As with his appearances at Le Mans 24 Hours and Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans last season, Elton Julian set the pace for his teammates in practice for this weekend’s running of the American Le Mans Series Sebring 12 Hours endurance classic. In fact, Julian was the quickest of the Barazi-Epsilon team’s three drivers in every session he ran on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Dutchman Michael Vergers was selected to drive the Barazi-Epsilon Courage C65-AER turbo entry in official qualifying on Thursday afternoon, and claimed an impressive third on the LMP2 grid and eighth overall. As expected, LMP2 qualifying was completely dominated by the Penske Porsche team, whose cars will line up third and fourth in the 35-car field. Vergers will also start the race, with stints for Julian and car owner JuanBarazi to follow.
The team finished the day with a brief run in night time practice, aiming to conserve the car for the famously gruelling Sebring race. With the logos of Ecuador tourism (vivecuador.com) and loyal sponsors Men’s Health and Best Life glowing in the dark,
Elton’s again recorded the team’s best time and pronouncedhimself well satisfied with the team’s preparations and race pace.
“The team is working brilliantly, and I believe we can have a quick as well as reliable run in the race,” said Julian. “The Porsches are obviously in a class by themselves, but a podium result is a definite possibility. I want to thank the Barazi-Epsilon crew and support staff from Gunnar Racing for giving me such a well-balancedand easy to drive car. They’ve been total professionals and I have to say my race engineer, Mark Schoman, is one of the best I’ve ever worked with.”
“We’re aiming to put on a good show for Ecuador and my new supporters from there, ANETA and Ninacuro, as well as my regular sponsors Men’s Health and Best Life magazines, Puma Motorsport, Impact Race Products, and The-Paddock.net,” said Julian.
A final practice session is scheduled for today with the race due to start at 10.30 on Saturday. Ten of the 12 hours will be broadcast live on Speed Channel with live race timing and scoring available on the ALMS’ official website, americanlemans.com.
