For the Joest Racing, this weekend might seem like a return home. Truly, it’s been five years since they have run at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
In fact, 2013 was the final season for the American Le Mans Series and the Joest-operated Audi factory team. However, the Joest team, at least during that year, had a fond memory from that race as they dominated throughout that event. The driver lineup in the winning car consisted of Benoit Treluyer, Marcel Fassler, and Oliver Jarvis.
They would end that night with a 1-2 finish.
Joest Racing returns to Sebring this weekend fielding a two-car Mazda Team in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype (P) class.
For Oliver Jarvis, who returns to the team this season says he has fond memories of Sebring.
“I have great memories of the victory in 2013 as it was my first victory for Audi,” Jarvis said.
Jarvis will share the No. 77 Mazda RT24-P Daytona Prototype this week with Tristan Nunez and Rene Rast.
Jarvis recalls that race was tough, especially against their team car, which at the time was running a new spec car.
“Early on in the race, we sustained damage to the floor,” Jarvis explained. “So, we drove the majority of the race with a damaged car and were concerned that we might have to box to repair the floor, which would have cost us victory. Fortunately, the car held on and we managed to win by a small margin.”
This track holds fervent memories for Joest Managing Director Ralf Juttner, who has been a part of four Sebring victories. They will be looking for win number five this weekend in the 66th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Most importantly for this team, the legendary 3.74-mile racing Florida race track has seen few changes since 2013.
Juttner said that his teams are very excited to get back to the Florida race track.
“Obviously, it’s a completely different class of racing,” Juttner said. “We ran the LM P1 and it was those hybrid monsters if you want to call them that. It was factory competition the past few years we ran there.”
Information moving forward.
A 12-hour race at Sebring is not very forgiving.
“It’s very rough on the drivers and the materials for the cars,” Juttner adds.
This race has been good for the Joest team and it’s an event that they use for information to take to Le Mans.
“I wouldn’t say there is a secret to their success,” added Jarvis on the Joest team’s performance at Sebring. “It’s just a case of hard work and great preparation that this team puts in.”
For Jarvis, Juttner and the entire Joest Racing team, they know that having been around this sport for a while, past success is not a guarantee for the future.
“It just means we know how to handle the pressure,” Jarvis said.
