After a lengthier break than planned endurance racing is back for the 12 Hours of Sebring, America’s original endurance race! It’s the same deal as with the Rolex 24, but can Porsche do the double once again? And how will Lamborghini’s new Temerario GT3 fare in the hands of Pfaff among others? It’s sure to be a thriller in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GTP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With the leading Porsche’s having pit together, it promoted Sheldon Van Der Linde’s #24 BMW to a temporary lead for the first time thus far, Felipe Nasr climbing aboard the #7 and #6 having Kevin Estre installed to the end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Estre narrowly took the lead before a huge lockup saw the two briefly swap places at turn six, still running line astern, but Estre held onto his advantage and opened up the gap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A big loser under the FCY was the #24 BMW, while crucially under the stops the #7 did not take tires unlike the sister car, who took an entirely fresh set for the last hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then both Meyer Shank Acuras were hit with drive through penalties, both for running over equipment during their latest pit stops, while Roger Penkse had ordered his cars swap places. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When the FCY ended, a fierce battle developed between both Porsches, who were unable to gap the #31 Cadillac and #24 BMW and with Estre adjudged by the stewards to have gained an unfair advantage seeing him give back a position to the #31. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then raged a battle for second featuring all three leaving Nasr in the #7 to open up a huge lead, before the final pit stops, through which Nasr maintained his lead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the FCY the order was unchanged save for the #93 struggling with getting onto the jacks and losing considerable time with just over 20 minutes remaining. Nasr led Estre away with 17 minutes to go, with Jack Aitken running third in the #31. The Porsches were told to build a gap before being given instructions by Travis Law, a senior race engineer, and in the end it was Felipe Nasr who brought it home to give the #7 back to back wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring, with Laurin Heinrich and Julien Andlauer who win the 74th running of the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n LMP2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Johnny Edgar’s #99 of AO Racing was now back in the class lead ahead of Hunter McElrea’s United Autosports #2 by roughly three seconds as the eleventh hour began, with Toby Sowery’s #04 Crowdstrike car some seven seconds back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But then Harry Tincknell’s #52 of Bryan Herta Autosport lost its right rear tire on its outlap, bringing out an immediate FCY and changing the complexion of both the class and the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An immediate consequence was the #99 being forced to take emergency service rather than its full stop., under which those pitstops the #11 of Charles Milesi moved to the front of the class ahead of Tristan Vautier’s #8 of Tower Motorsports and the #2 of Mikkel Jensen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile the #52 having already lost its wheel was also hit with a drive through penalty for working on the car behind the wall, and the #99 lost considerable time thanks to poor FCY timing. Jensen’s #11 led Di Resta’s #22 and Vautier’s #8 with under an hour to go, the three closing up significantly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The #11 received a drive through penalty. There was drama, as the #22 took with it a strip of debris with the #8 moving up to second while further back the #99 of AO Racing repaired diveplane damage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the end though it was the #2 of Mikkel Jensen, Phil Fayer and Hunter McElrea who take victory in LMP2 after a hard fought race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n GTD PRO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Alessio Picariello’s #77 and Thomas Preining’s #911 fought hard for the lead, seperated by no more than two seconds and running away from Max Hesse’s #1 Paul Miller BMW before Preining and Hesse pitted, with Connor Di Phillipi taking over the #1 car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Picariello pitted the following lap, with Harry King replacing him in the #77 to take ‘Roxy’ to the end of the 12 hours. GTD Pro was the only class for which the FCY made no difference to the top three, with King’s #77 leading the #911 of Preining and Di Phillipi’s #911. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was the other Triarsi Ferrari that was then speared around by the #64 Ford Mustang, which saw both drop considerable time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But in the end Porsche took another class victory, with Manthey taking victory in just their second IMSA start. Klaus Bachler, Thomas Preining and Ricardo Feller proved the winning trio, taking yet another major class win for the Porsche 911 GT3 R.<\/p>\n\n\n\n GTD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Zacharie Robichon brought his #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin in from the lead, with Matthew Bell doing likewise with his #13 Corvette. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lorenzo Patrese thus inherited the lead of an incredibly competitive class, with Lin Hodenius’ #80 Lone Star Mercedes and the #912 Manthey Porsche of Morris Schurring following in his wheel tracks. As the field went back green, the #912 led the class now ahead of Tom Gamble’s #27 and the #13 of Matthew Bell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another FCY was called out for Jenson Altzman’s stricken #16 Ford Mustang of Myers Riley Autosport, that had hit the barriers hard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Drama found the #033 Triarsi, as the sister #21 GTD entry collided with it and sent the former into the barriers, yet it managed to continue without bringing out a full course yellow. The #21 of Antonio Fuoco effectively lost its chance of class victory thanks to the subsequent drive through penalty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Minutes later, having run competitively all day Ricardo Pera’s #912 came to a pause at the time of the track, handing a lifeline to Gradient Racing’s #66 Ford that had taken the class lead thanks to an alternate strategy, and offered Dennis Olsen’s #64 Ford a chance to save the necessary fuel it needed to claim a decent result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fuoco’s #21 was bought back up to second by the Italian, now chasing down Tom Gamble’s Heart of Racing Aston Martin for the overall win, and with 5 minutes to go the gap was down to half a second in what proved the most exciting finish of the four classes. The pass for the lead happened with just half a lap to go, with Fuoco taking advantage of GTP traffic to take the victory in GTD alongside his teammates, Simon Mann and Lilou Wadoux, who joins an exclusive club of female winners at Sebring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s another IMSA epic in 2026, and a great way to cap off an excellent month of March in motorsport. But we’ve a way to wait for prototype action, as in one month’s time the 2026 WEC season kicks off at Imola. I’ll see you then!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thomas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n