EAST Yorkshire racing driver Guy Smith contests the Sebring 12 Hours in Florida on Saturday hoping to mark in style a memorable new car début and his tenth anniversary in the prestigious Florida race.

The 34-year-old, from Driffield, will drive a brand new British-built Lola Coupé B09/86 powered by a two-litre turbocharged Mazda engine in the LM P2 category in the 2009 American Le Mans Series opener.

Smith contests the 57th running of the Sebring event alongside regular co-driver Chris Dyson aiming to earn the American Dyson team LM P2 class glory.

“The most important thing is to finish the Sebring race as it’s worth double points. The LM P2 class is so competitive you can’t afford to drop points in the first race,” said Smith.

“The BP Lola-Mazda ‘package’ is new to me and the Dyson team but we’ve already proved it to be fast in testing and the Mazda engine is performing exceptionally well. We will be at Sebring to win and having led outright last year, I feel we can be up there fighting again.”

The Sebring International Raceway is a 17-corner circuit and is the oldest road course in North America.

The nature of the 3.7-mile track, located in central Florida, is considered a car “breaker” and very hard physically on the driver.

Smith added: “Sebring is tougher than Le Mans in some respects. Although it’s half the duration, the track is much bumpier and tougher on all areas of the car – suspension, brakes and gearbox for example.

“Also from a driver’s point of view, there are no long straights to rest so you really are thrown around, despite being belted in tightly, and therefore take quite a physical beating.”

Added Smith: “I’m driving a Coupé – a car with a roof – for the first time for a number of years. It’s hotter in the cockpit than an ‘open’ car so I’ve adjusted my training. I’ve been taking longer runs with lots of layers of clothes. I have also been building up heat tolerance in the sauna.”

Qualifying for grid positions on the near 30-car grid is today ahead of Saturday’s race, which could well be attended by more than 150,000 fans.