2019 12 Hours of Sebring
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 | Zacharie 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 | 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 Pérez 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] | |||||||
- ^ 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 ‡.
References
- ^ Dagys, John (21 September 2017). "1500 Miles of Sebring Confirmed". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ Watkins, David (4 April 2018). "Sebring WEC race moved to Friday, reduced to 1000 miles". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ Kilshaw, Jake (29 January 2019). "Corvette Return Amongst Changes on Sebring Entry List". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ Dagys, John (28 February 2019). "IMSA Sets Sebring BoP". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
- ^ Dagys, John (4 March 2019). "Risi to Forgo Sebring; No Firm IMSA Plans". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ Malsher, David (6 March 2019). "38 cars on Sebring 12 Hours entry list". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
- ^ Kilshaw, Jake (14 March 2019). "Nasr Quickest in Opening Practice at Sebring". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
- ^ Kilshaw, Jake (14 March 2019). "Pla Leads Practice 2 by Eight-Tenths". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
- ^ "2019 Twelve Hours of Sebring qualifying results" (PDF).
- ^ Klein, Jamie (March 16, 2019). "Rain-hit Sebring 12 Hours starts under caution". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved March 17, 2019.