PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports finshes 2nd at 12h Sebring after starting on pole 20.03.2019: PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports had a weekend of highs and lows after starting the 67th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts in pole position and just missing the top

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports had a weekend of highs and lows after starting the 67th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts in pole position and just missing the top step of the podium in the second race of the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
 
 
 
 
The team of PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports nearly secured pole position at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona earlier this year, so expectations were high going into qualifying at Sebring International Raceway.  Matthew McMurry threw down a spectacular flying lap right at the checkered flag to score his first career Motul Pole Award with a lap time of 1:49.728 in the No. 52 ORECA LMP2.
 


The race began under heavy rain conditions and the first hour was run under caution. Despite the conditions, McMurry and his teammates Gabriel Aubry and Anders Fjordbach held the lead in the LMP2 class until the No. 52 fell victim to a left-rear suspension failure. PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports was forced to return to their trailer and repair the car before returning to the fight.
 


Jumping back into the race in 2nd place, the repairs made by the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports crew allowed their drivers to eat away at the laps they had lost and push to catch the leading car. Unfortunately, despite having set the fastest lap of the race and being faster than the leading LMP2, the gap was too significant, and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports finished the 67th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts in 2nd place. Next, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports will go from the east coast to the west coast on April 13th for the Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach.
 



Matt McMurry
Driver - #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 LMP2


"We had the pace to win by a pretty big margin, but sadly a suspension failure took us out of contention for the win. We had a great car all weekend, and the team did a great job getting us back out on track quickly after the suspension problem. It was very disappointing, but I know we definitely have the pace to win."
 



Gabriel Aubry
Driver - #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 LMP2



"Such a hard weekend in Sebring.  We had lost our chances of wins early in the race due to an unusual suspension failure that brought us back to 24 laps behind the leader. The team proved the strongest pace over the last 9 hours of the race, but just as Daytona it is not what we were looking for. It doesn’t reward the team for the work during both races, and I hope luck will turn our way to do it properly."
 




Anders Fjordbach
Driver - #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 LMP2



"A dream came true, to participate in one of the American classics, Sebring. It was a big experience for me, I’m a big fan of the American way to do racing, it’s very interesting. However, our result was very disappointing. We drove a perfect race, with great pace, great pit stops, great strategy, no contacts. But an early suspension failure made us drop back 24 laps and that was game over, unfortunately."
 


Bobby Oergel Team Principal
#52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 LMP2



"The race started out as planned with keeping the car safe and examining the tough rain conditions. Once things settled down, Matt worked his way to the lead, and all was going well. Sadly we had a failure that was very odd, and this put us 24 laps behind. The drivers and team all did a great job to earn back 11 of those laps, but in the end, we needed more time."
 
 
 
 
 
 
Alejandra Zubieta