SEBRING, FL (15 March 2019) – Mustang Sampling Racing will start Saturday’s 67th Annual Twelve Hours of Sebring from the second row, looking to continue its success in the endurance classic.
Filipe Albuquerque qualified fourth on Friday morning, turning a lap of 1:46.238-seconds in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R.
“I’m pretty happy with the session the car was pretty good, particularly in the opening laps,” said Albuquerque. “I was giving it everything. I don’t think there was any more for us today, but tomorrow is the thing for us. I don’t care what the weather is, I just want to win the race. There are some things we will keep working on before tomorrow, but we’ve got a good race car for sure and I’m really looking forward to Saturday.”
Albuquerque will join Joao Barbosa and Brendon Hartley in the endurance classic. The team won at Sebring in 2015, finished second in 2017 and third in both 2014 and 2016. Mustang Sampling was well on the way to another podium finish in last year’s event, only to be forced to the garage after getting caught up in an incident past the midway point.
Albuquerque prepped for qualifying by turning the third-fastest lap in Friday morning’s final practice. He ran 1:46.676-seconds, the best lap of the weekend for the team.
Mustang Sampling Racing is looking to rebound from a frustrating Rolex 24 At Daytona, where electrical gremlins resulted in a lengthy trip to the garage for the defending winners of the event. The team worked from 45th to finish seventh in the DPi class, with deteriorating weather conditions preventing further advancement up the scoring pylon.
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring is set to take the green flag at 10:40 a.m. ET. with live coverage on CNBC.