Sebring 12 Hours – Syndication Server

Perfection across the board from Porsche at Sebring

For Porsche Penske Motorsport in GTP, it’s been quite the start to the season, capturing a second consecutive Rolex 24 win and now a first win at the Sebring 12 Hours with the 963. The key to winning this race is finding a setup that works best when …

For Porsche Penske Motorsport in GTP, it’s been quite the start to the season, capturing a second consecutive Rolex 24 win and now a first win at the Sebring 12 Hours with the 963.

The key to winning this race is finding a setup that works best when the temperature drops and the sun sets, and that was precisely the story here. The German manufacturer’s challengers were consistently quick in the heat of the day, but the 963s came into their own when the race hit full darkness and the finish approached.

RACE SUMMARY

The No. 7 powered to the front with a Nick Tandy pass on Action Express’ Fred Vesti, and the No. 6 sister car later followed through to make it a “Penske perfect” one-two, claiming a first overall win on the “Bumps” since 2008 with the RS Spyder program.

As ever on the world-famous airfield circuit, there was plenty of drama up and down the order – even though the race ran green through the afternoon – and in GTP, the attacks from BMW, Acura and Cadillac were blunted by the end of the race by a mixture of penalties and incidents.

The Porsches came into their own as the sun set. Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

The No. 93 Acura MSR ARX-06 came closest to spoiling the Porsche party, but Nick Yelloly didn’t quite have the ponies to match or better Mathieu Jaminet and Felipe Nasr (who set the fastest lap of the race four laps from the finish) ahead. He crossed the line five seconds back from the winning car.

“I’m very happy to get my first podium for HRC, Acura, MSR and my teammates Alex (Palou) and Renger (van der Zande) – they drove fantastically all day,” Yelloly said. “I’ve finished second and third at Sebring and now next year we need to get that win.”

As for Cadillac, it was a pretty miserable day. For Wayne Taylor Racing, only one of its V-Series.Rs finished, down in seventh, and Action Express Racing’s Whelen-backed example faded and dropped out of the podium places after its final stop.

Earl Bamber pushed hard with new tires in the scramble following the final caution with 32 minutes to go, but could only find a way past Proton Competition’s Neel Jani with time expiring to nab fourth.

“We didn’t have that extra gear that the others did,” Action Express’ Jack Aitken admitted.

For BMW, it was a case of déjà vu, the RLL team failing to convert pole position into a podium finish for the second race in a row.

Both M Hybrid V8s struggled to feature up front after the No. 24’s early penalty for a botched start. The best finish, on a night in which it hoped to claim a famous win to celebrate the 50th anniversary of BMW North America and its 1975 12 Hours win, was fifth.

Nick Tandy completed the sports car racing Triple crown” with victory at Sebring. James Gilbert/Getty Images

“You rarely see a sports team or an operation or something that does a single event without any faults or mistakes or anything like this. And we’ve just been celebrating with probably 40 people that have just flawlessly run a car for 36 hours,” Nick Tandy, who, along with his teammates Felipe Nasr and Laurens Vanthoor led 473 of the first 1134 laps of the season, said after the race.

“Obviously, Daytona and Sebring combined. It’s just a testament to what Porsche and Porsche Penske has put together as a group of people that allow us to go racing and have this success without mistake.

“The easiest thing to do in the world of racing is make a mistake, whether in driving or strategy call, in the pits, anything. It’s just incredible that we’ve had this run the last two events. It’s just awesome to come here and carry that on.”

This result of course added to Tandy’s growing list of career accolades. After the Rolex 24 he celebrated the “Tandy Slam,” becoming the first driver to capture victories at the four major 24-hour races worldwide at Le Mans, Spa, Daytona and the Nürburgring.

Now, he’s become the 10th driver to claim the endurance Triple Crown of overall wins at the Le Mans 24 Hours, Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours, further cementing his place in sports car racing history.

“It’s incredible because I never realized how big a thing it would be winning all the four 24 Hours would be,” he added. “It went global and my teammates are tired of hearing about it. But I’m not! And now this is another unbelievable thing.”

For the No. 7 drivers, Le Mans in June beckons. Can Tandy and Nasr, or Laurens Vanthoor – who will drive separately from his GTP teammates in his full-season WEC Hypercar at La Sarthe – add a third major endurance win this year?

On the other side of Porsche Penske’s GTP awning, the No. 6 crew were visibly deflated in the post-race press conference. For Mathieu Jaminet, Matt Campbell and Kevin Estre it was a marginally better outcome than Daytona (second instead of third) but they still leave Florida scratching their heads again.

“We were not quite quick enough again,” Estre said. “Need to analyze where we were missing a bit of performance to the sister car,”

Jaminet added: “It’s good for the championship, we have to look at the bigger picture.”

Rexy gave Porsche a win in GTD PRO. James Gilbert/Getty Images

That wasn’t all for Porsche though, as AO Racing added to celebrations with a GTD PRO victory for “Rexy” and drivers Laurin Heinrich, Alessio Picariello and Klaus Bachler.

“It’s very special I think,” said Heinrich, who broke the GT lap record at Sebring twice in the closing stages. “Obviously last year we won the championship. We won three races in the process of that. But none of them was, let’s say, one of the big three in the IMSA calendar: Daytona, Sebring or Petit.

“So this year, I want to defend the championship for myself and AO. On my list was to win one of the big three. Daytona unfortunately didn’t work where we were trying, but now it worked, so for me, it’s my very first major endurance win in sports car racing. It’s a huge achievement. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates Alessio and Klaus, my team AO and Porsche.”

Like the 963s, AO’s 911 had the raw speed when the brake discs began to glow. Heinrich described his move on fellow German Max Hesse’s Paul Miller Racing BMW, which from the outside looked like a breeze.

He admitted that he didn’t want to hang around and sit behind the No. 48 M4 GT3 Evo for any length of time because the risk levels increased as the end of the race approached.

“My approach was to not wait too long, maybe take the first opportunity I get. Maybe catch him a bit off guard or by surprise,” he said. “Many things can go wrong by taking too many risks. I didn’t want to spend too much time fighting.

“I think it worked quite well to just take the first opportunity I got, as he played it safe.”

Penske completes Florida sweep with Porsche 1-2 finish at Sebring

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s reign of dominance in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship continued with yet another landmark win: This time, at the 73rd annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. It was a seesaw battle for most of the race between …

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s reign of dominance in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship continued with yet another landmark win: This time, at the 73rd annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

It was a seesaw battle for most of the race between the No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 and the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R, but ultimately it went the way of the same three drivers that stood victorious after January’s Rolex 24: Felipe Nasr, Laurens Vanthoor and Nick Tandy.

Nasr’s first-lap dash from third to second on the grid set the table early on after the No. 24 BMW of polesitter Dries Vanthoor got a penalty for a false start. The only adversity the factory Porsche team faced along the way was during an early full course yellow at the end of the first hour: Both Penske Porsches planned to come into the pits and were rudely greeted by a “Pit Entry Closed” sign instead, leaving them out of position.

Nasr would eventually grab control back, overtaking the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac just before half-distance. The Cadillac got the lead back after a long green flag run came to an end during pit stops, but then with two hours and six minutes left, this time it was Tandy that lunged up the inside of Cadillac Whelen’s rookie Frederik Vesti at Sunset Bend to grab a lead that neither he nor Nasr would relinquish.

A.J. Foyt, Hans Herrmann, Jackie Oliver, Hurley Haywood, Al Holbert, Andy Wallace, Mauro Baldi, Marco Werner, Timo Bernhard…and now Tandy becomes the 10th driver to win the Daytona 24 Hours, 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall in their careers. (Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, and Jacky Ickx each won Daytona back when the race was shorter than 24 hours.)

Another win eluded the No. 6 Porsche Penske crew of Mathieu Jaminet, Matt Campbell, and Kevin Estre – but at least unlike Daytona, they could complete a Porsche 1-2 after finishing second, just 2.2s off the win. Both teams drove flawlessly on the way to an incredible result — the perfect pick-me-up after Porsche lagged behind its standard in the WEC opener in Qatar. They lead all the championships, that much is a given.

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Sebring was a race that felt like any one of four manufacturers could win it: Acura, BMW, and Cadillac all challenged but fell just short.

The No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 had good timing to enter the pits with the two factory Porsches, before a final full course yellow was called due to a tire carcass lying on the Ullmann Straight. Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly and Alex Palou were able to grab the final podium position, after coming back from a penalty for a crew member leaving a tire lying around where it shouldn’t have been.

That saved face for MSR, whose No. 60 car had any hopes of a podium dashed when Tom Blomqvist collided with BMW M Team RLL’s Philipp Eng. The blue Acura lost laps to repair its damaged steering while the pole-winning BMW lost even more ground with suspension damage.

What happened to the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac? Earl Bamber, Jack Aitken and Vesti could only manage fourth after a combination of being disadvantaged on strategy and losing the punching power they had in the searing heat of the daytime once the sun set.

But they’ll take it in contrast to what was another tough day for Wayne Taylor Racing: A seventh-place finish for the No. 10 flattered the team after Ricky Taylor picked up a huge penalty for colliding with GTD driver Charles Scardina and sending his Ferrari straight into a concrete barrier. The No. 40, which crashed at Sunset Bend on its own, quietly retired in the final hour when they couldn’t gain any more positions.

BMW didn’t get the 50th Anniversary gift that it hoped for in the end but in contrast to the No. 24, a fifth-place finish for the No. 25 of Marco Wittmann, Sheldon van der Linde, and Robin Frijns was a solid return after sliding in and out of the top five at times in the day.

Commiserations are due to Proton Competition: The privateer Mustang Sampling No. 5 Porsche made a gamble for a fourth place finish but had to pit in the final minutes and took sixth, ahead of the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports 963 in eighth.

A lot of the buildup to Sebring concerned how the new Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH would fare, in its first IMSA race, at Sebring, and days removed from a miserable debut at Qatar. When you think about how Qatar went — ninth place overall, only two laps down, and showing competent pace throughout the day was a huge win for Aston Martin THOR Team, and drivers Ross Gunn, Roman de Angelis and Alex Riberas.

The would-be “best in show” at Sebring with its V12-powered symphony proved that it has competitive potential waiting to be tapped, only set back by having to change the nose of the car, and a late off-track excursion. No fears of an AMR-One repeat to be seen.

The good news was that Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse lasted longer, much longer at Sebring than at Daytona — but floor damage still brought an early end to the No. 63 Lamborghini SC63’s day, once again unlucky and now due to wait three months for another chance at redemption.

Tom Dillmann, Bijoy Garg and super-sub Jeremy Clarke drove Inter Europol Competition to a come-from-behind win in LMP2. Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

LMP2 had a lot of early carnage and a fair bit of late-race carnage — so of course, a team with a substitute bronze driver still learning the ropes in LMP2 won. Fair to say that Inter Europol Competition is loving life as an independent IMSA team.

It’s the first IMSA win for the Polish bakers since they established their own U.S. operations base after a successful one-year collaboration with PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports. Jeremy Clarke did well enough to fill in for Jon Field, did his time at the wheel with minimal mistakes, setting the table for Bijoy Garg and Tom Dillmann to succeed.

It shouldn’t have ended this way: The final full course yellow should have disadvantaged both Inter Europol and CrowdStrike Racing by APR — they were the two leading LMP2 teams that didn’t have the chance to pit.

Both Dillmann and Malthe Jakobsen were still able to stay ahead but Jakobsen was certain to close out the win — until the young Dane punted the AWA Corvette at Sunset Bend, opening the door for Dillmann to slip through.

It’s a good start to Clarke’s IMSA career — one WeatherTech Championship start, one win, and the newest bronze on the block also confirmed he’ll be around for the rest of the Michelin Endurance Cup at Inter Europol.

It was a bitter disappointment for Jakobsen, George Kurtz and Toby Sowery who did almost everything perfectly, opened up a dominating advantage in the middle stages, and even when their lead was erased, maybe should have won it still. They came away in sixth, not what their form should have yielded after leading more than half the race.

Tower Motorsports should have won the jackpot with the final caution but ended up in second. John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez and Sebastien Bourdais will take it though — it won’t make up for losing the Rolex 24 the way that they did — flunking post-race tech and losing the win and the watches — but it will get their 2025 season back on track.

Defending GTD PRO champions AO Racing and Laurin Heinrich stole the show late. Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

“Rexy the GT3 Rawr” left Daytona with cracked teeth, and AO Racing left feeling unfulfilled, knowing a win may have gotten away from them. At Sebring, Rexy had braces fitted, and AO got its win at Sebring — to celebrate Rexy’s second birthday since he hatched in this race two years ago.

GTD PRO was action-packed from start to finish: Tense duels for the lead, eight-car lead trains, three-wide scenes — and in the end, Laurin Heinrich, Alessio Picariello, and Klaus Bachler prevailed. It was the first Sebring win for Porsche’s new young dynamo Heinrich, and for Picariello who’s made his name in Asia.

For Bachler, it was his second in three years, though admittedly more straightforward than the mad economy runs he and Pfaff Motorsports used to win in 2023.

Heinrich had to pump in record-setting pace to overhaul the likes of the Paul Miller Racing BMWs and keep the No. 48 BMW M4 GT3 EVO in the rear-view. He did just that in the late game, as Heinrich sailed past his young compatriot Max Hesse with less than an hour and 15 minutes left.

Hesse, Dan Harper and Jesse Krohn’s second-place finish for Paul Miller better suited what they might have achieved at Daytona before being caught up in the race’s Saturday night “big one” and before their race was clouded in the controversy of the BMW vs Corvette beef on Sunday morning. The No. 1 Paul Miller BMW completed the podium in third.

Speaking of Corvette Racing, Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs certainly had the pace to win at stages, but were wrought with bad luck. The No. 3’s charge was halted by a suspension problem, and the No. 4 lost precious time trying to solve a faulty scrutineering logger.

The pole-winning No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 finished a quiet but comfortable fourth, ahead of the two Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3s in fifth and sixth, a decent day after a tough qualifying session the day before. That’ll be enough for the No. 65 Ford to keep the points lead after its win at Daytona.

Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje took the win in GTD with Winward Racing’s Mercedes. Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Winward Racing’s making a habit of winning GTD at Sebring these days, but Philip Ellis had to race hard to deliver the team a second consecutive win at the 12 Hours.

The result is the same: Ellis, Russell Ward and Indy Dontje winning in the No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3. They executed their race and their strategy perfectly to enter the mix, and assert themselves as favorites once the pole-winning No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 dropped out with an engine failure — headlining a bad day for a lot of Ferrari’s GTD customer fleet.

But for most of the final hour it looked like Jack Hawksworth would drive a Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 to victory in back-to-back years, this time in the GTD No. 12 car with Parker Thompson and Frankie Montecalvo. Ellis didn’t let Hawksworth out of his sight, Hawksworth raced hard, Ellis matched that intensity. A NASCAR-style bump and run — harsh, but fair — made the difference as Ellis muscled his rival out of the way to take the win.

Winward Racing kickstarts its defense of its GTD titles, following a Daytona 24 Hours littered with adversities, with a reasonably straightfoward Sebring win and taking the points lead with it. The Vasser Sullivan Lexus was second, fighting off any chatter of the car finally showing its age.

Third place looked like it would go to the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari until Daniel Serra pitted on the final lap, handing third place to the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, and fourth to the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari. Inception Racing overcame a lot including Brendon Iribe’s practice accident earlier in the week and a collision with AWA’s Orey Fidani in the first laps of the race.

Wright Motorsports’ No. 120 Porsche was thwarted by multiple pit work infringements that kept them from finishing any higher than fifth on the day.

Sebring had its moments of chaos but also delivered long, satisfying stretches of clean racing worthy of such a prestigious event. Now that the hardest two endurance races are in the books, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will shift towards all-out sprints beginning with its annual West Coast trip, beginning in April at the Grand Prix of Long Beach and a 100-minute race on the streets.

Acura/BMW pit skirmish brings drama to Sebring’s third quarter

The sun is beginning to set on the 2025 12 Hours of Sebring with three hours to go, and the cars under safety car primed for a restart. From Brendon Hartley’s off in the fifth hour, the race has been entirely green all the way to the closing stages …

The sun is beginning to set on the 2025 12 Hours of Sebring with three hours to go, and the cars under safety car primed for a restart.

From Brendon Hartley’s off in the fifth hour, the race has been entirely green all the way to the closing stages of the ninth hour. There were a handful of spins and offs, but until Casper Stevenson in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin looped around at Turn 17 and was stranded at the apex with 3h17m remaining, it was green, green, green.

Stephenson’s spin prompted a safety car, though, which reset the field, wiped all the gaps and caused a flurry of pit activity as the 10th hour began.

The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac took the lead at the stops under safety car from the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, which has dropped to second. The No. 6 Porsche sits third, with the No. 93 Acura fourth and the No. 25 BMW up to fifth, having pitted just before the caution.

High drama occurred for two GTP runners in the pit lane during the yellow. Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Acura MSR ARX-06 and Philipp Eng in the No. 24 BMW Team RLL collided while exiting the pit lane. Blomqvist pulled out and tagged the right rear of the M Hybrid V8, damaging the front-left corner of his ARX-06 and its steering, prompting him to stop at the exit.

The No. 24 didn’t get away unscathed either, requiring a second stop under caution for a rear clip change, tire change and further inspection as a result of the impact. Both cars are tumbling down the order and out of contention as a result.

Elsewhere in the class, there was drama for Lamborghini’s SC63 — retired with suspected floor damage after 256 laps, marking a tough end to a tough week for the Riley-run prototype and a second DNF in two races to start the season.

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In LMP2 the No. 04 Crowdstrike by APR ORECA is out front, though the team will be frustrated after losing a big lead. Malthe Jakobsen stretched the team’s advantage to 1m11s during his most recent stint, before the team was handed a drive-through for failing to adhere to tire operational requirements which reduced the gap to 50s. That advantage has now been totally wiped out.

The No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA is second with the No. 11 TDS Racing entry third. The top seven in the class are on the lead lap.

Meanwhile, Pratt Miller Motorsports’ ORECA became the fourth retirement early in hour seven. The car, which suffered an oil leak earlier in the race, was withdrawn due to a “technical issue” after 144 laps.

GTD Pro feels like anyone’s game now, with four brands in the top four. The No. 65 Ford Mustang holds the top spot, with the No. 4 Corvette second, the No. 48 Paul Miller BMW third and the No. 77 AO Porsche fourth.

GTD was drama-heavy, with multiple retirements and leaders since the halfway mark. The No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari leads out of nowhere, ahead of the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus and the No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Winward’s car has run like clockwork, the only setback a drive-through for a pit stop infringement (a mechanic working on the car from over the wall) while it was running fourth in the eighth hour.

Wright Motorsports’ Porsche lost track position to a recent infraction too. It fell foul of leaving pit lane with equipment attached and needed to serve a drive through which would drop the No. 120 911 to fourth.

There was a rotten stroke of bad luck for the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the seventh hour. Kenton Koch, from the lead, peeled off the circuit in the run to the Turn 7 hairpin with a loss of power that would prove terminal. A huge letdown after such a superb run through the first half of the race for the Ohio-based team.

It left the door open for a new leader. The pole-sitting No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari found itself at the head of the field, but it too would hit trouble after Alessandro Pier Guidi had an off at the end of the eighth hour at Turn 1.

The Italian kept the car out of the wall after running wide and hopping over the grass, briefly losing the lead to the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Zach Robichon aboard the Vantage fell back to second shortly after when Pier Guidi fought back, but with 3h44m left on the clock the Ferrari would slow to a stop at Turn 6. It was an on-the-spot retirement.

The No. 32 and No. 21 were not the only GTD cars to retire in this phase of the race. The No. 19 VDSR Aston Martin is also no longer taking part after a lengthy trip behind the wall.

No. 7 Penske Porsche muscles to Sebring 12 Hour lead at halfway

The 73rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring is now at halfway, and the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 took the lead in the last few minutes. Felipe Nasr pounced on the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R of Earl Bamber and made his move for the lead …

Porsche Penske’s No. 6 runs third as Mathieu Jaminet is trying to fend off Kevin Magnussen in the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8. In fifth, Renger van der Zande is trying to fight back from a drive-through penalty, given after a tire was left unattended during a pit stop. The No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 is currently fifth, but the No. 60 of Tom Blomqvist is just behind in sixth.

The No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie continues to show more-than-competent pace in eighth, behind the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche.

In LMP2, CrowdStrike Racing by APR has now taken firm command of the proceedings, as the No. 04 ORECA 07 came into the pits and maintained a 40s lead over the No. 22 United Autosports USA car of Rasmus Lindh. Tom Dillmann is third in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition car.

Note that CrowdStrike/APR and Inter Europol are on different strategies to the two United cars, the No. 22 and the No. 2 of Juan Manuel Correa in fourth.

The No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA is currently behind the wall for a second time, having spent a long time in the garage to fix an oil leak. Only three cars have retired so far: the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari, the No. 18 Era Motorsports ORECA, and the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari.

Good pit work got the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO out in the lead in GTD PRO. Connor De Phillippi has a 2s lead over Mike Rockenfeller aboard the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3, who’s on a different strategy to much of the class leaders.

It’s still too close to call with the No. 4 Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Nicky Catsburg in third, then the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche, No. 48 Paul Miller BMW, No. 3 Pratt Miller Corvette, and No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 all within 10s of the top spot.

Good timing benefitted Korthoff Competition, who pitted just before a full course yellow and were rewarded with the GTD class lead. Kenton Koch leads in the No. 32 Mercedes-AMG GT3, from the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Tom Gamble.

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Russell Ward has the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG in third ahead of the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari of Simon Mann in fourth.

A nice block of caution-free racing was brought to a halt about 4h15m into the race. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Brendon Hartley crashed the No. 40 Cadillac V-Series.R — he overshot the entry into Sunset Bend and went into the tire barrier, damaging the front-left. This brought out the fifth FCY of the race and compounded what’s been another tough weekend for WTR across its three cars in two classes.

Even though Hartley drove back to the pits and the No. 40 only needed a new front clip, the car did get held in the pits for a 60s penalty stop, taking more than what IMSA deemed as emergency service during repairs.

Within the last hour there was a small outbreak of GTD tire problems — at the left rear of the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini, at the left rear of the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari, and then the left front of the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini. The latter two were contending for top-10 positions, making their setbacks very costly. The past hour also saw the No. 19 Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin go behind the wall with a mechanical issue and return to the race.

The race has also taken a physical toll on the likes of Pfaff Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe, who escaped a broken left foot after having his car dropped from its jacks onto it during a pit stop. Rodrigo Sales of PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports also gutted out a 3h iron man stint despite pain in his knee.

Earlier in this quarter, the first Michelin Endurance Cup points were handed out at the four-hour interval. The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac received five points in GTP, the No. 60 MSR Acura’s strategy divergence got them four points, and the No. 93 Acura got three.

In LMP2 the top three were the No. 11 TDS ORECA, then the two United Autosports cars, the No. 2 and 22.

For GTD PRO it was the No. 1 Paul Miller BMW leading the No. 4 Pratt Miller Corvette and No. 48 Paul Miller BMW.

In GTD, the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari, No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, and No. 70 Inception Ferrari got the additional Endurance points.

Cadillac controls Sebring 12 Hour pace at one-quarter distance

After three hours of the 2025 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, it’s Cadillac leading with the No. 31 Whelen V-Series.R out front. The Action Express team has enjoyed an impressive run through the opening third of the race, rising from last on the grid …

Fred Vesti is currently aboard, having taken over from Jack Aitken who took the start and holds a slim but relatively comfortable 11s advantage over the No. 93 Acura MSR ARX-06 of Alex Palou.

What happened to Porsche’s early 1-2? It evaporated at the start of the second hour, as both 963s were unable to pit immediately under the first safety car due to the pit lane entry light showing red when they attempted to come in. The rest of the field was not impeded, they dived in as it switched over to green, leaving the 963s stranded.

It cost both cars track position when they eventually took to pit road, though they have since recovered. The No. 7 is back up to third from ninth with Laurens Vanthoor strapped in. The No. 6 has risen to fourth and is currently just ahead of the No. 25 BMW after jumping it during the third round of pit stops.

Elsewhere in the premier class, the Lamborghini SC63 is 12th, but it did spend time at the front. It led the field at the restart following the first stops, though Romain Grosjean dropped to the very back immediately as the track went green, allowing the AXR to power past and snatch P1.

The team didn’t give him the jump orders on the radio and the entire chasing pack swallowed him up. It later emerged, too, that its unlikely move to the front came via an improper wave-by during the class split.

Last in the class is the No. 10 Wayne Talor Racing Cadillac, now two laps down. The car endured a miserable start to the race. Contact with the No. 023 Ferrari in the opening hour saw the team dealt a stop-and-60s penalty. It also needed an adjustment to the throttle linkage at a stop.

LMP2 was action-packed in hours two and three. The No. 11 TDS ORECA now leads the way after Hunter McElrea, aboard the car against Bronze-ranked drivers around him, steered the car past the United cars of Nick Boulle and Daniel Goldburg to climb from third to first. The No. 2 still sits second, with the No. 22 third.

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GTD Pro is now led by the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alex Sims, though the car is out of sequence after a TPMS sensor failure forced the car in for an unscheduled stop. When it pits early in hour four, the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche will take over the lead.

Paul Miller Racing’s No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO is third but will rise to second shortly. Madison Snow is installed and took over from Niel Verhagen who spent much of his stint fighting tooth and nail with Alessio Picariello in the No. 77. The No. 65 Ford Mustang and No. 4 Corvette are close behind and chasing.

There was trouble in this portion of the race for Vasser Sullivan’s No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3. Jose Maria Lopez tagged the rear of the No. 48 Paul Miller BMW at the hairpin and damaged the front end of the car. The pace was fine for a few laps, but the Argentinian was forced in for repair work to its front-left suspension. Following a stint behind the wall the car is back out and 24 laps down.

In GTD, the pole-sitting No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari has fought back nicely from Alessandro Pier Guidi’s off in the opening laps. Lilou Wadoux leads the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG and the No. 57 AMG from 2024 winner Winward Racing.

A second big incident came with just over 10.5h to go when Tobi Lutke ran wide at Sunset Bend and went hard into the tire barriers.

The damage to the front end of the car was heavy. Lutke was able to limp back into the pit lane, though the car was retired shortly after. It eventually became the second retirement of the race after the No. 023 Triarsi Ferrari was withdrawn after being shoved off track and into a concrete barrier at the end of the first hour.

Later in the second hour, there was further drama in the LMP2 class. Nick Boulle in the No. 52 PR1 ORECA made a bold dive up of AO Racing’s PJ Hyett the inside at T1, tapping the “Spike” ORECA into a spin that sent it backwards into the barriers at speed.

Thankfully, the No. 99’s damage wasn’t terminal and the car rejoined after bodywork replacements, albeit three laps down.

Seconds after the impact there was more contact, when Luis Perez Companc in the No. 88 AF Corse car side-swiped the Riley example of Gar Robinson, sending him off track at Turn 4. All this melee brought out another safety car and both the No. 88 and No. 52 received drive-throughs for their roles in the incidents.

The only other major drama concerned the Celitar Ferrari in GTD, Giorgio Sernagiotto pulling off on the back straight after 52 laps. Thankfully he was able to stop in a safe position, ensuring the race stayed green.

Porsche takes an early lead at Sebring after penalty for polesitting BMW

On a beautiful, sunny day at Sebring International Raceway, in front of tens of thousands of hearty spectators, the 73rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring began with early fireworks. Dries Vanthoor in the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 led the 56-car …

On a beautiful, sunny day at Sebring International Raceway, in front of tens of thousands of hearty spectators, the 73rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring began with early fireworks.

Dries Vanthoor in the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 led the 56-car field to the green flag, but before he actually crossed the start/finish line, he moved over to the right, in front of the No. 60 MSR Acura of Tom Blomqvist.

Vanthoor received a drive-through penalty for his false start that put him down the order in GTP and created an early hole for the No. 24 team to dig out of.

That came after some early incidents in the first three laps. The No. 18 Era Motorsport and No. 88 AF Corse ORECAs collided at Turn 3, The stranded No. 18 of Tobi Lutke, and debris from the No. 88 of Luis Perez Companc, brought out the first full course yellow of the race.

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Bob Akin Award contenders Brendon Iribe and Orey Fidani collided on the first lap – leading to a drive-through penalty for the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari for punting the No. 13 AWA Corvette.

Pfaff Motorsports’ No. 9 Lamborghini has been trying to fix issues with its torque sensor. Andrea Caldarelli dropped off the lead lap initially after having to serve a mechanical black flag, and the car has since been given a warning for not adhering to its powertrain parameters. That took Caldarelli from fighting for third, to two laps down.

20 minutes in, while leading GTD, polesitter Alessandro Pier Guidi spun off at turn 10 at very high speed, dropping the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari out of the lead and leading to additional work in the pits to fix the left-front brake — similar to the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini, the first car in GTD to pit for a left-rear brake issue of its own.

Ricky Taylor dropped down the order due to a throttle problem that seemed to resolve itself, putting the blue No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac in 12th behind the Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie, which is running a solid pace early on relative to expectations.

There was also a clash between the No. 66 Gradient Racing Mustang of Till Bechtolsheimer and the No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA of Chris Cumming which sent the latter for a spin, and the former to serve a drive-through penalty.

And just minutes ago, a cross-class collision between Taylor’s No. 10 Cadillac and the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari of Charles Scardina has led to a second full course yellow. Scardina was spun around and he hit the barriers at Turn 13 head on. Scardina was, thankfully, able to walk away after a vicious hit.

Felipe Nasr, who took second place on the initial race start, leads a Porsche Penske 1-2 in GTP, with his No. 7 Porsche 963 ahead of Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6. The two Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06es are third and fourth, with Blomqvist leading the No. 93 of Renger van der Zande. Louis Deletraz is fifth in the No. 40 WTR Cadillac V-Series.R.

In LMP2, polesitter Steven Thomas has set the pace among his Bronze peers and the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA 07 leads from the No. 22 United Autosports USA machine of Daniel Goldburg.

DragonSpeed’s Ferrari and AO Racing’s “Rexy” Porsche have been the class of GTD PRO in the first hour. Polesitter Albert Costa has led virtually since the start in the No. 81 296 GT3, with Laurin Heinrich running second in the No. 77 911 GT3 R. Tommy Milner is third in the No. 4 Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Philip Ellis and Winward Racing inherited the lead in GTD after Pier Guidi’s spin and brake issues, and the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 holds the advantage over the hard-charging Jack Hawksworth in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

HOUR 1 STANDINGS

Williams Esports wins iRacing 12 Hours of Sebring

The first rain-affected iRacing Special Event took place this past weekend. Williams Esports Chillblast won in GTP and LMP2, while Drago Racing won the GTD class. The Sebring International Raceway was dry when the session opened for practice and …

The first rain-affected iRacing Special Event took place this past weekend. Williams Esports Chillblast won in GTP and LMP2, while Drago Racing won the GTD class.

The Sebring International Raceway was dry when the session opened for practice and qualifying, but rain began to fall in the closing minutes of qualifying.

Learn more about the recent rain update in iRacing.

GTP

From P3 on the grid, Josh Lad navigated the wet conditions to gain a position at the start in the No.6 Acura ARX-06 GTP Williams Esports Chillblast car.

Luke Bennet in the No.11 Team Redline Acura started on pole position. He headed the GTP field until the end of the second hour when he crashed at Sunset Bend as the track was drying out. The damage was extensive, and the team eventually retired, while the No.6 Chillblast was promoted into the race lead.

The other Team Redline car also crashed out in the same corner with Florian Lebigre behind the wheel of the No.21 Acura.

Atte Kauppinen jumped aboard the No.6 Chillblast car after a mighty four-hour stint by Lad. With seven hours to go, the rain came again and drivers switched onto the wet weather tires.

The NO.6 car had no dramas for the remainder of the race. They crossed the line 36 seconds ahead of the runner-up No.8 VRS Coanda Porsche 963, followed by the #1 Williams Esports BenQ Acura.

P1 in the @vcoesports 12hrs of Sebring!!

A true team effort from everyone at @WilliamsEsports
to get us as prepared as possible for the first Special Event in the rain.

Thank you to rainmeister @Atte_Kauppinen, insane performance in the hardest conditions.#williamsesports pic.twitter.com/wOZMGEdZQY

— Josh Lad (@josh_lad) March 24, 2024

LMP2

The No.55 Williams Esports Chillblast car won in LMP2 with Carl Jansson and Kenneth Gulbrandsen sharing the Dallara P217.

Jansson started fifth and quickly moved up through the field. The Swedish driver had much more confidence and control in the wet conditions, which allowed him to make up four positions in the first hour.

The No.003 Grid-and-Go.com Esports car started the race on pole position, but Gabriel Streitmatter lacked pace, and it was clear that the No.199 Apex Racing Team car was closing the gap.

After 20 minutes, Michele Constantini in the No.199 and Jansson in the No.55 passed Streitmatter. It seemed that the battle would be between Williams and Apex for the lead before the first pit stop. Jansson took the lead after stint one and kept it until stint two.

Constantini stayed in touch with Jansson until he boxed and handed the car over to his teammate Stanley Deslandes as the track was drying out.

Both the No.55 of Jansson and the No.199 of Deslandes were on slick tires, and the track was still damp when Deslandes lost control in the same corner as the GTP cars of Team Redline. The LMP2 spun off violently into the wall and sustained quite a lot of damage. They pitted as a result and rejoined four laps down.

The No.55 Chillblast spent the rest of the race out in front, and even when the second round of rain fell, they pulled out a one lap lead on their rivals to win after 12 hours.

GTD

Williams Esports BenQ led the field from pole position, Parker White kept their advantage in the No.13 Audi for the first two and half hours of the race.

Then it was Louis Nahser’s turn in the car, and he drove well until the No.13 disconnected from the session with about eight hours to go. They rejoined in eighth.

With both Team Redline cars out in GTP, and no LMP2 cars running for them, it was up to the two GTD entries to get a result. The No.70 of Gustavo Ariel and Gianni Vecchio started in seventh, but quickly dropped back after an early mistake by Ariel in the wet.

The No.71 Team Redline Audi driven by Josh Thompson pushed through the tricky conditions of hour one to seventh before the first pit stops. Ariel managed to recover the No.70 from 16th to ninth after his early troubles.

The battle from about the halfway point until the checkered flag was between the No.2 Drago Racing Audi, the No.70 Team Redline Audi, and the No.10 Mahle Racing Team Lamborghini.

With 3 hours and 20 minutes to go, the No.2 of Manuel Troncoso was leading the No.10 of Rainer Talvar and the No.70 of Ariel. A lapped Audi tagged and spun the No.10 Mahle Lamborghini, which handed the second position to Ariel and Team Redline in the No.70.

Gianni Vecchio closed out the race for Redline in the No.70. He managed to stay in touch with the No.2 Drago Racing Audi, but Nicolas Mateo finished the job and won for Drago Racing. Vecchio came in second by five seconds, followed by Talvar in the No.10 who finished 30 seconds behind in third place.

We WON iRacing Sebring 12h powered by VCO in GTD!

What a way to start the new era of iRacing with the first special event in wet-dry conditions! Hard work from the whole team paid off!@vcoesports @hopscustom #esports #simracing pic.twitter.com/vJuXYaXKVC

— DragoRacing (@DragoRacing69) March 24, 2024

Most of the action and overtakes took place during the first two hours of this 12-hour iRacing Special Event. The rain came at the start, then the track slowly dried, only for the wet conditions to return. The race finished under dry and nighttime conditions.

Williams Esports celebrated wins and podiums in GTP and LMP2, but they will wonder what could have been without the disconnection for the No.13 Audi in GTD.

Era, Winward in elite company after ‘36 Hours of Florida’ victories

The 36 Hours of Florida…the doubleheader…doubling down…. However you want to term it, winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac in the same year is no mean feat. Era Motorsport (LMP2) and Winward Racing (GTD, pictured above) both achieved the double victory in 2024, and it puts them in some pretty impressive company. Looking back at the list of those who have won both races overall back-to-back reveals some pretty noteworthy names.

Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby were the first to do it in a Shelby American Ford GT40 Mk.II in 1966, the first year of the Daytona 24-hour race. Joe Siffert and Hans Hermann did it two years later in a Porsche 907. That little team from up the road in Jacksonville, Brumos, got the double with Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood in a Porsche Carrera RSR. Another Floridian, Preston Henn, fielded a 962 for A.J. Foyt and Bob Wollek, who took the 36 Hours in 1985.

While Wayne Taylor may not be a native of Florida, he now calls the state home, and joined with Jim Pace to win both Florida races in a Doyle Racing Riley & Scott MkIII Oldsmobile. And before the races were run under two different series with different rules, Mauro Baldi, Gianpiero Moretti and Didier Theys drove a Doran-Moretti Ferrari 333SP to the double victory.

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Since reunification in 2014, the 36 Hours of Florida had been won by seven teams before 2024, and in three years there have been winners in two different classes. Colin Braun, Jon Bennett and James Gue were the first in 2014, winning Prototype Challenge in a CORE Autosport ORECA FLM-09. In 2015, Prototype Challenge winners Mike Guasch, Andrew Palmer and Tom Kimber-Smith were joined by GTLM winners for Corvette Racing, Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Ryan Briscoe in a C7.R.

Pipo Derani was part of the team that won both in DPi in the first of his four Sebring victories, joining Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek in the Tequila Patron ESM Ligier JS P2-Honda in 2016. Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fassler also doubled up that year in GTLM for Corvette Racing. Finally, the last time the 36 Hours of Florida was achieved was in 2017, again a double — Wayne Taylor Racing in DPi with Ricky and Jordan Taylor in a Cadillac; and James French, Pato O’Ward and Kyle Masson for Performance Tech Motorsport in Prototype Challenge.

Now Era Motorsports’ Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and Connor Zilisch join them, along with Winward’s Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje. Both teams had won Daytona before, but this was the first Sebring victory for each.

Adding a Sebring 12 Hours trophy to its Rolex 24 triumph in LMP2 was a rare feat for Era Motorsport’s Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and Connor Zilisch. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

For Dalziel, it’s particularly meaningful. He makes his home in Orlando, two hours away between Sebring and Daytona, plus his wife’s family is from the Sebring area.

“A lot of support I get down here,” he says. “My wife and all her extended family are from here. Many of her family are still here. Many of them were here watching the race. I have posters from her late father from the very first one he went to. He had every poster that he kind of left for me after he passed away.

“It’s special — they both are for me for different reasons. But I think at the same time I don’t think of them as home races. I just think of them as the races that you want to win. This one’s been a tough one for us, for me as well. Daytona, we’ve had a lot of success. Here there’s been a lot of, like … what could have been.”

Like Dalziel, Ward is happy to get that first Sebring win to go with a pair of Daytona victories.

“It feels great. We’ve been chasing this one for a couple of years. It’s really awesome to be able to get it done,” Ward said.

Both teams had to overcome challenges to get their respective victories. Era qualified 10th, and had to go from near the back of the field to the front three times. Ellis put No. 57 Mercedes AMG on the GTD pole, but the team lost its qualifying times due to unapproved sensors on the car and had to start from the rear. By the end of the second hour, Winward was near the front and would stay there for the duration.

“In this series, you need some luck to win it,” said Ward. “It’s not all about outright pace. We’ve got some really, really smart guys on the pit stand making the calls. We capitalized on three yellows that got us up to the lead. We were in the lead by hour two.

“For the endurance races, doesn’t really matter where I start, in my opinion. It’s always nice to start at the front, show the performance of the car, the performance of the team. At the end of the day we’re here to win the race.”

And win they did … again. Now they’re in some pretty stellar company among those who have won the 36 Hours of Florida.

‘Instant classic’ Sebring shows IMSA is over-delivering – Diffey

If every race was as good as last Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, soccer and all other leagues would fall behind motor racing as the world’s favorite sport. It was constant thrills and danger with the occasional wheel-to-wheel boxing …

If every race was as good as last Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, soccer and all other leagues would fall behind motor racing as the world’s favorite sport.

It was constant thrills and danger with the occasional wheel-to-wheel boxing thrown in. The defending race winner took himself out while leading and ended up upside down — unhurt, thankfully — on the tire barriers. The GTD PRO winners recovered from an early pit lane penalty that took them out of the lead. The LMP2 winner spun early and also recovered amid race strategy battles that could have sent five teams to victory lane late in the going, and like the GTD class winner, both Pro-Am teams swept Sebring and the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

And while dodging strewn tires, bumpers, fenders, headlights, and gobs of traffic, the overall win changed hands in the final minutes of the event as warring GTP manufacturers traded elation for heartbreak, and heartbreak for elation. Ragged, raw, and exhausting in the high heat and humidity, the 2024 edition of the famed race extracted all of the drama one could hope for in central Florida.

Simply put, if you were trying to write 12 one-hour episodes of a racing-themed drama, Sebring provided the script. In fact, “It was an instant classic,” says NBC Sports’ Leigh Diffey, who has called all of the world’s great endurance races.

Leigh Diffey sees the modern iteration of IMSA as the perfect blend of the ALMS and Grand Am eras. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

As IMSA’s new hybrid GTP cars were launched in 2023, there was plenty of talk about the start of a new golden era. While I loved the spirit of that notion, it felt premature. Golden eras take time to develop; they can’t be willed into existence before enough races have been run to decide whether something truly special is taking place.

With the necessary time and context to form an educated opinion after one season and two stellar races completed for GTP, plus the renewed popularity within the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT ranks, it’s worth asking whether what’s happening now is living up to that “golden” ambition.

“I think maybe we weren’t selling it hard enough,” Diffey surmises. “I think that it’s over-delivered. Just look how good the Lamborghini GTP team did out of the box. There’s surprises — and happy surprises — at every turn. I can honestly say, after calling the 24 Hours of Le Mans for a decade straight with some of its biggest years, and then being away for more than a decade, to come back and call modern-day IMSA and the transition into the hybrid era, I don’t think we were selling it hard enough because it’s over-delivered. It’s unbelievable.”

Diffey and I covered the former American Le Mans Series and the Grand Am Rolex Series when we worked for FOX’s SPEED Channel and raved about their respective strengths. The ALMS had the fastest and sexiest cars; Grand Am had the closest racing, and when they merged into the new-era IMSA in 2014, immense potential was held for the blended approaches to endurance sports car racing.

It took more than a few seasons for today’s IMSA to find its identity after trying to mash different formulas together under one championship banner, but with the advent of the DPi formula, and the move to GT3 regulations and the shift to hybridization with GTP, IMSA has found its heart.

“I go back to the fierce and at times bitter rivalry between the ALMS and Grand Am,” Diffey said. “Both series had their ups and their downs. And one of the ups the ALMS had was the huge manufacturer involvement and the sexy cars and the glitz and the glamour. What Grand Am had going for it was the quality of the racing and the simplification of it classes. I just love IMSA today because it truly is a blend and an extension of the ALMS and Grand Am. It’s two prototype classes now, with GTP at the very top and LMP2 as the gateway class for your Pro-Am drivers, and it’s the same with GTD PRO and GTD for pro-ams in GT. It’s easy to follow and just look at how big the Sebring race was. Fans are loving everything about it. The story of IMSA is the celebration of sports car racing. Where it is right now, holy hell, it is incredible.”

Even before the renewed Ford-vs-Chevy battle reaches fever pitch, IMSA GT competition has plenty more storylines to follow. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

The other remarkable component of IMSA’s golden rise is found within its GT paddock. Headlines leading into Daytona in January centered on the return of Ford with its Mustang GT3 and the resumption of its life-long rivalry with General Motors, which also debuted its new Corvette Z06 GT3. While the Chevy-vs-Ford angle might have overshadowed some of the early season storylines, the biggest news in GTD and GTD PRO is how the other nine manufacturers are thriving and earning well-deserved attention for their efforts and achievements through Sebring.

“Those are new cars for them and soon we’ll be able to shout from the rooftops about the Ford-vs-Chevy battle, but in the meantime, what I love in commentary — in addition to calling the cut and thrust of the racing — was right up until the very end of Sebring, you look at the timing monitor, and there were like seven different GT manufacturers in the top seven positions,” Diffey said.

“We saw that all throughout the race. What series in the world say that? It was unreal. It was a Porsche leading a Mercedes leading a Lexus leading a Ferrari leading a Lamborghini leading another brand. For a series that grinds and works so hard to keep all those manufacturers happy, to see that playing field level and the activation and everything that’s involved in sports car racing on and off the track, Sebring was a showcase dusted in gold glitter.”

Final Sebring stint catapults Deletraz to IMSA stardom

A little more than a year ago, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti sent the new guy to buy a vacuum cleaner for the team motor home. On Saturday night, they were crediting him with winning the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring – the team’s first victory …

“Louis’ closing stint is what made the difference today. The team did a good job to keep us in the fight. He really fought for that win and got it for us,” said Jordan Taylor, describing teammate Louis Deletraz’s role in capturing a Sebring victory for the trio driving the No. 40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 – himself, Deletraz and Colton Herta.

Deletraz had already made a mark on sports car racing with a pair of European Le Mans Series LMP2 titles and several IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship wins when he was tabbed as the endurance addition for Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Acura for 2023. The Swiss driver captured his first WEC LMP2 title last year as well. Now the former Haas F1 test driver is the full-timer alongside Jordan in the second ARX-06 the team added this year.

As the race entered its closing stages, Deletraz was third as the green waved for a restart. He dispatched Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 rather quickly. But then he had a bigger obstacle in front of him — Sebastien Bourdais in Cadillac V-Series.R that had been strong all race. Deletraz had one advantage — fresher tires by a few laps thanks to different pit sequences. The Cadillac had pitted a few laps before the yellow that would produce everyone’s last stop, and went for a short fill and no tires to gain track position, as did the PPM squad with the No. 7.

It took a couple of extra cautions for debris before the battle truly began, but once it did, it was on in earnest. Deletraz attempted a bold move on the outside of Turn 17, but couldn’t make it stick. Jordan Taylor would later note that they had studied other drivers and teams, and Bourdais was one of the strongest in Turn 17, so for Deletraz to nearly pull off a pass there was impressive.

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Bourdais was on the defense, especially in some of the slower corners. But Deletraz was observing. When Bourdais once again took the middle of the track in defense on the approach to the Hairpin, Deletraz went all the way to the right, took away Bourdais’ apex, and a couple of turns and several bumps later, had the lead that would deliver a victory.

“The car was really strong in the end,” Deletraz said. “I knew we were in a position to win, which, to be fair, was a lot of pressure. I’ve never really done that. Daytona was my first time. That’s my second time finishing a race. I just obviously wanted to win and bring points for the championship. I saw I had the opportunity. Seb was tough, but fair, so thanks to him. Yeah, in the end I saw the gap, I went for it. I had more pace and we won. That’s fantastic. I think I’ll remember this one for a long time.”

The manner of the victory made it all the sweeter for Deletraz. Jake Galstad/Lumen

Bourdais made it known that he thought there was a bit too much contact in the battle, but in the end both cars made it to the finish without trouble. Up to the point of that fight, Deletraz’s teammates had done their part, as had Deletraz, in keeping the No. 40 in contention. Still, they had great praise for the finishing driver, especially since the victory put them in a tie for the points lead for the season championship after a third-place finish in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“I can’t say enough about what Louis did in the last stint to bring it home, what type of pressure he was under, able to perform through it and put a pretty spicy move on Seb,” said Herta.

Deletraz seemed slightly embarrassed by the praise, yet his smile revealed he was also proud of the remarks from his accomplished teammates.

“It means a lot,” he said of the comments. “I think winning this coming here was an objective, but for sure was going to be hard work. To do it this way means really a lot. I got the car in a very good position. It’s thanks to these two – Jordan and Colton didn’t do any mistakes, gave me the car up there, then I could fight. Obviously with them having won so much in their career, having them by my side, I can learn from different categories and keep improving. That’s always the goal in the end.”