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Former Formula 1 driver Toro Rosso was added late to the # 5 Cadillac DPi.V-R supported by Samang Sampling for the 12 Hours IMSA Sebring, alongside regulars Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque on the Florida circuit.
Hartley played his first of two scheduled appearances with the SMP Racing LMP1 team, replacing Jenson Button in the BR Engineering BR1-AER # 11.
After finishing best of the rest behind both Toyotas with teammates Mikhail Aleshin and Vitaly Petrov at the WEC 1000 km event on Friday, Hartley continued this momentum with another third place in the IMSA event. .
A late safety car meant the No. 5 car was ending within three seconds of Pipo Derani's winning Action Express car, Felipe Nasr and Eric Curran.
"It was great to work with AXR, with Joao and Felipe," Hartley told Motorsport.com.
"It was difficult to jump into the [IMSA] race after driving a car so different. I will not lie, it took me a couple of relays to find my feet. But I felt comfortable in the end.
"I think we did the best we could at the end." The other car [#31] had the advantage over the pace and the team was flawless.
"Everyone did a great job, we finished third, so we are very happy."
# 5 Mustang Cadillac DPi Racing Sampling, DPi: Joao Barbosa, Albuquerque Filipe, Brendon Hartley
Photo by: Scott R LePage / LAT Images
Hartley was driving when No. 5 car was downgraded by Jordan Taylor into the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Cadillac at the penultimate start.
The New Zealander admitted that he had been "surprised to sleep a bit" by Taylor.
"Obviously new to these tires and for the first time with this Cadillac, I braked a bit early in Turn 1 and it made a good move around the outside," he said. added.
"It was pretty tight but he held up to pay tribute to him, I was a little green at the start of the race, I was putting pressure on the rest of the relay, but he made a good move."
Hartley and his SMP Racing teammates had to fight back after an early puncture to finish third in the WEC race, taking advantage of the late speeding issues for the No. 3 Gibson Rebellion R-13.
They finished 11 laps on the winning Toyota TS050 Hybrid.
"The puncture at the start did not help and did a lot of damage to the back of the car, so it was a tough race from now on," Hartley said.
"But again, we stayed on the road and got the podium."
Podium: # 11 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1: Mikhail Aleshin, Vitaly Petrov, Brandon Hartley
Picture from: JEP / LAT Images
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