Sebring 12 hour race in 1988

Chevrolet Corvette GTP with starting number 22; Sarel van der Merwe and Elliot Forbes-Robinson dropped out prematurely after an engine failure

The 36th 12 Hours of Sebring , and 12 Hours Grand Prix of Endurance, The 36th running of America's Premier Road Race, Sebring International Raceway , was on 19 March 1988 to the Sebring International Raceway place and was the third championship round of IMSA-GTP series this year.

The race

The IMSA GTP season began at the end of January with the Daytona 24-hour race , which Martin Brundle , Raul Boesel and John Nielsen won in a Jaguar XJR-9D . In the following 3-hour race in Miami , Price Cobb and James Weaver were victorious in a Porsche 962 .

Over the years, the race in Sebring has repeatedly attracted racing drivers who pursued their careers in other professions and which racing drivers practiced more or less as a hobby. This mainly included American actors. The most successful of them in this endurance race was Steve McQueen , who finished second overall in 1970 as a partner of Peter Revson . 1988 was Hollywood - film industry by Lorenzo Lamas represents, who even ran his own small race team. In 1988 two former skiers were registered. The brothers Phil (three-time overall World Cup winner , Olympic champion and world champion ) and Steve Mahre (also world champion in skiing) wanted to take part in the race with a URD C82 , but had to forego a start after a training accident.

In practice, Chip Robinson pulverized his pole position time from the previous year. With a time of 1: 55.846 minutes, he was more than seven seconds faster in the Porsche 962 than in the previous year. The average speed increased from 193.654 to 205.545 km / h. The training session was overshadowed by the death of Porsche driver Bob Copeman , who lost control of the car on Turn 1 on Friday and suffered fatal injuries when it hit an earth wall.

Although the Porsche teams developed a strong new opponent in the form of Tom Walkinshaw's Jaguar team , the race again ended with a Porsche triumph. For Hans-Joachim Stuck it was the third overall victory in Sebring and the first for his partner Klaus Ludwig .

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	GTP	86	Bayside Disposal Racing	Hans-Joachim Stuck Klaus Ludwig	Porsche 962	318
2	GTP	0	Joest Racing	Louis Krages Frank Jelinski Paolo Barilla	Porsche 962	309
3	GTP	16	Dyson Racing	Price Cobb James Weaver	Porsche 962	307
4th	GTP	1	AJ Foyt Enterprises	AJ Foyt Hurley Haywood	Porsche 962	304
5	GTP	10	Hotchkis Racing	Jim Adams John Hotchkis John Hotchkis junior	Porsche 962	303
6th	GTO	5	Protofab Racing	Wally Dallenbach John Jones	Chevrolet Corvette	289
7th	GTP	61	Castrol Jaguar Racing	Jan Lammers Davy Jones Danny Sullivan	Jaguar XJR-9D	283
8th	GTO	6th	Roush Racing	Lyn St. James Deborah Gregg	Mercury Merkur XR4Ti	282
9	Lights	9	Essex Racing	David Loring Tom Hessert	Tiga GT286	282
10	GTO	33	Roush Racing	Les Delano Andy Petery Craig Carter	Mercury Capri	278
11	GTO	11	Roush Racing	Scott Pruett Pete Halsmer	Mercury Merkur XR4Ti	275
12	GTO	76	Clayton Cunningham Racing	John Morton P.J. Jones	Mazda RX-7	273
13	Lights	40	Gaston Andrey Racing	Angelo Pallavicini Uli Bieri Paolo Guatamacchi Martino Finotto	Tiga GT286	269
14th	GTU	71	Team highball	Dennis Shaw Amos Johnson	Mazda RX-7	267
15th	GTO	38	Mandeville Auto Tech	Roger Mandeville Kelly Marsh Don Marsh	Mazda RX-7	266
16	GTU	75	Clayton Cunningham Racing	Bart Kendall Tom Frank	Mazda RX-7	265
17th	Lights	80	Gaston Andrey Racing	Martino Finotto Ruggero Melgrati Guido Daccò	Alba AR6	264
18th	GTP	09	Ball Bros. Racing	Steve Durst Mike Brockman Jeff Kline	Spice SE88P Firebird GTP	262
19th	GTU	82	Dick Greer Racing	Dick Greer Matt Mnich John Finger Mike Mees	Mazda RX-7	261
20th	Lights	23	Di-Tech Buick	Rex McDaniel George Petrilak Scott Livingston	Argo JM16	259
21st	Lights	55	Huffaker Racing	Paul Lewis Terry Visger Jon Woodner	Spice SE86CL Pontiac Fiero GTP	251
22nd	GTU	53	Team Shelby	Jack Broomall Tim Evans Garth Ullom	Dodge Daytona	250
23	GTU	53	Ash Tisdelle	Ash Tisdelle Lance Van Every Nort Northam	Chevrolet Camaro	232
24	GTU	20th	Martinelli-Scott	Jack Refenning Rusty Bond Freddy Baker	Porsche 911 Carrera	232
25th	Lights	01	Spice Engineering USA	Charles Morgan Don Bell Hendrik ten Cate	Spice SE87L Pontiac Fiero GTP	229
26th	GTO	84	Car Enterprises	Craig Rubright Kermit Upton	Chevrolet Camaro	229
27	GTU	89	901 Racing	Peter Uria Larry Figaro Skip Winfree	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	226
28	GTU	54	SP Racing	Bill Auberlen Adrian Gang Gary Auberlen	Porsche 911	224
29	GTU	17th	Al Bacon performance	Bob Reed Al Bacon Amos Johnson	Mazda RX-7	217
30th	GTU	30th	Rudy Bartling	Rudy Bartling Rainer Brezinka Fritz Hochreuter	Porsche 911	217
31	Lights	42	Lamas Motor Racing	Howard Cherry Charles Monk Lorenzo Lamas Jack Newsum Tim McAdam	Fabcar CL	212
32	GTO	92	Bob's Speed ​​Product	Del Russo Taylor Bob Lee Gary Myers Mark Montgomery	Pontiac Firebird	205
33	GTO	7th	Highlands Race Team	Steve Roberts Kurt Roehrig	Pontiac Firebird	197
34	GTU	00	Full time racing	Kal Showket Neil Hanneman	Dodge Daytona	183
35	GTO	69	Greg Walker Racing	Greg Walker Scott Lagasse King Smith	Chevrolet Corvette	174
36	GTO	81	Sentry Bank Equipment	Ken Bupp Guy Church Robert Peters	Chevrolet Camaro	168
37	GTU	18th	Simms-Romano Enterprises	Paul Romano Bill McVey Robert Seaman William Hornack	Mazda RX-7	161
Failed
38	Lights	63	Jim Downing	Jim Downing Howard Katz Hiro Matsushita	Argo JM19	268
39	Lights	19th	Essex Racing Services	Bill Jacobson John Schneider Jim Brown	Tiga GT286	229
40	GTO	03	Skoal Bandit Racing	Buz McCall Paul Dallenbach Jack Baldwin	Chevrolet Camaro	225
41	GTP	49	HP Racing	Doc Bundy Bill Cooper Whitney Ganz	March 86G	173
42	GTO	12	Spirit of Brandon	Henry Brosnaham Kent Cellars	Chevrolet Camaro	161
43	GTP	22nd	Hendrick Motorsports	Sarel van der Merwe Elliot Forbes-Robinson	Chevrolet Corvette GTP	151
44	GTU	50	Marco Polo Motorsports	Dan Ripley Alan Freed Keith Rinzler	Pontiac Fiero	145
45	GTU	02	C&C Inc.	Tom Kendall Max Jones	Chevrolet Beretta	145
46	GTP	14th	Holbert Racing	Chip Robinson Al Holbert	Porsche 962	142
47	GTP	26th	Hi-tech racing	Richard McDill Tom Juckette Bill McDill	March 84G	142
48	Lights	97	Whitehall Motorsports	Claude Ballot-Léna Jean-Louis Ricci Skeeter McKitterick	Spice SE88P Pontiac Fiero GTP	141
49	GTP	30th	Momo Racing	Michael Roe Giampiero Moretti	March 86G	135
50	GTO	2	Protofab Racing	Greg Pickett Tommy Riggins	Chevrolet Corvette	126
51	Lights	4th	S&L Racing	Jim Miller Linda Ludemann Scott Schubot	Spice SE88P	117
52	Lights	06	Bobby Brown Racing	Bobby Brown Billy Hagan Ron Nelson	Tiga GT286	102
53	GTU	68	Latino Racing	Luis Mendez Kikos Fonseca	Porsche 911 Carrera	100
54	GTO	98	All American Racers	Dennis Aase Chris Cord	Toyota Celica Turbo	99
55	Lights	57	Wonzer Racing	Bill Bean Gary Wonzer Mike Cooper	Lola T616	93
56	GTO	41	Ferrea Racing	Luis Sereix Daniel Urrutia	Chevrolet Camaro	88
57	GTP	72	Roy Baker Racing	Lon Bender Albert Naon	Tiga GC286	81
58	GTP	39	Phoenix Race Cars	John Gunn Gary Belcher	Phoenix JG2	63
59	GTU	47	Cumberland Valley Racing	Richard Oakley Doug Mills	Mazda RX-7	37
60	GTP	60	Castrol Jaguar Racing	Martin Brundle John Nielsen Raul Boesel	Jaguar XJR-9D	31
61	GTU	07	Full time racing	Dorsey Schroeder Bruce MacInnes	Dodge Daytona	25th
62	GTP	15th	John Kalagian Racing	Jim Rothbarth Bernard Jourdain	Porsche 962	21st
63	GTO	99	All American Racers	Willy T. Ribbs Juan Manuel Fangio II	Toyota Celica Turbo	16
64	GTP	31	Momo Racing	Tom Gloy Didier Theys Steve Phillips	March 86G	2
65	Lights	48	Lamas Motor Racing	Chip Mead Lorenzo Lamas Tim McAdam	Fabcar CL	2
Not started
66	GTU	28	Guy Church	Russ Church EJ Generotti Guy Church	Mazda RX-7	1
67	GTO	45	Karl Keck	Mark Kennedy Karl Keck	Chevrolet Corvette	2
68	GTU	51	HP Racing	Bob Copeman Joe Philips	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	3
69	GTU	56	Karl Durkheimer	Karl Durkheimer Jim Torres	Porsche 911 Carrera	4th
70	Lights	58	Wonzer Racing	Paul Goral Brian Cameron Gary Wonzer Peter Argetsinger	Lola T616	5
71	GTP	96	Mahre Brothers	Phil Mahre Steve Mahre	URD C82	6th
72	GTP	16T	Dyson Racing	Price Cobb James Weaver Rob Dyson	Porsche 962	7th
73	GTP	22T	Hendrick Motorsports	Sarel van der Merwe Elliot Forbes-Robinson	Chevrolet Corvette GTP	8th
74	GTP	66T	Castrol Jaguar Racing	Raul Boesel Davy Jones	Jaguar XJR-9	9
Not qualified
75	GTU	46	Red Line Racing	Mike Guido Mike Graham Alan Crouch	BMW 325	10
76	GTO	66	Chaunce Wallace	Chaunce Wallace Warren Newell	Chevrolet Camaro	11

¹ not started ² not started ³ fatal accident involving Bob Copeman during training ⁴ not started ⁵ not started ⁶ accident during training ⁷ training car ⁸ training car ⁹ training car ¹⁰ not qualified ¹¹ not qualified

Only in the entry list

Here you will find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race but did not take part for a variety of reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
77	GTP	3	Brun Motorsport	Massimo Sigala	Porsche 962
78	GTP	8th	Fabcar	Tim McAdam Chip Mead	Fabcar GTP

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
GTP	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Klaus Ludwig	Porsche 962	Overall victory
Lights	David Loring	Tom Hessert	Tiga GT286	Rank 9
GTO	Wally Dallenbach	John Jones	Chevrolet Corvette	Rank 6
GTU	Dennis Shaw	Amos Johnson	Mazda RX-7	Rank 14

Racing data

• Registered: 78
• Started: 65
• Rated: 37
• Race classes: 4
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: cold and dry
• Route length: 6.614 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 12:00: 52.987 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 318
• Total distance of the winning team: 2103.380 km
• Winner's average: 175.068 km / h
• Pole position: Chip Robinson - Porsche 962 (# 14) - 1: 55.846 - 205.545 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Price Cobb - Porsche 962 (# 16) - 2: 00.716 - 197.256 km / h
• Racing series: 3rd round of the IMSA GTP series in 1988

literature

• Ken Breslauer: Sebring. The official History of America's Great Sports Car Race. David Bull, Cambridge MA 1995, ISBN 0-9649722-0-4 .
• Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. A complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .

Web links

• Race results at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information on Lorenzo Lamas Racing
2. ↑ On the death of Bob Copeman

Previous race, 3 Hours of Miami, 1988

IMSA-GTP series

Follow -up race 500 km from Road Atlanta 1988