PSR Comes to Sebring Classic
16 September 1998
Sebring, FL-September 15, 1998 Rounds 6, 7 and 8 of the Professional Sports Car Racing (PSR) season will be conducted over the next five weeks. Round 6 is this week-end, September 17-19, with the NAPA Auto Parts Sebring Classic. The World Sports Car (WSC) fight between Ferrari drivers' Wayne Taylor and Eric van der Poele and Ford driver Butch Leitzinger continues on Saturday as the WSC cars return to the fabled Sebring racetrack. Taylor holds a slim 1 point lead over his teammate ,van der Poele, and a five point lead over defending WSC champion Leitzinger. With three races remaining in the season it is anyone's guess as to who will prevail. Last year, Leitzinger, withstood relentless challenges from all corners and prevailed at the season-ending race at Laguna Seca. A similar scenario could be in the makings for 1998. For Leitzinger the question to be answered "Can he stay on the hot streak?" The defending champion has won the last three PSR WSC (Lime Rock, Road Atlanta and Mosport) races and could easily be in line to win at Sebring. Unlike the 12-Hour Endurance in March, Saturday's race will be a three hour sprint race. Wayne Taylor will be trying to counter-punch any attempts on his current lead. The former WSC Champion (1994 & 1996) switched teams last year and has shown that consistent finishes combined with a couple of victories can lead to another championship. In GT-1 the Panoz team will once again try to win on their "Florida" hometrack. The team not only wants to win it's division but an outright over-all victory is also on the request line. It will be an interesting development. The Panoz' main competition for the PSR and USRRC series has been the Porsche GT1 of Champion Porsche. The team won the 1998 USRRC Championship. In GT2 and GT3 the continuation of the battle between BMW and Porsche for supremacy wages on. Defending Driver's GT2 Champion, Larry Schumacher can wrap up the championship this week-end with a victory. In the manufacturer's battle BMW arrives with a four race victory streak. None the less Porsche still maintains a 14 point lead (114-100) with three races left. In GT3 the story is the same 3 letters as it was in 1997-BMW. The only remaining mystery is whom among the four BMW drivers will walk away with the championship. Bill Auberlein, Mark Simo, Ross Bentley and Peter Cunningham are separated by only 12 points. Like last year the championship will probably not be decided until the last race at Laguna Seca. Bill Auberlein, the defending GT3 Champion leads the pack of four as they head into the Sebring week-end. Once again the week-end will be another peek at what is in store for 1999. The PSR/USRRC split has benefitted no one this year. Perhaps the air will be cleared after the Petit Le Mans in October. TACH will let you know immediately should any breaking news develop. David Treffer -- The Auto Channel
