Seven weeks have felt like an eternity but at last, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is back in action this Saturday with arguably its most demanding race of the season: The 73rd annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring.
After an outstanding Rolex 24 At Daytona, Sebring represents the next difficult stage in this 11-race season – as well as the five-race Michelin Endurance Cup. Sebring’s notoriously bumpy track surface and unforgiving margins make this one of the toughest events on man and machine. 56 cars will race in front of what should be a raucous crowd of tens of thousands of spectators.
“Sebring is up there on every driver’s list (of races) that they want to win,” says Jordan Taylor, who won this race last year alongside Wayne Taylor Racing co-drivers Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta. “The physical side is always there, with the bumps, the traffic, the night-time with the lights – makes it extremely stressful. And it just has all the elements to make for a great sports car race.”
But Daytona was a tough first race for the reunion between Wayne Taylor Racing, and Cadillac – the manufacturer that’s won five out of the last eight years here. Deletraz’s late-race heroics secured the win for himself and Taylor one year ago, and this year they’ll have Brendon Hartley alongside them in the No. 40 V-Series.R, which has been rebuilt after setting off a multi-car crash during the night at Daytona. Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, and Will Stevens in the blue No. 10 Cadillac hope for better things after a fifth-place finish.
WTR will be looking to kick-start its Cadillac reunion at a place where it has enjoyed tremendous success. James Gilbert/Getty Images
Of course, the GTP field gains the long-awaited No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH, making its IMSA debut after a difficult first race in the WEC Qatar 1812km. Ross Gunn, Roman de Angelis, and Alex Riberas will be at the wheel of IMSA’s new crowd-pleaser but the Aston Martin THOR Team has set very modest expectations, and simply wants to finish the race without any major mechanical issues.
This will also be a critical litmus test for Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse. The No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 retired from its first Daytona 24 Hours very early, and withdrew in the middle of last month’s IMSA Sanctioned Test at Sebring. Romain Grosjean helped steer the car to a respectable seventh-place result last year, but that was under the previous regime with Iron Lynx. Like Aston Martin, the trio of Grosjean, Mirko Bortolotti, and Daniil Kvyat will also look to simply get to the finish line intact.
On the opposite end of the vibes spectrum, Porsche Penske Motorsport is in its best form Stateside – now looking for its first Sebring overall win since 2008. The 963 has come close before in each of its first two appearances, finished 1-3 at Daytona, and set the fastest times in the Sanctioned Test last month.
The Porsche works team had a tough Qatar though, so the likes of Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet will all be looking to rebound, as well as Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor. And then there’s the story of Nick Tandy, who completed the “Tandy Slam” at Daytona with overall wins in all four major 24-hour endurance races. And if he wins this Saturday in the No. 7 Penske Porsche (alongside Vanthoor and Felipe Nasr), Tandy will become only the 13th driver to win the Triple Crown of Endurance Racing, the first since Timo Bernhard in 2010.
Cadillac Whelen/Action Express, on the other hand, made a spectacular exit from last year’s Sebring 12 Hours but has been the dominant team of recent memory, claiming three of Cadillac’s five wins at Sebring. Without four-time winner Pipo Derani in the field, it’s up to 2023 winner Jack Aitken and 2022 winner Earl Bamber to lead the way, while Frederik Vesti continues his development.
Acura’s chances of winning back-to-back races as a manufacturer rest with Meyer Shank Racing’s two cars that have been re-wrapped in bolder colors. Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun picked up where they left off in 2023 with a second-place finish at Sebring, alongside Scott Dixon in the No. 60 ARX-06. They should be a factor for the win once again, and keep an eye on the potential of the No. 93 Acura with Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, and Alex Palou.
BMW M Team RLL will have not just a new 50th anniversary livery – but the highest confidence ever since entering GTP two years ago. Between Daytona and Qatar, the M Hybrid V8 is now showing the potential for greatness. But there are still a few improvements that need to be made in order to celebrate 50 years since BMW’s first Sebring win, with another trip to the top step. Can Dries Vanthoor summon some more of the exhilarating speed that he’s brought to the first two races of his cross-continental calendar?
Unsurprisingly the championship standings in GTP reflect the finishing order at Daytona with the No. 7 Porsche leading by 35 points over the No. 60 Acura and 59 points over the No. 6 Porsche of Campbell, Jaminet, and Estre. And it’s the same in the Michelin Endurance Cup standings, where the No. 7 Porsche leads by five points, with 15 available at Sebring.
LMP2 was a war of attrition at Daytona and because of a technical infringement for would-be-winners Tower Motorsports, the battle wasn’t officially declared until days after the race. United Autosports USA’s Daniel Goldburg, Paul di Resta, and Rasmus Lindh will celebrate their Daytona win upon arrival, before going right back to business in their No. 22 ORECA 07. Together they lead the No. 74 Riley crew of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, and Josh Burdon by 43 points in the season-long standings, and two points in the Endurance Cup.
Tower Motorsports has to rebound from its Daytona penalty. James Gilbert/Getty Images
For Tower Motorsports, it’s all about avenging their painful penalty that denied Sebastien Bourdais, John Farano, and Sebastian Alvarez the victory. And let’s not forget that Bourdais was the one leading GTP here last year – until a bold pass from Deletraz denied him, Chip Ganassi Racing, and Cadillac the win.
Sebring will see some new faces in LMP2 this weekend. Kakunoshin ‘Kaku’ Ohta, coming off a win in the opening race of the Super Formula Championship at Suzuka, will make his Sebring debut for reigning LMP2 winners Era Motorsport. Juan Manuel Correa is back in the endurance arena for the first time in a year, running in the No. 2 United Autosports car for his IMSA debut. And a medical issue has ruled Jon Field out of the Inter Europol Competition car for Sebring, so Jeremy Clarke fills in for him after an impressive season in the Asian Le Mans Series.
Both GT classes brought the action and the milestone achievements at Daytona, and there will be scores to settle in GTD PRO – particularly between the likes of Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and Paul Miller Racing after the scenes that unfolded during and after the bad-blooded battle between Tommy Milner, Connor De Phillippi, and Augusto Farfus.
Farfus isn’t here but Milner and De Phillippi are: Two-time Sebring class winner Milner in the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R with its retro-inspired livery, and De Phillippi in the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO. His fellow BMW GTP cast-off Jesse Krohn returns to the No. 48 for his second appearance of the year.
And when it comes to success at Sebring, they don’t get much better than the Corvette/Pratt Miller team that’s won its class here 12 times. Senior driver Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette has won four times here on his own and is eager to get back to the top step of the podium alongside Daniel Juncadella and Alexander Sims.
The acrimony between BMW and Corvette almost overshadowed the first global victory for the Ford Mustang GT3 last time out at Daytona, and there’s a chance that Chris Mies, Frederic Vervisch, and Dennis Olsen could capture the ’36 Hours of Florida’ this year in the No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3. In the sister car, the team welcomes back Ben Barker after a skiing accident kept him out of the line-up at Daytona.
The No. 65 Ford crew leads the full-season GTD PRO standings by 34 points after its big win – but in the Endurance Cup, it’s actually the No. 1 BMW of Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen, and Connor De Phillippi out front by two points through leading two intervals.
Can the venerable Lexus RC F still perform? James Gilbert/Getty Images
Daytona was a race where the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 looked like it had finally showed its age, but never underestimate the fighting power of Ben Barnicoat, Aaron Telitz, and Kyle Kirkwood. The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, as the reigning series champion car, shouldn’t be underestimated either – recall that Klaus Bachler won this race in 2023 when the newest 911 GT3 R wasn’t so fancied in IMSA. Also recall that in 2023, Bachler was driving for Pfaff Motorsports, which wants a better outcome in its second race with the No. 9 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.
In GTD, it was AWA’s turn to take the spotlight and give the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R its first win in the class at Daytona. Matt Bell’s heroics took a lot of the spotlight and he’ll be back alongside Orey Fidani and Lars Kern to help lead the way for the Canadian squad. They lead the GTD season standings but in the Endurance Cup table, they’re tied with Inception Racing’s Brendon Iribe, Frederik Schandorff, and Ollie Millroy for the top spot.
Winward Racing is the defending winner in GTD and is also coming off a stirring comeback, from going eight laps down to being in contention to win again at Daytona until late in the race. Will it be their time? Will the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo or the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche, which each got on the Daytona podium, fight back after narrowly missing out on the victory? Or will it be any of the other cars in a loaded 20-car category?
As good as Daytona was last month, Sebring could be even better still. It all begins with Practices on Thursday, Qualifying on Friday, and of course the 12 Hours of Sebring itself starting Saturday morning.
