Sebring 12 Hours: Penske Sweeps GTP, Tandy Secures ‘Triple Crown'

Yahoo

16-03-2025

Porsche Penske Motorsport secured a dominant 1-2 finish at the 73rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, with Nick Tandy joining an elite group by completing endurance racing's "Triple Crown."
In LMP2, Tom Dillmann led the No. 43 Inter Europol ORECA to victory, while AO Racing's Porsche "Rexy" triumphed in GTD PRO for its first major endurance win.
Winward Racing's Mercedes-AMG went back-to-back in GTD after a dramatic late-race pass, capping an action-packed event across all classes.Porsche Penske Motorsport is clearly on a roll in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, and Nick Tandy is reaping the benefits in historic fashion.
By co-driving the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 with Felipe Nasr and Laurens Vanthoor to victory in the 73rd running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Tandy became the 10th driver to claim overall wins in international sports car racing's three most prestigious endurance races – Sebring, the Rolex 24 At Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Nasr crossed the line 2.239 seconds ahead of Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche he shared with Matt Campbell and Kevin Estre as Porsche Penske Motorsport earned its 22nd 1-2 finish in IMSA competition and first since Road America last August.
The result gives the No. 7 - the 2024 GTP class champions with a driver lineup consisting of Nasr and Dane Cameron - a solid 91-point lead over the No. 6 in the GTP standings early in the new season.
Porsche's Saturday joy at Sebring also included a win in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class for the No. 77 911 GT3 R (992) fielded by AO Racing. But the major story was Tandy's historic feat.
Over the last seven weeks, the 40-year-old Englishman added crown jewel race wins at Daytona and Sebring to accompany his overall triumph at Le Mans in 2015. All were achieved with Porsche.
'You rarely see a sports team or operation that does a single event without any faults or mistakes, and we've just celebrated with 40 people who have flawlessly run a car for 36 hours at Daytona and Sebring combined,' said Tandy. 'Just a testament to what Porsche and Penske have put together to allow us to go racing. It's just incredible that we've had this run the last two events.
'The 'Triple Crown' is probably one of the more historic accomplishments or accolades,' he added. 'You look at the names of the people on that list that you are linked with, and that's an unbelievable thing.'
At Sebring, Nasr qualified the No. 7 Porsche third fastest, then led most of the first hour after BMW Team RLL's Motul Pole Award winning No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 incurred a start procedure penalty.
Nasr was in the No. 7 when it took control of the race just before the halfway mark. From that point, its chief competition came from the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, which paced most of the 10th hour. But Tandy made an aggressive overtake on Frederik Vesti for the lead, and the Cadillac's speed faded in the cooler night conditions, allowing the No. 6 Porsche and the No. 93 Acura to claim the final two podium positions.
'It was incredible to get the job done once again,' exclaimed Nasr after his 13th career IMSA race win. 'After the Rolex 24 At Daytona, we spoke among ourselves and said, 'What a dream it would be to win Sebring if we can.' And here we are. It's just sinking in.'
Acura's sister No. 60 car, the No. 31 Cadillac and the pair of BMW M Hybrid V8 cars also factored but all faded from the podium due to some issues in-race. The debuting Aston Martin Valkyrie also ran consistently on debut to finish in ninth place.
Porsche doubled up victories with the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class with the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 R GT3 (992), shared by Laurin Heinrich, Klaus Bachler and Alessio Picariello. They beat the pair of BMW M4 GT3 EVOs fielded by Paul Miller Racing, the No. 48 car finishing ahead of the No. 1 car.
Winward Racing repeated its 2025 GTD class win with the same trio of Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3. A forceful pass by Ellis on last year's GTD PRO winner, Jack Hawksworth, netted the Winward Mercedes-AMG the top spot.
'It feels super to win the 12 Hours of Sebring, such a legendary race,' remarked Dillman. 'When you race in IMSA you have the chance to compete for the win in some amazing events like Daytona, Sebring, and Petit Le Mans.
'We had a plan; we wanted a quick car in the night, so we had to suffer a bit with the balance in the afternoon. But it worked out well. A mega job by everyone with the team.'
The No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA that Steven Thomas drove to the LMP2 Motul Pole Award finished third in class.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's Rolex 24 At Daytona GT class season-opener featured a classic battle among American manufacturers Ford and Chevrolet.
Its follow-up, Saturday's 73rd running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring added Germany's finest from Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-AMG into the mix, with a pinch of Italian flair from Ferrari to create an exciting and eclectic mix.
The Porsche better known as 'Rexy' secured its first traditional IMSA endurance race win, and second IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup win in its team history. After Heinrich and Michael Christensen won last September's six-hour TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks in Indianapolis, Heinrich, Austrian Klaus Bachler and Belgian Alessio Picariello secured the win in one of the three longest IMSA races tonight at Sebring.
'Unbelievable result, I'm so proud of the team,' Bachler said. 'They did an amazing job. And honestly, Laurin in the end in the last two hours, was incredible.
'Somehow during the last three hours, I thought maybe we had a chance to go for the victory, but you never know. Honestly, I'm so proud of the team and also for sure my teammate Alessio.
'We finally won something together really big, the Twelve Hours of Sebring in GTD PRO! I won it two years ago, but I'm so happy that we managed this today again. And I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.'
The victory was Heinrich's fourth in the series. It was the second IMSA victory for Bachler and the first career win for Picariello.
The No. 48 Paul Miller BMW, driven by German Max Hesse, Brit Dan Harper and Finn Jesse Krohn finished runner-up in the GTD PRO Class by a slight 4.907 seconds followed by the team's No. 1 BMW co-driven by the American trio of Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi.
Meanwhile in Grand Touring Daytona (GTD), Swiss driver Phillip Ellis pulled off perhaps the most dramatic move of the race to victory in the closing laps, his No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 passing Brit Jack Hawksworth in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 with less than 15 minutes remaining in the race.
The GTD class provided one of the more dramatic race outcomes with Ellis invoking a NASCAR-style 'bump-and-run,' bumper tap on the leading No. 12 Lexus. The contact in Turn 5 was enough to allow him to maneuver around and pull away from what was a tight chase all day.
Ellis described the maneuver:
'I mean, it was just a good battle I think with the Ferrari and the Lexus for probably the last two hours. Was very tough, but that's what this racing is, especially in IMSA,' he said. 'I think the drivers like it, I think the spectators like it. I think that's what we should keep doing, as well.
'Obviously there was some rubbing here and there. That's part of good racing. Nothing was over the limit. Just used whatever I had to use.'
Even then, the podium order was not fully decided until the very final seconds. The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus ended second with the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in third.
It marked the ninth IMSA victory for Ellis and Ward, and fifth for Dontje. Most have come in Michelin Endurance Cup races. Ellis laughed off any controversy over his pass.
'Yeah, I wouldn't be happy if I lost first place either,' he said. 'I understand that he's not super happy with it.
'To be honest, I just gave him back what he gave me a couple laps before in Turn 7. He we all know Jack. I have a lot of respect for him. He's a great guy. But that's how he races, as well. You reap what you sow.'
After opening 2025 with a pair of iconic events counting toward the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship resumes April 11-12 with the first sprint race of the 2025 season - the 50th anniversary Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, for GTP competitors. The LMP2 field has an extended break until the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, June 19-22.