Sebring 12 hour race 2005

The two victorious champion racing Audi R8s; here at the 2.45-hour Road America race

Made his racing debut at Sebring in 2005; the Maserati MC12 GT1

The 53rd Sebring 12 Hours of Sebring , also known as the 53rd Annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, Sebring International Raceway , took place on March 19, 2005 at the Sebring International Raceway and was the first race of the 2005 ALMS season .

Before the race

The race in Sebring was again the opening event of the new season. The defending champions of the American Le Mans Series were Marco Werner and JJ Lehto .

The race

The most interesting new racing car in Sebring for years was the Maserati MC12 GT1 in 2005 . The development of the MC12 GT1 began after the takeover of Maserati by Ferrari . Ferrari commissioned Maserati to design a racing car that would be eligible to compete in the FIA GT championship . In contrast to most of the other racing cars in the FIA ​​GT championship, which are usually further developments of road sports cars, the MC12 was specially designed for use in motorsport. The 50 built vehicles of the street version should only be used for homologation . Due to the fact that the street-legal Maserati MC12 was already a very radical concept, Maserati had more technical freedom than its competitors for its racing vehicle, originally called Maserati Corse Competizione . As head test driver, Andrea Bertolini carried out many test drives with the Maserati MC12 GT1. Some test drives were also completed by Michael Schumacher .

With 38 starters on race day, this was the smallest starting field in the 2000s to date. The race was again dominated by the Audi R8 . This time JJ Lehto , Marco Werner and Tom Kristensen won the Champion R8. The Maserati, driven by Bertolini, Fabio Babini and Fabrizio De Simone , crossed the finish line in eighth place overall. This meant fourth place in the GT1 class.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	LMP1	1	ADT Champion Racing	JJ Lehto Marco Werner Tom Kristensen	Audi R8	361
2	LMP1	2	ADT Champion Racing	Emanuele Pirro Frank Biela Allan McNish	Audi R8	361
3	LMP1	16	Dyson Racing Team	James Weaver Andy Wallace Butch Leitzinger	MG-Lola EX257	341
4th	GT1	57	Aston Martin Racing	Darren Turner David Brabham Stéphane Ortelli	Aston Martin DBR9	338
5	GT1	3	Corvette Racing	Ron Fellows Johnny O'Connell Massimiliano Papis	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	337
6th	GT1	4th	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta Jan Magnussen	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	323
7th	GT2	31	Petersen Motorsports White Lightning Racing	Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Long Lucas Luhr	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	321
8th	GT1	35	Maserati Corse	Andrea Bertolini Fabio Babini Fabrizio De Simone	Maserati MC12 GT1	316
9	GT1	5	Pacific Coast Motorsports	Ryan Dalziel Alex Figge David Empringham	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	315
10	GT2	79	J3 Racing Inc.	Tim Sugden Niclas Jönsson	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	314
11	LMP2	10	Miracle Motorsports Inc.	Jeff Bucknum Chris McMurry Ian James	Courage C65	311
12	GT2	45	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Jon Fogarty Darren Law	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	311
13	GT1	71	Carsport America	Jean-Philippe Belloc Michele Rugolo Tom Weickardt	Dodge Viper GTS-R	310
14th	GT1	58	Aston Martin Racing	Peter Kox Pedro Lamy Stéphane Sarrazin	Aston Martin DBR9	303
15th	GT2	66	TRG	Michael Cawley Marc Sluszny Tracy Krohn	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	297
16	GT2	96	IN2 Racing	Michael Vergers Juan Barazi Andrew Thompson	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	278
17th	GT2	34	ZIP racing	Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly Steven Ivankovich	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	275
18th	GT2	51	Panoz Motor Sports	Gunnar Jeannette Bryan Sellers Scott Maxwell	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	239
Failed
19th	GT1	63	ACEMCO Motorsports LLC.	Johnny Mowlem Terry Borcheller Ralf Kelleners	Saleen S7-R	318
20th	LMP1	20th	Dyson Racing Team	Guy Smith Chris Dyson	MG-Lola EX257	264
21st	LMP2	27	Kruse Motorsport	Harold Primate Phil Bennett Ian Mitchell	Courage C65	238
22nd	GT2	43	BAM!	Mike Rockenfeller Martin Jensen Tony Burgess	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	207
23	LMP1	12	Autocon Motorsports	Michael Lewis Tomy Drissi Bryan Willman	Riley & Scott Mk IIIC	202
24	LMP2	37	Telessis Intersport Racing	Jon Field Duncan Dayton Gregor Fisken	Lola B05 / 40	166
25th	GT1	83	Graham Nash Motorsport	Nigel Smith Ricky Cole Rick Sutherland	Saleen S7-R	159
26th	GT2	41	Team LNT Magic	Richard Dean Patrick Pearce Marc Hynes	TVR T400R	157
27	GT1	86	Care Racing Larbre	Christophe Bouchut Fabrizio Gollin Sébastien Bourdais	Ferrari 550 Maranello	155
28	GT2	40	Team LNT Magic	Jonny Kane Warren Hughes Lawrence Tomlinson	TVR T400R	136
29	LMP1	88	Rollcentre Racing	João Barbosa Didier Theys Michael Krumm	Dallara LMP	130
30th	GT2	50	Panoz Motor Sports	Bill Auberlen Emanuele Naspetti Robin Liddell	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	121
31	GT2	48	Spyker Squadron	Tom Coronel Marc Goossens Donny Crevels	Spyker C-8 Spyder GT2 R	121
32	GT2	23	Alex Job Racing	Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas Sascha Maassen	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	98
33	LMP2	30th	Telessis Intersport Racing	Clint Field Liz Halliday Gareth Ridpath	Lola B2K / 40	62
34	GT2	24	Alex Job Racing	Randy Pobst Ian Baas Brian Cunningham	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	62
35	GT2	44	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Lonnie Pechnik David Murry Seth Neiman	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	46
36	GT2	67	TRG	Pierre Ehret Kevin Buckler	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	21st
37	GT2	47	Spyker Squadron	Peter van Merksteijn senior Frans Munsterhuis Marino Franchitti	Spyker C-8 Spyder GT2 R	18th
38	LMP2	15th	Binnie Motorsports	William Binnie Robert Julien Adam Sharpe	Lola B05 / 42	11
Not started
39	GT2	78	J3 Racing Inc.			1

¹ not trained

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
41	LMP2	11	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	Bob Berridge	Lola B05 / 40
42	GT1	21st	SpeedQuest Racing	Tom Weickhardt	Dodge Viper GTS-R
43	GT1	22nd	SpeedQuest Racing	Romeo Kapudija	Dodge Viper GTS-R
44	GT2	60	PK Sport		Porsche 996 GT3-RS

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
LMP1	JJ Lehto	Marco Werner	Tom Kristensen	Audi R8	Overall victory
LMP2	Jeff Bucknum	Chris McMurry	Ian James	Courage C65	Rank 11
GT1	Darren Turner	David Brabham	Stéphane Ortelli	Aston Martin DBR9	Rank 4
GT2	Jörg Bergmeister	Patrick Long	Lucas Luhr	Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	Rank 7

Racing data

• Registered: 44
• Started: 38
• Valued: 18
• Race classes: 4
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: hot and dry
• Route length: 5.955 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 12: 01: 49.211 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 361
• Total distance of the winning team: 2149.601 km
• Winner's average: 178.682 km / h
• Pole position: JJ Lehto - Audi R8 (# 1) - 1: 49.723 - 195.370 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Tom Kristensen - Audi R8 (# 1) - 1: 48.580 - 197.426 km / h
• Racing series: 1st round of the 2005 ALMS season

Web links

Commons : Sebring 12 Hours 2005  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Race results at Racing Sports Cars

Previous race 4 Hours of Laguna Seca 2004

American Le Mans Series

Succession race 2.45-hour race at Road Atlanta in 2005