2019 12 Hours of Sebring

Sebring International Raceway

The 67th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts was an endurance sports car racing event held at Sebring International Raceway near Sebring, Florida from 14–16 March 2019. The race was the second round of the 2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as well as the second round of the Michelin Endurance Cup. Action Express Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing brought home a Cadillac 1-2-3 finish for the overall honours, with the win going to the #31 crew of Eric Curran, Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani, who won the 12 Hour race for a third time in the previous four editions. the #911 Porsche GT Team won in the GTLM class over the #66 Ford GT of Chip Ganassi Racing, LMP2 was won by Performance Tech Motorsports, and the Grasser Racing Team took a second straight victory in the GTD class, winning over fellow Lamborghini GTD team Magnus Racing, who came 2nd in only their second start as a Lamborghini team.

Background[]

The FIA World Endurance Championship returned to the venue for the same weekend for the first time since 2012, albeit with a few changes. The World Endurance Championship had a 1,000-mile standalone event of its own on Friday, March 15th, 2019, the day before the official 12 Hours of Sebring sanctioned by IMSA, on March 16th.^[1][2] Despite initial questions raised over whether or not two separate events of the same length could be held on the same weekend, the event was confirmed to be the sixth round of the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship. Select drivers and teams, such as Corvette Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing, competed in both events back-to-back.^[3]

On 28 February 2019, IMSA released a technical bulletin regarding the Balance of Performance for the 12-hour race. In the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class, most cars had reductions in power, with the exception of the Cadillac DPi. The Mazda RT24-P was made 10 kilograms heavier, and had fuel capacity reduction. In the GT Le Mans class (GTLM), the Ferrari 488 GTE was made 15 kilograms lighter.^[4] Despite being given a break, Ferrari GTLM team Risi Competizione decided to forgo Sebring, for concerns over the adjustment.^[5]

On March 6th, 2019, the official entry list for the 12 Hours was revealed, featuring 38 cars in total. There were 11 cars in the DPi class, eight entries in GT Le Mans, 17 in GT Daytona, and a mere two entrants in the LMP2 class. Following the retirement of Christian Fittipaldi, Le Mans winner Brendon Hartley joined the Action Express Racing team in the #5 car. Matthieu Vaxivière joined Wayne Taylor Racing in their #10 Cadillac, after Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Fernando Alonso were barred from taking part in IMSA's event. In the GT Daytona class, Black Swan Racing, who had confirmed a full endurance-event program for the 2019 IMSA Season, had withdrawn as a result of team owner and driver Tim Pappas sustaining injuries from February's Bathurst 12 Hour event.^[6]

Report[]

Thursday practice[]

Due to the World Endurance Championship event taking place on Friday, the first few practice sessions for the 12 Hours of Sebring were held on Thursday. In the first practice session, Felipe Nasr and the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac team were quickest, setting a 1:46.996. They were 0.355 seconds faster than the #6 Team Penske Acura. In GT Le Mans, Porsche and Ford were at the top of the leaderboard, with Laurens Vanthoor setting the quickest time for the #911 Porsche 911 RSR, setting a 1:56.983. He would be three tenths clear of the times from the Ford GT drivers Richard Westbrook and Joey Hand. In GT Daytona, Mario Farnbacher of the #86 Meyer-Shank Racing Acura team set the fastest time of 2:00.793, nearly half a second clear of the #73 Park Place Motorsport Porsche, driven by Patrick Long. PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports went fastest in the LMP2 class.^[7]

In free practice two, after a low-risk session from Mazda Team Joest, Olivier Pla would give them the fastest time of the weekend so far in the #55 car, a 1:46.834. He would be 0.815 seconds faster than Pipo Derani of the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac. Acura driver Hélio Castroneves completed the top three in the DPi class. In the GT Le Mans class, Porsche GT Team were fastest once again, with #911 driver Nick Tandy setting a 1:56.991. The team were once again fastest over the two Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GTs. In GT Daytona, Bill Auberlen set the pace in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6, with a 2:00.583. PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports once again set the fastest LMP2 time, with 1:52.149.^[8]

Qualifying Results[]

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by .

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
1	DPi	6	Acura Team Penske	Dane Cameron	1:45.865	—	1
2	DPi	77	Mazda Team Joest	Tristan Nunez	1:46.011	+0.146	2
3	DPi	7	Acura Team Penske	Helio Castroneves	1:46.011	+0.146	3
4	DPi	5	Mustang Sampling Racing	Filipe Albuquerque	1:46.238	+0.373	4
5	DPi	31	Whelen Engineering Racing	Pipo Derani	1:46.354	+0.489	5
6	DPi	10	Konica Minolta Cadillac	Jordan Taylor	1:46.530	+0.665	6
7	DPi	55	Mazda Team Joest	Jonathan Bomarito	1:46.832	+0.967	7
8	DPi	84	JDC-Miller Motorsports	Simon Trummer	1:47.086	+1.221	8
9	DPi	85	JDC-Miller Motorsports	Tristan Vautier	1:47.275	+1.410	9
10	DPi	50	Juncos Racing	Will Owen	1:47.478	+1.613	10
11	LMP2	52	PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports	Matt McMurry	1:49.728	+3.863	11
12	LMP2	38	Performance Tech Motorsports	Kyle Masson	1:49.739	+3.874	12
13	DPi	54	CORE Autosport	Jon Bennett	1:50.029	+4.164	13
14	GTLM	911	Porsche GT Team	Patrick Pilet	1:55.899	+10.034	14
15	GTLM	912	Porsche GT Team	Laurens Vanthoor	1:56.042	+10.177	211
16	GTLM	3	Corvette Racing	Antonio Garcia	1:56.158	+10.293	15
17	GTLM	67	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Richard Westbrook	1:56.189	+10.324	16
18	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin	1:56.248	+10.383	17
19	GTLM	24	BMW Team RLL	Jesse Krohn	1:56.486	+10.621	18
20	GTLM	25	BMW Team RLL	Tom Blomqvist	1:56.486	+10.621	19
21	GTLM	66	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Dirk Müller	1:56.731	+10.866	20
22	GTD	86	Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian	Trent Hindman	1:59.917	+14.052	22
23	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Nick Greene	2:00.299	+14.434	23
24	GTD	9	Pfaff Motorsports	Zach Robichon	2:00.504	+14.639	24
25	GTD	11	GRT Grasser Racing Team	Rolf Ineichen	2:00.710	+14.845	25
26	GTD	47	Precision Performance Motorsports (PPM)	Brandon Gdovic	2:00.775	+14.910	26
27	GTD	57	Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing	Christina Nielsen	2:00.809	+14.944	27
28	GTD	63	Scuderia Corsa	Cooper MacNeil	2:00.974	+15.109	28
29	GTD	12	AIM Vasser Sullivan	Frankie Montecalvo	2:01.100	+15.235	29
30	GTD	33	Riley Motorsports – Team AMG	Ben Keating	2:01.184	+15.319	30
31	GTD	19	Montaplast by Land Motorsport	Daniel Morad	2:01.189	+15.324	31
32	GTD	8	Starworks Motorsport	Ezequiel Perez Companc	2:01.333	+15.468	32
33	GTD	48	Paul Miller Racing	Ryan Hardwick	2:01.725	+15.860	33
34	GTD	71	P1 Motorsports	JC Perez	2:01.961	+16.096	34
35	GTD	73	Park Place Motorsports	Nick Boulle	2:02.150	+16.285	35
36	GTD	44	Magnus Racing	John Potter	2:02.205	+16.340	36
37	GTD	19	Moorespeed	Will Hardeman	2:02.534	+16.669	37
38	GTD	14	AIM Vasser Sullivan	disqualified			38
Source:[9]

1. ^ Car number 912 was moved to the back of the GTLM field after qualifying after Laurens Vanthoor failed to bring the car to scrutineering immediately after the end of the session.^[10]

Results[]

Class winners are denoted in bold and .

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Laps	Time/Retired
					Engine
1	DPi	31	Whelen Engineering Racing	Felipe Nasr Eric Curran Pipo Derani	Cadillac DPi-V.R	348	12:00:15.925
					Cadillac 5.5 L V8
2	DPi	10	Konica Minolta Cadillac	Jordan Taylor Matthieu Vaxivière Renger van der Zande	Cadillac DPi-V.R	348	+1.030
					Cadillac 5.5 L V8
3	DPi	5	Mustang Sampling Racing	Brendon Hartley Filipe Albuquerque João Barbosa	Cadillac DPi-V.R	348	+4.023
					Cadillac 5.5 L V8
4	DPi	7	Acura Team Penske	Alexander Rossi Hélio Castroneves Ricky Taylor	Acura ARX-05	348	+11.331
					Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6
5	DPi	54	CORE Autosport	Romain Dumas Jon Bennett Colin Braun	Nissan DPi	347	+1 Lap
					Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6
6	DPi	55	Mazda Team Joest	Harry Tincknell Olivier Pla Jonathan Bomarito	Mazda RT24-P	346	+2 Laps
					Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4
7	DPi	85	JDC-Miller Motorsports	Juan Piedrahita Misha Goikhberg Tristan Vautier	Cadillac DPi-V.R	346	+2 Laps
					Cadillac 5.5 L V8
8	DPi	84	JDC-Miller Motorsports	Simon Trummer Chris Miller Stephen Simpson	Cadillac DPi-V.R	345	+3 Laps
					Cadillac 5.5 L V8
9	DPi	6	Acura Team Penske	Juan Pablo Montoya Simon Pagenaud Dane Cameron	Acura ARX-05	339	+9 Laps
					Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6
10	GTLM	911	Porsche GT Team	Nick Tandy Patrick Pilet Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 911 RSR	330	+18 Laps
					Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
11	GTLM	66	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Sébastien Bourdais Joey Hand Dirk Müller	Ford GT	330	+18 Laps
					Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6
12	GTLM	3	Corvette Racing	Jan Magnussen Antonio García Mike Rockenfeller	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	330	+18 Laps
					Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8
13	GTLM	24	BMW Team RLL	John Edwards Jesse Krohn Philipp Eng	BMW M8 GTE	330	+18 Laps
					BMW S63 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8
14	GTLM	912	Porsche GT Team	Mathieu Jaminet Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 RSR	330	+18 Laps
					Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
15	GTLM	67	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Richard Westbrook Scott Dixon Ryan Briscoe	Ford GT	330	+18 Laps
					Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6
16	GTLM	25	BMW Team RLL	Colton Herta Tom Blomqvist Connor De Phillippi	BMW M8 GTE	329	+19 Laps
					BMW S63 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8
17	LMP2	38	Performance Tech Motorsports	Kyle Masson Cameron Cassels Andrew Evans	Oreca 07	322	+26 Laps
					Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
18	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Marcel Fässler Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	321	+27 Laps
					Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8
19	GTD	11	GRT Grasser Racing Team	Mirko Bortolotti Rik Breukers Rolf Ineichen	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	320	+28 Laps
					Lamborghini 5.2 L V10
20	GTD	44	Magnus Racing	Spencer Pumpelly John Potter Andy Lally	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	320	+28 Laps
					Lamborghini 5.2 L V10
21	GTD	63	Scuderia Corsa	Toni Vilander Cooper MacNeil Jeff Westphal	Ferrari 488 GT3	320	+28 Laps
					Ferrari F154 3.9 L Turbo V8
22	GTD	29	Montaplast by Land-Motorsport	Christopher Mies Ricky Feller Daniel Morad	Audi R8 LMS GT3	320	+28 Laps
					Audi 5.2 L V10
23	GTD	33	Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports	Jeroen Bleekemolen Felipe Fraga Ben Keating	Mercedes-AMG GT3	320	+28 Laps
					Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
24	GTD	73	Park Place Motorsports	Patrick Long Nicholas Boulle Patrick Lindsey	Porsche 911 GT3 R	320	+28 Laps
					Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
25	GTD	86	Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	Mario Farnbacher Trent Hindman Justin Marks	Acura NSX GT3	320	+28 Laps
					Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
26	GTD	57	Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing	Katherine Legge Ana Beatriz Christina Nielsen	Acura NSX GT3	320	+28 Laps
					Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
27	GTD	12	AIM Vasser Sullivan	Townsend Bell Aaron Telitz Frankie Montecalvo	Lexus RC F GT3	318	+30 Laps
					Lexus 5.0 L V8
28	GTD	9	Pfaff Motorsports	Scott Hargrove Lars Kern Zacharie Robichon	Porsche 911 GT3 R	318	+30 Laps
					Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
29	GTD	71	P1 Motorsports	Maximilian Buhk Fabian Schiller JC Perez	Mercedes-AMG GT3	315	+33 Laps
					Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
30	GTD	47	Precision Performance Motorsports (PPM)	Lawson Aschenbach Brandon Gdovic Don Yount	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	311	+37 Laps
					Lamborghini 5.2 L V10
31	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Bill Auberlen Nick Greene Dillon Machavern	BMW M6 GT3	309	Did Not Finish
					BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8
32	LMP2	52	PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports	Gabriel Aubry Anders Fjorback Matt McMurry	Oreca 07	309	+39 Laps
					Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
33	DPi	50	Juncos Racing	Will Owen René Binder Agustín Canapino	Cadillac DPi-V.R	305	+43 Laps
					Cadillac 5.5 L V8
34	GTD	8	Starworks Motorsport	Ryan Dalziel Ezequiel Perez Companc Parker Chase	Audi R8 LMS GT3	292	+56 Laps
					Audi 5.2 L V10
35	GTD	14	AIM Vasser Sullivan	Jack Hawksworth Philipp Frommenwiler Richard Heistand	Lexus RC F GT3	262	Did Not Finish
					Lexus 5.0 L V8
36	GTD	48	Paul Miller Racing	Bryan Sellers Ryan Hardwick Corey Lewis	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	249	+99 Laps
					Lamborghini 5.2 L V10
37	DPi	77	Mazda Team Joest	Tristan Nunez Timo Bernhard Oliver Jarvis	Mazda RT24-P	233	+115 Laps
					Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4
38	GTD	19	Moorespeed	Alex Riberas Will Hardeman Andrew Davis	Audi R8 LMS GT3	174	Did Not Finish
					Audi 5.2 L V10
Box Score

References[]

External links[]