Entering last Sunday’s NEO Endurance Series season opener at Sebring, there was plenty of excitement and promise throughout the paddock, but also some important questions to be answered.

Among the strong and closely matched GT field, how well would the teams play with one another? Given that drivers with almost equal pace would be fighting over the same real estate for six straight hours, for anyone predicting a clean race, I had some swampland in Florida, not far from the Sebring race track, to sell them.

For our team, we knew we had a strong lineup, but it was just our second race working together and our first one in the Ford GT. Could we agree on things like the setup, strategy, and stint schedule in order to make it a smooth and successful race?

And for me, after exiting pre-qualifications as our team’s slowest driver, could I maximize my pace and minimize my mistakes to show I belong in NEO and in our team’s lineup? As I put it in my pre-qualifying thoughts, I’m determined not to be a liability in the car this season, and there would be no better time to put that idea to bed than in the first race.

Unlike in pre-qualifying, when I was a reserve driver, I was actually called upon to perform at Sebring. One of our drivers, Steve McGarvey, had to miss the race, which left us with three drivers available and a mid-race double stint awaiting me.

First Things First

Before that, Jason Gerard — our quickest driver in practice — was in the car for the opening hours of the race. Starting in 24th out of 31 GTE cars, we had hope of moving up but it would take some work, and perhaps some help from other teams, to get there.

That help didn’t come in the opening stint. While we were stuck in a tight battle, attrition around us was almost non-existent. After an hour of racing, we had moved up only one position from where we started.

To make more headway, it seemed that an alternate strategy might be required. While we had planned to divide the race into six even stints, the start of the race saw three extra pace laps to sort out the starting grid. The extra fuel saved and time burned behind the pace car extended the first stint by 10 minutes or so, which opened the door to double-stint a set of tires and do a shorter run on old rubber.

We planned to defer our decision until the final pit stop, but we got a preview of its efficacy in the second hour of the race. One of the teams we’d been racing with, Blue Flag Racing, opted not to change tires during their first stop, which put them more than 25 seconds up the road from us.

However, a slower pace and a spin on worn tires cost them all that time, and we passed them just as they ducked into the pits to make their second stop.

Into the Fray

We pitted a few laps later, which meant it was my turn to get in the car. When my stint started, the pressure was on as I rejoined the fight with Blue Flag Racing directly ahead of me.

That battle would have to wait, though, as my stint got off to an inauspicious start. On my outlap, I clipped a bit too much of the inside tarmac entering turn 15 and received a slowdown penalty. I lost a second or so, but fortunately, it would be my costliest mistake of the day.

After shaking off that error, I set my sights on the car ahead, and while both of us were new drivers behind the wheel, our paces remained similar. During my first stint, I was able to stay in their draft and close in on them, although not close enough to make the pass.

Once we had both pitted, a new car joined the fray. This team had been running ahead of us for much of the race, but Karl cautioned me that they had a new driver in the car whose pace wasn’t as strong as his teammate’s. In other words, getting past him quickly would be important.

That was a tall task since I barely had any experience racing — let alone passing — in the Ford. But on fresh tires, an opportunity presented itself, and we went side-by-side through Sunset bend and down the frontstretch.

I was on his outside entering turn 1, so my chances to complete the pass seemed slim. However, a good exit allowed me to stay alongside entering turn 3, where I had to ignore my still-burgeoning instincts not to overdrive the Ford into the corner.

Going in deep worked, as I powered around the outside of my opponent’s Ferrari with one of the finest passes of my NEO career.

For the rest of my stint, I stayed locked in the draft with the Blue Flag car and we set some fast laps running in formation. The setup we’d tweaked and tuned until the drop of the green flag was handling perfectly, even over the slow, bumpy sections of the demanding Sebring circuit.

While the track often becomes slow and greasy at this point in a race, in this case, cooling air temperatures meant the track was actually gaining grip, and our car felt as good as it had during any of my practice runs.

Despite not passing the Blue Flag car, my confidence in my own driving was high after a successful double stint that saw us move up to 19th place and into a points-scoring position.

Reversal of Fortune

The final two stints belonged to Karl — a slightly unusual role for him since he’s more used to starting our races together than finishing them. But the traffic around him must have made him feel right at home, as a battle with one other car soon turned into a full-on six-car scrap when the GT midfield accordioned together.

Karl got the worst of that battle, falling to the back of the pack and into 20th, barely clinging to a point. It seemed that this race was becoming the latest chapter of our tough-luck NEO career together that has seen pretty much everything go wrong at some point, from computer problems to penalties to spins.

However, later in Karl’s opening stint, that bad luck instead began to plague the teams around us. One car spun another, which resulted in a penalty to the offender and two positions gained for us. Another car disappeared due to Internet issues, handing us another spot.

We entered the final hour in 18th position, and the only question left was which strategy we — and our opponents — would choose.

Karl said that he abused his tires in the earlier battle, so he preferred to spend the extra time changing tires in the pits to give him something to attack with.

As it turned out, we were the only team among those around us who opted for fresh rubber. That gave Karl some big gaps to bridge — 12 seconds to one car and 30 to the next — but he had the tires and he soon showed the pace needed to get the job done.

Cardiac Karl

Entering the final 15 minutes of the race, we were still in 18th, but our closest competitors were less than 10 seconds up the road. Karl worried about losing time while battling them, but I assured him that they had no tires left to battle with. Sure enough, he completed one pass in turn 1 and was catching the next car by more than two seconds per lap.

That pass would be easier still, although a bit scarier. That Ferrari spun on the winding road to turn 13, and while Karl had to take to the grass to avoid it, he was up to 16th place — the highest we’d run all day. As a welcome contrast to the rest of Karl’s stint, the final laps wound down uneventfully and he brought the car to the finish.

Earning that finish required a nearly mistake-free race — our most egregious errors were one slowdown penalty each. So given our effort, is 16th worth getting excited about?

In almost any other race, maybe not. But this season’s NEO GT grid is the strongest ever assembled. The drivers around us would all be favorites to win any given race in the official IMSA series.

So finishing smack dab in the middle of the 31-car field, just one lap down to the class winners who were up to a second per lap quicker than us, was something to be proud of.

Given how competitive all three of our drivers were against our opponents, I can’t help but think that we belong. And yes, after one of my best NEO double stints to date, even I belong.