Sebring 12 hour race

Grandstand in Sebring

Racetrack

The Sebring 12-hour race is one of the most famous long-distance and sports car races . It is held annually at the Sebring International Raceway near the city of the same name, Sebring in Florida . The American Le Mans Series season traditionally opened here up to and including 2013. In 2014 the race was part of the newly established United SportsCar Championship for the first time .

The race course

The course is notorious for its bumps that still originate from the original layout. As a result of this and the mostly high temperatures, the vehicles are exposed to tough loads, which is a meaningful test for the 24 Hours of Le Mans . Provided that the same rules applied to both races (which was temporarily not the case in the 1990s), the Sebring winner was often able to prevail at Le Mans.

The event

After the first staging in 1952, the race was added to the calendar of the sports car world championship . Until the 1970s, the run traditionally remained the second venue for the international championship. With the series becoming more focused on the European continent and the oil crisis , the 1974 race had to be canceled. The still young GT championship of the US motorsport organization IMSA took over the race in their calendar after the 24-hour race in Daytona . With the collapse of the GT championship at the end of the 1990s, the two major American endurance races parted ways. The 24-hour race at Daytona, held at the end of January or beginning of February, now became part of the Grand-Am Sports Car Series , while the 12-hour race at Sebring was added to the calendar of the follow-up American Le Mans Series . The racing season for Le Mans sports cars will now open every year in March in Sebring. Since 2011 the race has also been part of an international racing series, the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup .

Since the Audi R8 appeared in 2000, this vehicle has clinched six overall victories in a row. Also in 2006 ( R10 TDI ) and 2009 ( R15 TDI ), Audi was able to win the race with the respective LMP1 new developments.

In the large GT class, Chevrolet was defeated by an Aston Martin DBR9 for the first time in 49 years with the Corvette C6R .

Traditionally, the Porsche 911 derivatives, such as the Porsche 991 GT3 RSR currently, were able to achieve countless victories in their class and, from 1976 to 1985, as the Porsche 935, even recorded nine overall wins in a row.

Overall winner

year	team	Overall winner	vehicle	Round	championship
1952	Stuart Donaldson	Larry Kulok Harry Gray	Frazer Nash LM	145	was not part of any championship
1953	Briggs Cunningham	Phil Walters John Fitch	Cunningham C4-R	173	Sports car world championship
1954	Briggs Cunningham	Bill Lloyd Stirling Moss	Osca MT4 1450	168	Sports car world championship
1955	Briggs Cunningham	Phil Walters Mike Hawthorn	Jaguar D-Type	182	Sports car world championship
1956	Scuderia Ferrari	Juan Manuel Fangio Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari 860 Monza	194	Sports car world championship
1957	Maserati Factory	Juan Manuel Fangio Jean Behra	Maserati 450S	197	Sports car world championship
1958	Scuderia Ferrari	Phil Hill Peter Collins	Ferrari 250TR / 58	200	Sports car world championship
1959	Scuderia Ferrari	Phil Hill Olivier Gendebien Dan Gurney Chuck Daigh	Ferrari 250TR / 59	188	Sports car world championship
1960	Joakim Bonnier	Hans Herrmann Olivier Gendebien	Porsche 781RS / 60	196	Sports car world championship
1961	SEFAC Automobili Ferrari	Phil Hill Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari 250TRI / 61	210	Sports car world championship
1962	Scuderia SSS Repubblica di Venezia	Joakim Bonnier Lucien Bianchi	Ferrari 250TRI / 61	206	Sports car world championship
1963	SEFAC Ferrari	John Surtees Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari 250P	209	Sports car world championship
1964	SEFAC Ferrari	Mike Parkes Umberto Maglioli	Ferrari 275P	214	Sports car world championship
1965	Chaparral Cars	Jim Hall Hap Sharp	Chaparral 2A	196	Sports car world championship
1966	Shelby American Inc.	Ken Miles Lloyd Ruby	Ford X1 Roadster	226	Sports car world championship
1967	Ford Motor Company	Bruce McLaren Mario Andretti	Ford GT40 MK.IV	238	Sports car world championship
1968	Porsche Automobile Co.	Hans Herrmann Joseph Siffert	Porsche 907	227	World Sports Car Championship Trans-American Series
1969	JW Automotive Engineering Ltd.	Jacky Ickx Jackie Oliver	Ford GT40	239	Sports car world championship
1970	Ferrari SEFAC Spa	Ignazio Giunti Mario Andretti Nino Vaccarella	Ferrari 512S	248	Sports car world championship
1971	Martini & Rossi Racing	Vic Elford Gérard Larrousse	Porsche 917K	260	Sports car world championship
1972	Scuderia Ferrari	Jacky Ickx Mario Andretti	Ferrari 312PB	259	Sports car world championship
1973	Dave Helmick	Hurley Haywood Peter Gregg Dave Helmick	Porsche Carrera RSR	226	IMSA GT series
1975	BMW Motorsport	Brian Redman Allan Moffat Hans-Joachim Stuck Sam Posey	BMW 3.0 CSL	238	IMSA GT series
1976	Dickinson / Holbert Porsche-Audi	Michael Keyser Al Holbert	Porsche Carrera RSR	230	IMSA GT series
1977	George Dyer Racing	George Dyer Brad Frisselle	Porsche Carrera RSR	234	IMSA GT series
1978	Dick Barbour performance	Brian Redman Charles Mendez Bob Garretson	Porsche 935	240	Sports car world championship IMSA GT series
1979	Dick Barbour Racing	Bob Akin Rob McFarlin Roy Woods	Porsche 935	239	Sports car world championship IMSA GT series
1980	Dick Barbour Racing	John Fitzpatrick Dick Barbour	Porsche 935K3	253	Sports car world championship IMSA GT series
1981	Bayside Disposal Racing	Hurley Haywood Al Holbert Bruce Leven	Porsche 935/80	245	Sports car world championship IMSA-GTP series
1982	JLP Racing	John Paul senior John Paul junior	Porsche 935 JLP-3	244	IMSA-GTP series
1983	Personalized car dealership	Wayne Baker Jim Mullen Kees Nierop	Porsche 934	231	IMSA-GTP series
1984	De Narvaez Enterprises	Mauricio de Narváez Hans Heyer Stefan Johansson	Porsche 935J	263	IMSA-GTP series
1985	Preston Henn	AJ Foyt Bob Wollek	Porsche 962	281	IMSA-GTP series
1986	Bob Akin Motor Racing	Bob Akin Hans-Joachim Stuck Jo Gartner	Porsche 962	287	IMSA-GTP series
1987	Bayside Disposal Racing	Jochen Mass Bobby Rahal	Porsche 962	298	IMSA-GTP series
1988	Bayside Disposal Racing	Klaus Ludwig Hans-Joachim Stuck	Porsche 962	318	IMSA-GTP series
1989	Electramotive engineering	Chip Robinson Geoff Brabham Arie Luyendyk	Nissan GTP ZX Turbo	330	IMSA-GTP series
1990	Nissan Performance Tech.	Derek Daly Bob Earl	Nissan GTP ZX Turbo	301	IMSA-GTP series
1991	Nissan Performance	Derek Daly Geoff Brabham Gary Brabham	Nissan NPT-90	298	IMSA-GTP series
1992	All American Racers	Juan Manuel Fangio II Andy Wallace	Eagle MkIII	360	IMSA-GTP series
1993	All American Racers	Juan Manuel Fangio II Andy Wallace	Eagle MkIII	230	IMSA-GTP series
1994	Cunningham Racing	Steve Millen Johnny O'Connell John Morton	Nissan 300ZX	327	IMSA GT series
1995	Scandia Motorsports	Fermín Vélez Andy Evans Eric van de Poele	Ferrari 333SP	260	IMSA GT series
1996	Doyle Racing	Wayne Taylor Jim Pace Eric van de Poele	Riley & Scott Mk III	334	IMSA GT series
1997	Team Scandia	Fermín Vélez Andy Evans Stefan Johansson Yannick Dalmas	Ferrari 333SP	281	IMSA GT series
1998	Momo Doran Racing	Didier Theys Giampiero Moretti Mauro Baldi	Ferrari 333SP	319	IMSA GT series
1999	BMW Motorsport	Tom Kristensen JJ Lehto Jörg Müller	BMW V12 LMR	313	American Le Mans Series
2000	Audi Sport North America	Tom Kristensen Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	360	American Le Mans Series
2001	Audi Sport North America	Michele Alboreto Rinaldo Capello Laurent Aïello	Audi R8	370	American Le Mans Series
2002	Audi Sport North America	Christian Pescatori Rinaldo Capello Johnny Herbert	Audi R8	346	American Le Mans Series
2003	Infineon Team Joest	Marco Werner Frank Biela Philipp Peter	Audi R8	367	American Le Mans Series
2004	Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx	Pierre Kaffer Frank Biela Allan McNish	Audi R8	350	American Le Mans Series
2005	Champion Racing	Tom Kristensen JJ Lehto Marco Werner	Audi R8	361	American Le Mans Series
2006	Audi Sport North America	Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R10 TDI	349	American Le Mans Series
2007	Audi Sport North America	Marco Werner Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R10 TDI	364	American Le Mans Series
2008	Penske Racing	Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas Emmanuel Collard	Porsche RS Spyder	351	American Le Mans Series
2009	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R15 TDI	383	American Le Mans Series
2010	Team Peugeot Total	Alexander Wurz Marc Gené Anthony Davidson	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	367	American Le Mans Series
2011	Team Oreca Matmut	Nicolas Lapierre Loïc Duval Olivier Panis	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	332	American Le Mans Series Intercontinental Le Mans Cup
2012	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R18	325	American Le Mans Series World Endurance Championship
2013	Audi Sport Team Joest	Marcel Fässler Benoît Tréluyer Oliver Jarvis	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	364	American Le Mans Series
2014	Chip Ganassi Racing	Scott Pruett Memo Rojas Marino Franchitti	Riley Mk XXVI	291	United SportsCar Championship
2015	Action Express Racing	Christian Fittipaldi Sébastien Bourdais João Barbosa	Chevrolet Corvette DP	340	United SportsCar Championship
2016	Tequila Patron ESM	Scott Sharp Ed Brown Johannes van Overbeek Luís Felipe Derani	Ligier JS P2	238	United SportsCar Championship
2017	Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-VR	Ricky Taylor Jordan Taylor Alex Lynn	Cadillac DPi-VR	348	United SportsCar Championship
2018	Tequila Patron ESM	Luís Felipe Derani Nicolas Lapierre Johannes van Overbeek	OnRoak Nissan DPi	344	United SportsCar Championship
2019	Whelen Engineering Racing	Luís Felipe Derani Eric Curran Felipe Nasr	Cadillac DPi-VR	348	United SportsCar Championship

Web links

Commons : 12 Hours of Sebring  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the circuit
• Official homepage of the IMSA-USCC
• Results
• Page with information on American GT races