Sebring 12 hour race in 1992

The Eagle Mk III with starting number 99; Winning car from Juan Manuel Fangio II and Andy Wallace

Geoff Brabham in the Nissan NPT-91A, here during his victory in Miami in February 1992. In Sebring, Brabham, his brother Gary as well as Derek Daly and Arie Luyendyk finished second overall in this car.

The 40th Sebring 12 Hours of Sebring , also Contac 12 Hours of Sebring International Grand Prix of Endurance Presented by Camel, Sebring International Raceway , took place on March 21, 1992 at the Sebring International Raceway and was the fourth round of the IMSA GTP series this year.

Before the race

The IMSA GTP series traditionally began in 1992 with the Daytona 24-hour race . Masahiro Hasemi , Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Toshio Suzuki celebrated their first Japanese victory in this 24-hour race on a Nissan R91CP . Three weeks later, on the Miami Street Circuit , Steve Millen won the 1-hour race and Geoff Brabham the following 2-hour race .

The race

The 40th edition of the Sebring 12-hour race turned out to be one of the most exciting in the history of the race. 80,000 spectators found their way to the race track on race day and saw the first triumph of a racing car powered by a Toyota engine in Sebring. For the past three years, the Nissan GTP race cars, the GTP ZX-Turbo and the NPT-90 , had dominated the races, taking three overall wins for the Japanese automaker. In 1992 the Nissan car became a strong opponent with the new GT prototypes from Dan Gurney . Gurney, now 61 years old, has long been just as successful as a designer and team manager as he is as a driver. As a driver, he had competed nine times at Sebring and in 1959 won the race for Scuderia Ferrari together with Chuck Daigh on a Ferrari 250TR59 . The cars he used and called the Eagle MkIII were actually Toyota racing cars that had already demonstrated their strengths in the series sprint races. Sebring would show whether the vehicles would be able to withstand a long-distance race .

During the race, a three-way battle developed between the two Nissan NPT-91A and the Eagle of Juan Manuel Fangio II and Andy Wallace . In the first four hours of racing, the lead changed 13 times. In the late afternoon, the Robinson / Bob Earl / Arie Luyendyk- Nissan chip failed after an engine failure, and the second Nissan took the lead. When he came to the pits for a routine stop at nightfall, the front light went out when the engine was started. Since vehicles were not allowed on the track without a functioning lighting system, a normal stop developed into a moderate disaster. When the Nissan finally started again, it was five laps behind the Eagle. On the last lap the car also lost one wheel, but Derek Daly made it to the finish on three wheels to take second place overall.

Fangio repeated the successes of his uncle of the same name , who won the race in 1956 and 1957 .

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	GTP	99	All American Racers	Juan Manuel Fangio II Andy Wallace	Eagle MkIII	360
2	GTP	83	Nissan Performance Technology	Geoff Brabham Derek Daly Gary Brabham Arie Luyendyk	Nissan NPT-91A	355
3	GTP	30th	Joest Racing	Oscar Larrauri Massimo Sigala Giampiero Moretti	Porsche 962C	345
4th	GTP	2	Bud Light Jaguar Racing	Davy Jones David Brabham	Jaguar XJR-12D	338
5	Lights	36	Downing Atlanta	Howard Katz Tim McAdam Jim Downing	Kudzu DG-1	314
6th	Lights	45	Scandia Motorsports	Charles Morgan Tommy Riggins	Kudzu DG-1	308
7th	GTS	51	Rocket sports	George Robinson Darin Brassfield Irv Hoerr Paul Gentilozzi	Oldsmobile Cutlass	302
8th	GTU	96	Leitzinger Racing	John Paul junior David Loring	Nissan 240SX	301
9	GTU	95	Leitzinger Racing	Butch Leitzinger Chuck Kurtz Bob Leitzinger	Nissan 240SX	297
10	GTP	98	All American Racers	PJ Jones Rocky Moran	Eagle MkIII	294
11	GTS	76	Cunningham Racing	John Morton Jeremy Dale Steve Millen	Nissan 300ZX	285
12	GTU	82	Wendy's Race Team	Dick Greer Al Bacon Peter Uria Mike Mees	Mazda RX-7	278
13	GTU	73	Jack Lewis Ent Ltd.	Jack Lewis Bill Ferran Joe Cogbill	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	276
14th	GTU	58	Pro-Technik Inc	Bill Sargis Sam Shalala Andre Toennis Dan Pastorini	Porsche 911	266
15th	GTS	22nd	J&B Motorsports	Luis Sereix Daniel Urrutia Jorge Polanco John Josey	Chevrolet Camaro	259
16	GTS	35	Bill McDill	Richard McDill Bill McDill Tom Juckette	Chevrolet Camaro	252
17th	GTU	0	Full time racing	John Fergus Don Walker Neil Hanneman	Dodge Daytona	249
18th	Lights	6th	MAB Racing	Mel Butt Tommy Johnson Ron Zitza Rob Robertson	Tiga GT287	245
19th	GTS	21st	Jim Downing	Kent Painter Robert Borders Ed De Long	Chevrolet Camaro	238
20th	GTS	29	Overbagh Racing	Grandma Kimbrough Mark Montgomery Robert McElheny Hoyt Overbagh	Chevrolet Camaro	238
21st	GTS	12	John Annis	John Annis Louis Beall Dick Downs Larry Schumacher Bob Deek	Chevrolet Lumina	208
22nd	GTU	34	Albert Motorsports Team Peru	Juan Dibos Eduardo Dibos Raul Orlandini	Mazda MX-6	199
23	GTS	67	Mazkar Racing	Paul Mazzacane Chester Edwards Brad Shinder Peter Argetsinger	Chevrolet Camaro	154
Failed
24	Lights	48	Comptech Racing	Ruggero Melgrati Costas Los Parker Johnstone	Spice SE90P	250
25th	GTS	23	Gary Smith	Gary Smith Gene Whipp Albert Ruiz	Pontiac Grand Prix	248
26th	GTU	26th	Job racing	Joe Pezza Jack Refenning Butch Hamlet	Porsche 911	240
27	GTP	84	Nissan Performance Technology	Chip Robinson Bob Earl Arie Luyendyk	Nissan NPT-91A	227
28	GTP	7th	Joest Racing	Bernd Schneider Frank Jelinski Louis Krages	Porsche 962C	221
29	Lights	44	Scandia Motorsports	Fermín Vélez Andy Evans Jay Cochran	Kudzu DG-2	221
30th	GTS	41	Rocket sports	Irv Hoerr Jack Baldwin Paul Gentilozzi	Oldsmobile Cutlass	185
31	GTU	39	Fiorano Motorsports	Rudy Bartling Ahmad Khodkar Rainer Brezinka	Porsche 911	183
32	GTU	57	Cryderacing	Joe Danaher Duke McLaughlin Frank Del Vecchio	Nissan 240SX	139
33	GTS	75	Cunningham Racing	Johnny O'Connell John Morton Steve Millen	Nissan 300ZX	117
34	GTP	4th	Tom Milner Racing	Wayne Taylor Hugh Fuller François Migault David Tennyson	Spice SE89P	111
35	GTS	25th	Dale Kreider	Jon Gooding Dale Kreider Nort Northam	Oldsmobile Cutlass	104
36	GTS	54	Art Cross Racing	Art Cross Bobby Scolo	Chevrolet Camaro	72
37	GTU	80	David Duda	Mike Speakman David Duda	Nissan 300ZX	68
38	GTU	55	Brix Racing	Bob Schader Phil Mahre Steve Mahre	Mazda MX-6	60
39	Lights	49	Comptech Racing	Parker Johnstone Dan Marvin	Spice SE91P	55
40	GTS	65	Jill Prewitt	Gene Felton Jerry Nadeau	Chevrolet Beretta	48
41	GTP	59	Brumo's Porsche	Hurley Haywood Bobby Carradine	Gunnar 966	45
42	GTS	8th	General Kinetics	Don Arpin Rob Vining Edd Davin	Chevrolet Camaro	42
43	GTP	1	Nissan Performance Technology	Gary Brabham	Nissan NPT-91A	20th
44	GTU	9	Support Net Racing	Henry Camferdam Phil Krueger Gary Drummond	Mazda MX-6	11
45	GTS	15th	Connie Banks	Jim Pace Barry Waddell Tim Banks	Chevrolet Lumina	9
46	GTU	37	Botero Racing Team	Rob Wilson Lucio Bernal Felipe Solano Miguel Morejon	Mazda MX-6	8th
47	GTP	5	Tom Milner Racing	Perry McCarthy Les Delano	Intrepid RM-1	7th
48	Lights	40	Bieri Racing	Heinz Wirth Uli Bieri John Graham Andrew Hepworth Vito Scavone	Alba AR2	3
Not started
49	GTP	77	Mazda Motorsports	James Weaver Price Cobb	Mazda RX-792P	1
50	GTU	0T	Full time racing	John Fergus Don Walker Neil Hanneman Emory Donaldson	Dodge Daytona	2
51	GTP	1T	Nissan Performance Technology	Arie Luyendyk Geoff Brabham Chip Robinson	Nissan NPT-91A	3
52	GTS	25T	Dale Kreider	Jon Gooding Dale Kreider Nort Northam	Oldsmobile Cutlass	4th
53	GTU	82T	Wendy's Race Team	Dick Greer Al Bacon Peter Uria Mike Mees	Mazda RX-7	5
54	GTP	11	Nissan Performance Technology		Nissan NPT-91A	6th

¹ fire on the exhaust system ² training cars ³ training cars ⁴ training cars ⁵ training cars ⁶ replacement cars

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
55	GTS	13	Robert Borders	Robert Borders	Oldsmobile Cutlass
56	GTU	17th	Oldsmobile Motorsports	Amos Johnson Scott Hoerr Chuck Hemmingson	Oldsmobile Achieva
57	GTP	24			Porsche 962 GTi
58	Lights	43	Bobby Brown Racing		Tiga GT287
59	GTS	68	Luis Mendez	Luis Mendez Tomas Mendez	Chevrolet Corvette
60	GTU	71	Oldsmobile Motorsports	Amos Johnson Scott Hoerr Dennis Shaw	Oldsmobile Achieva

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
GTP	Juan-Manuel Fangio II	Andy Wallace			Eagle MkIII	Overall victory
Lights	Howard Katz	Tim McAdam	Jim Downing		Kudzu DG-1	Rank 5
GTS	George Robinson	In it Brassfield	Irv Hoerr	Paul Gentilozzi	Oldsmobile Cutlass	Rank 7
GTU	John Paul Junior	David Loring			Nissan 240SX	Rank 8

Racing data

• Registered: 60
• Started: 48
• Rated: 23
• Race classes: 4
• Spectators: 80,000
• Race day weather: sunny, warm and dry
• Route length: 5.955 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 12:01: 47.692 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 360
• Total distance of the winning team: 2143.646 km
• Winner's average: 178.193 km / h
• Pole position: Juan-Manuel Fangio II - Eagle MkIII (# 99) - 1: 48.004
• Fastest race lap: Geoff Brabham - Nissan NPT-91A (# 83) - 1: 49.616 - 195.479 km / h
• Racing series: 4th round of the IMSA GTP series in 1992

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 .
• JA Martin and Ken Welles: Prototypes - the History of the IMSA GTP Series . Bull Publishing, Phoenix 2000, ISBN 1-893618-01-3 .

Web links

• Race results at Racing Sports Cars

Previous race 2 Hours of Miami 1992

IMSA-GTP series

Successor to the 1.45-hour race at Road Atlanta in 1992