Alexander Sims will hope to put his recent disappointment behind him in his upcoming trip to Rome. Picture: Lou Johnson.
A TOUGH day at the office was in store for Coughton driver Alexander Sims at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday – following an electrical fault which hampered the 33-year-old’s afternoon.
Representing Corvette Racing in the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in Florida alongside team-mates Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner, Sims was unable to lead the way for a podium push after it became apparent there was an issue with his car early in the race.
The trio began the day second on the grid, but slipped down the rankings to finish fifth in class in a highly frustrating outing for all involved.
Sims made his dissatisfaction with the performance and final result clear, regardless of the team’s best efforts to claw back some pride at Sebring International Raceway.
“It was a tough day for everyone on the whole team,” he said.
“Certainly on the No.4 [Corvette] car, it was a long day.
“It was quite clear very quickly that we were going to be up against it to get anything from the race.
“We went into it seeing what we could salvage and in the end we couldn’t salvage much.
“From a personal point of view, it was good to get more miles in the Corvette, I found a decent amount of performance in myself between the first and second stint in the car.
“It was helpful to keep gaining miles. In practices, you only get ten or 12 laps before the race starts and that’s just not enough to get back into it – that’s the biggest positive from my side.”
The final outcome was made all the more frustrating considering the second-placed finish in class at the opening event of the campaign in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.
Sims and Co will have no choice but to dust themselves down for their next outing as a team, which takes place in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the Six Hours of Spa event – held in Stavelot, Belgium, on May 1.
On a personal level, however, Sims will next be involved in race action in the FIA Formula E World Championship, heading to Italy on April 10 for the Rome ePrix.
