Last week I was excited to be back at Sebring International Raceway, where I joined Forbush Performance for a test in their new Ligier LMP3 car. It was exciting because the team upgraded from the previous model, which they campaigned last year in Prototype Challenge.
This updated LMP3 platform is for the upcoming IMSA season, and the upgrades to the new car are really nice, with improved dash functionality and aerodynamic improvements, among other things.
The first day of testing went very smoothly, as the team learned the car and we made adjustments to continue evolving its pace through setup changes. Matt Forbush also got plenty of seat time to get his head wrapped around the car. It’s similar to what he was used to, but with the new improvements, he really got to enjoy the learning curve.
As we identified opportunities throughout the afternoon to continue pursuing more pace, I was reminded that it’s always hard to wrap your head around the level of grip these prototype machines are truly capable of. Lapping Sebring in under two minutes is quite the pace!
Day two came with a fresh set of objectives to accomplish, and the engineers and I were able to continue fine-tuning our setup window so we could keep learning what setup adjustments optimized performance.
Matt ended up running his best lap times of the event that day, and I’m excited to get the season underway with the team in 2026.