WHITEHAVEN racing driver Jonny Edgar and team clinched fourth place in their class in one of the toughest endurance races - the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

The race, held on Friday, March 15 in Florida, saw Edgar race as part of the Sean Creech Motorsport team with fellow drivers Lance Willsey and João Barbosa.

The team had to navigate some small technical issues throughout practice, but made good progress and a solid performance in qualifying by Edgar’s teammate  Willsey meant the team would start the race from P13 in the LMP2 class.

Motorsport UK Academy Team driver Edgar had to wait until the four-hour mark of the race to get his first stint in the car. He started his first stint with the car in 11th position and worked his way to 10th, before handing back the driving.

Despite being two laps down in class as a result of an avoided accident, Edgar and Willsey, who would share the driving duties over the second half of the race, were able to recover those laps.

Edgar, who made a number of overtakes, stayed out of trouble and was able to go from P7 to P4. He said: “It was a great race. The team did a mega job with the strategy to get the laps back and then at the end, pitting at the right time. I made up some places at the start and was then able to hold on until the end.

"The car was really good in the night which was really important.

"Moving forward we’ll look into why the car was so much better at night because if we can figure that out, we can have some really strong results in future races. Overall it was a clean race on our side, everyone in the team did a fantastic job and I appreciate the hard work everyone at the team put in.

"I’ve also got to say that my teammates Lance and João did a great job all weekend and it was nice that compared to Daytona we were so much more competitive.”

His attention will turn to the opening round of the European Le Mans Series at Barcelona in April.