Robillard, McAleer Seeking Redemption
in Sebring Return
This year’s SuperSebring weekend will be full
of prototypes in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
However, they won’t be the only ones fans will see at
the Central Florida race track.
The IMSA Prototype Challenge returns to Sebring International
Raceway in 2020 for Round 2 of this year’s six-race
season, and defending race winner Robillard Racing will
be battling against fi erce competition to return to victory
lane this year.
Steven McAleer, the team’s pro driver, drove the Robillard
Racing Norma LMP3 machine in last year’s event all by
himself, and secured his fi rst victory in the IMSA Prototype
Challenge after pulling away from Austin McCusker to win
by more than 11 seconds.
“That victory was super special,” said
McAleer, who this year is sharing the ride
with team owner Joe Robillard as all cars
now are required to have two drivers for each
race. “We didn’t have a good time at Daytona
in 2019, and to jump in the car by myself and
have that performance, it meant much to me
for us to get a win.
“It was probably one of the biggest moments
of my career.”
McAleer was set to look strong again at Daytona in early January
this year after posting the fourth-fastest time in the fi rst
practice. However, a fuel intake issue happened before the
race, sidelining the blue and teal No. 10 Norma M30 and resulting
in an unfortunate DNS to the fi rst race of the season.
For the second year in a row, McAleer and Robillard Racing
would not see the checkered fl ag at Daytona, and in a
season that only has six races, every race is crucial for a
team striving for a championship.
“There’s a lot of things to take from last year,” said McAleer,
who also fi nished third overall at the Michelin IMSA Sports-
Car Encore at Sebring last November. “I think the Daytona
race did cost us a championship last year, and I don’t want
to say that’s happened again.”
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