Seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor Pippa Mann was part of the four-driver lineup for ProSport Competition, and helped earn a podium finish for the team in their first-ever, World Racing League 24 Hour race held at Sebring International Raceway on October 31, 2021.
Mann normally competes in the Championship with customers in her own BMW M2 with TLM Racing. When the team decided not to enter their cars in what would prove to be a grueling test of endurance for both drivers and cars, the British driver became available to join ProSport Competition.
With several of her 2019 Indianapolis 500 crew involved in leading the ProSport Competition entry, Mann transferred into a car she normally races against. She joined the driver line-up of Dwayne Moses, Zach Arnold and Jim Cox for the historic event.
Mann turned her first laps in the No. 143 RP Aston Martin Vantage GT4 during Friday’s practice and qualifying sessions. Her lap time from the first session placed the team eighth on the starting grid for the following day’s race.
With Moses at the wheel for the start on Saturday, and Cox driving second, the team picked up places in the opening stints. The team ran as high as third place before a flash fire from a fuel overfill forced Mann to park at a marshal station. Once she ensured the flames were out, a trip back to the garage area confirmed there was no permanent damage to the car. Now several laps down, the team returned to track with a goal of making up ground.
All of the teammates bested their practice and qualifying times during the race, working together to climb the order overall and taking back laps from the leading cars.
At 2:00 a.m., Mann was in the car for a double stint and took the final two laps back from the second-place entry by passing for position before the end of her stint. Arnold then took the wheel and continued the charge, putting two laps of safety between the Aston Martin GT4 and the third place competitor during his double stint.
As the sun rose on Sunday morning, the team was holding down second place with a two-lap lead. Mechanical issues from the brutal pounding of an endurance race at Sebring were starting to take their toll on the car. The last four hours of the race, from 8:00 a.m. to noon, were tense as the team took turns in single stints, nursing their ailing race car home without giving up the podium.
As the checked flag flew on the first-ever 24 Hour race at Sebring, and after 2000 racing miles at one of the bumpiest race tracks in America, ProSport Competition secured second place both in the GT0 class, and overall, in its first-ever World Racing League podium finish.
“It was so much fun to be invited to join this team for the first ever Sebring 24,” said Mann. “Having the opportunity to race such a great car, with team-mates who were so incredibly fast in every single stint of the race, and then coming away with second place overall. It was so great to be here with Race for RP and ProSport Competition for this race.”
Mann resumes her coaching and co-driving duties with client Jody Miller and his Porsche Cup Car for TLM Racing on November 5-7, 2021 at Circuit of the Americas for the penultimate IGT Championship event of the season.