This victory comes after the trio’s triumph at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January. Matt Campbell from Australia and the two Frenchmen Mathieu Jaminet and Kévin Estre rounded off the stellar performance of the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team with second place. In the GTD Pro class, the AO Racing customer team notched up its first victory at a big endurance race in the North American IMSA series with the 911 GT3 R dubbed ‟Rexy”.
In summer temperatures reaching 31 degrees Celsius, a fierce battle among the top GTP contenders unfolded as soon as the lights turned green at 10:10 am local time. After just 15 minutes, Felipe Nasr swept to the front at the wheel of the No. 7 Porsche 963. While the Brazilian and his teammates Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor relinquished the lead around an hour later, they ultimately fought their way up the order to regain the lead in the evening after overcoming difficult conditions on the extremely hot track at the Sebring International Raceway.
The decisive moment came after the ninth and final yellow phase when the field went head-to-head in a thrilling sprint during the final 31 minutes of the race. Nasr fended off his attacking rivals to bring home Porsche Penske Motorsport’s second victory of the season at round two. For Porsche as the record Sebring winner, this marked the 19th overall victory at the endurance classic in Florida – the first since 2008. For Nick Tandy, who earned himself the nickname ‟Mister 24 Hours” after his victory in Daytona, this latest triumph was another dream come true: The UK ace is just the tenth racing driver in the world to achieve the so-called Triple Crown of endurance racing after scoring overall victories at Sebring and the 24-hour races in Le Mans and Daytona.
The No. 6 sister car also ran among the frontrunners for much of the twelve-hour race. Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet, and Kévin Estre ultimately crossed the finish line just 2.239 seconds behind their victorious teammates. Thanks to the one-two finish at Sebring, Porsche has extended its lead in the manufacturers’ championship. The two driver crews now lock out the top two positions in the overall standings.
‟Congratulations to the whole team for a flawless performance,” commented Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. ‟As expected, the 12 Hours of Sebring delivered some fierce competition. Drivers, mechanics, and engineers – everyone did an absolutely perfect job today. It couldn’t have gone better. The Porsche 963 has again upheld its reputation as the most successful LMDh car since the regulations were introduced. This is something we can all be very proud of. Thanks to everyone who contributed to these successes. I’d also like to congratulate our customer team AO Racing. They scored a well-deserved class victory with the Porsche 911 GT3 R.”
‟Victory at Daytona, and now Sebring: We’ve won the 36 Hours of Florida,” said a delighted Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh. ‟That was one of our most outstanding races, absolutely flawless. I’m ecstatic. All the drivers and the entire team put in an incredibly strong effort: pit stops, strategy, car – everything went perfectly.”
‟A superb performance from all six drivers and the whole team,” declared Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport. ‟Just two seconds separated our two cars after twelve hours. This underlines just how perfectly and smoothly everything went for us. We were able to set a strong pace, especially in the dark when temperatures got cooler. Several other team members and I witnessed the last overall victory for Porsche at Sebring in 2008, so it’s simply wonderful to be at the front together again now.”
The customer teams in the top GTP class also showcased the prowess of the Porsche 963 at times. Proton Competition finished the race in sixth overall, with JDC-Miller MotorSports’s identical hybrid prototype crossing the finish line in eighth place. In the No. 85 car, Porsche factory driver Nico Müller celebrated his debut in the Porsche 963. The Swiss driver, who contests Formula E for the Andretti customer team, put in some strong stints.
GT classes: AO Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3 R triumphs after fierce battle
In the GTD Pro class, the customer team AO Racing celebrated its first-ever victory in one of the major endurance races of the IMSA series with the Porsche 911 GT3 R. At the wheel of the fan favourite ‟Rexy”, the two former Porsche Juniors Laurin Heinrich from Germany and Klaus Bachler from Austria joined forces with Belgian Alessio Picariello to drive a flawless race. After an intense fight for the lead, the trio ultimately won by a margin of 4.371 seconds. Proton Competition’s 911 finished eighth.
In the GTD class, the Wright Motorsports customer team was plagued by a raft of setbacks: The Ohio-based team was at times in contention for the lead with the 911 GT3 R, only to have two penalties cost them crucial ground. The No. 120 car took the flag fifth in its class. The Iron Dames team wrapped up their second IMSA outing with the 911 in P11.
Long Beach hosts round three of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season on 12 April. The spectacular street race just outside the Californian metropolis of Los Angeles is just 100 minutes long.
Drivers’ comments after the race
Nick Tandy (Porsche 963 #7): ‟It feels amazing to win two races in a row. But winning the 36 Hours of Florida in Daytona and Sebring is hard to believe. And to top it off, both Porsche 963 finished both races on the podium. Given the fierce competition, that’s incredible. No mistakes, no penalties, no damage – today was simply a dream in endurance racing.”
Matt Campbell (Porsche 963 #6): ‟The one-two finish is obviously a banner result for Porsche Penske Motorsport. Congratulations to our victorious sister car. Today was incredibly long and tough for us; the race went back and forth. We experienced some difficulties in the intense heat of the early afternoon, but our Porsche was incredibly strong in the cooler evening. It’s terrific to score the maximum number of points together.”
Nico Müller (Porsche 963 #85): ‟What a fantastic weekend! I had great fun with the team, my teammates, and in the paddock – especially in my first race laps in the Porsche 963. I quickly adapted to the prototype; there was great synergy. At times the performance was super strong. But at the end of the day, the race could have gone a bit better for us. We had to change a brake disc, and we lost a lap in the process. It’s a great honour to get the chance to drive the car over the finish line during the Sebring night.”
Tristan Vautier (Porsche 963 #5): ‟We’re a little disappointed. After some initial setbacks, we managed to fight our way up the field only to have a puncture throw us out of the fight for the top five. Still, in the end, we made it back into a promising position, and we performed particularly well in the dark. However, with just two laps left, we had to refuel again – what a shame, because it prevented us from bringing home the result was wanted.”
Klaus Bachler (Porsche 911 GT3 R #77): ‟I’m so proud of the team! Laurin did an exceptional job in the last two hours of the race, and Alessio was also incredibly strong. It’s simply cool to share the car with two great guys. We’ve finally won one of the biggest races with ‘Rexy’. Now it’s time to celebrate. I’m already looking forward to all the remaining races this season – I hope it continues like this.”
Race result
GTP class:
1. Nasr/Tandy/L. Vanthoor (BRA/GBR/BEL), Porsche 963 #7, 353 laps
2. Jaminet/Campbell/Estre (FRA/AUS/FRA), Porsche 963 #6, + 2.239 laps
3. Van der Zande/Yelloly/Palou (NLD/GBR/ESP), Acura #93, + 5.017 laps
6. Jani/Pino/Vautier (SUI/CHL/FRA), Porsche 963 #5, + 1:02.670 minutes
8. Van der Helm/Bruni/Müller (NLD/ITA/SUI), Porsche 963 #85, + 1 lap
GTD Pro class:
1. Heinrich/Bachler/Picariello (DEU/AUT/BEL), Porsche 911 GT3 R #77, 329 laps
2. Hesse/Harper/Krohn (DEU/GBR/FIN), BMW #48, + 4.371 seconds
3. Snow/Verhagen/De Phillippi (USA/USA/USA), BMW #1, + 5.027 seconds
8. Schiavoni/Cressoni/Lietz (ITA/ITA/AUT), Porsche 911 GT3 R #20, + 1 lap
GTD class:
1. Ward/Ellis/Dontje (USA/GBR/NLD), Mercedes-AMG #57, 327 laps
2. Hawksworth/Thompson/Montecalvo (GBR/CAN/USA), Lexus #12, + 3.265 seconds
3. Gamble/Stevenson/Robichon (GBR/GBR/CAN), Aston Martin #27, + 6.720 seconds
5. Adelson/Skeer/Sargent (USA/USA/AUS), Porsche 911 GT3 R #120, 1:43.593 minutes
11. Bovy/Frey/Gatting (BEL/SUI/DNK), Porsche 911 GT3 R #83, + 1 lap
Full results and championship standings: https://results.imsa.com.
