San Diego, CA (March 17th, 2021) – Round 2 of the IMSA Prototype Challenge Championship featured 17 LMP3-1 class cars competing for top spot around the birthplace of American endurance racing, Sebring International Raceway. The weekend included two practice sessions, a qualifying session, and 1 hour 45-minute race around the legendary 3.74-mile road course, known for its bumpy surface and high commitment corners.
Having completed a 2-day test back in February, the team was confident heading into the weekend. Unfortunately, the first day on track for the team was plagued with uncharacteristic gremlins that limited the team’s track time. Nevertheless, as championship caliber teams do, Dickerson and MLT regrouped and kept their focus on the goals at hand. Dickerson’s co-driver, Josh Sarchet, put in a great effort in qualifying to put the #54 Ligier JSP320 on the second row of the grid for the race.
Photo Credit - Chris Green Photography
The feature race started in the late afternoon under sunny conditions and warm Florida weather. Sarchet got off to a great start and maintained his 3rd place position while pacing the same as leader and championship contender Muehlner Motorsports. After a series of full course yellows and restarts, the MLT Motorsports crew brought Sarchet in to get Dickerson in the car for the remaining 50 minutes of the race. Unfortunately, the ill-timed yellow flags meant that Dickerson would find himself back in 6th position nearly a lap behind the leaders due to pit rotations. However, the race would then shift back towards the favor of Dickerson as another full course yellow came out to bunch up the field for a 20-minute shootout to the finish. Dickerson had a big task on his hands to get to the lead pack, with multiple lap cars and LMP3-2 cars in between him and leaders. On the restart, Dickerson managed to jump the car in front of him and followed that up with two more passes to get the #54 MLT Motorsports car onto the podium and ultimately the points lead in the championship.
“It was a bittersweet result for all of us at MLT Motorsports” said Dickerson. “We knew coming into the weekend we had a great car, and myself and Josh both felt very good after the test. Unfortunately, as racing goes, some things are outside of our control. The team called the right strategy for the situation, but some poorly timed yellows hindered our results. There were a lot of positive takeaways from this weekend, and I’m really looking forward to Mid-Ohio.”
Photo Credit - Chris Green Photography
Round 3 of the IMSA Prototype Challenge Championship will be held at Mid-Ohio SportsCar Course from May 14-16, 2021. MLT Motorsports has a great track record there and will be looking to maintain their momentum. Be sure to follow the action via the Dickerson Racing social media channels:
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About Dakota Dickerson Racing:
Dakota Dickerson is a third-generation racer from San Diego, CA. The 24-year old has been racing since he was 6 years old and with MLT Motorsports placed 2nd in the 2020 IMSA Prototype Challenge. Since his start in racing cars, he has won a Driver Development scholarship from Bryan Herta Autosport (2-time Indianapolis 500 winning team), a Karts to Cars scholarship from Skip Barber Racing School, was chosen to be one of two drivers to represent the United States overseas via the Team USA Scholarship, was the 2016 USF2000 Mazda Scholarship Driver, and won the 2018 F4 US Championship and 2019 F3 Americas Championship. With this success, he hopes to continue on to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
About IMSA Prototype Challenge:
The IMSA Prototype Challenge series is for future IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers and veteran drivers alike. Entering its 16th season, IMSA Prototype Challenge is a single-class, endurance race format in 2020 with six races held on North America’s most premier road courses. The series will continue to feature the global-spec LMP3 prototypes.