.
The Gainesville, Ga., driver shared the No. 63 ACEMCO Motorsports Saleen S7R
with Ralf Kelleners of Dusseldorf, Germany, and Johnny Mowlem of London,
England. The trio held third place in the newly named GT1 class for four
hours of the 12-hour race on the 3.7-mile Sebring (Fla.) International
Raceway road course.

 

The qualifying session was cancelled due to heavy rain, so the ACEMCO Saleen
started third on the GT1 grid, based on practice lap times. Mowlem drove the
first race stint, followed by Borcheller and Kelleners. They each drove an
initial double stint, then followed with single stints in the second half of
the race.

 

Mowlem dropped back at the start, but regained fifth in class before handing
over to Borcheller. Kelleners moved up to fourth during his first stint and
to third during his second stint. Borcheller was behind the wheel when the
car developed an engine problem at 11h37 and was unable to continue.

 

"It was a great effort from everybody. We had a chance maybe for second and
we definitely had a podium," Borcheller said. "I felt really good behind the
wheel. It was uneventful for me, just a lot of driving! It didn't finish the
way we wanted it to, but we gave it our best shot."

 

class to watch

 


New entries from Aston Martin and Maserati drew interest in the GT1 class,
which has been dominated by Corvette for the past few years.

 

"GT1 was a good class at Sebring. There was a lot of attention drawn to it
and a lot of people picked the Saleen to win," Borcheller noted. "It was
good for the sponsors and we at least were able to push the Corvettes a
little bit."

 

record race

 

Ever mindful of his sponsors K&N Performance Filters, Bondurant School of
High Performance Driving, Alpinestars and Bell Helmets, Borcheller was happy
with the reports of a record crowd for the race, estimated at 170,000. He
met many of the fans during a visit to Sebring High School, a driver
autograph session and a volleyball game that pitted drivers against the
Hazardous Girls in the track's Spring Brake Party Zone.