Sebring 12 hour race in 2008

The victorious Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder from Timo Bernhard , Romain Dumas and Emmanuel Collard ...

.... during the race

The Patron-Highcroft-Racing-Acura ARX-01b, which David Brabham , Scott Sharp and Stefan Johansson drove to fifth place in the overall standings

The press office at the pit facility at night

The 56th Sebring 12-Hour Race , also the 56th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh From Florida, Sebring International Raceway , took place on March 15, 2008 at the Sebring International Raceway and was the first race of the ALMS 2008 season .

The race

An LMP2 racing car wins against stiff competition from the LMP1 works Audi R10 TDI and the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP . What seemed completely impossible at the Le Mans 24 Hours of the 2000s became reality at Sebring 2008.

Audi had registered two R10 TDIs through the North American subsidiary Audi Sport North America . As in previous years, the operation was handled by technicians and mechanics from Joest Racing . Rinaldo Capello , Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish started in the number 1 car . The second Audi (car number 2) was driven by Marco Werner , Lucas Luhr and Mike Rockenfeller . Peugeot only brought a 908 HDi FAP to Sebring, entrusted to Nicolas Minassian , Stéphane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy .

The LMP2 class was very busy. Like the Dyson Racing Team, Roger Penske had reported two Porsche RS Spyders . A fifth RS Spyder came from Horag Racing in Switzerland . The Acura ARX-01b were big opponents of the Porsche teams . Beginning in 2007, Acura expanded its North American motorsport commitment to include the American Le Mans Series . The racing cars based on the chassis of the Courage-ORECA LC70 were adapted for the 2008 season.

At the start of the race, Nicolas Minassian took the lead, past the fastest in training, Rinaldo Capello, which he held for the first 44 laps. It was the only phase of the race in which the Peugeot was in the lead. As a result, there were repeated problems with the hydraulics on the 908 HDi FAP, which ensured that the car could no longer fight for the top. At the finish, the vehicle had lost 33 laps on the winning car. At Audi there were initial problems after just a few laps when Capello received a stop-and-go penalty after a collision with a Flying Lizard GT2 Porsche . It soon became clear that the fastest LMP2 cars could not be shaken off, and after the beginning hydraulic problems at Peugeot, Marco Andretti's Acura ARX-01b and Timo Bernhard's Porsche RS Spyder were in the lead for two laps each . Halfway through the race, both Audis were still in the lead when the problems there got out of hand. Mike Rockefeller, Marco Werner and Lucas Uhr lost a total of 18 laps in the pits because the right turbocharger and the front brake discs had to be changed. At the finish it was only enough for sixth place overall, five places ahead of the Peugeot. The front brake discs also had to be changed on the second Audi, and there were also problems with the tie rod, which had a negative impact on handling.

A fierce three-way battle between the two Dyson RS Spyder and the number 7 Penske Racing Spyder broke out for overall victory. Luis Díaz and Adrián's entire Acura race was always on the same lap with the respective lead car, but never at the front Fernández . The last change in leadership came on the 320 lap of the race when Romain Dumas passed Andy Lally and 31 laps later won the race with a minimal margin of two seconds. The third-placed Acura by Díaz and Fernández was disqualified after the award ceremony because of a non-compliant braking system and taken out of the ranking. With the Audi with the number 1, an LMP1 car made it into the top three.

For Porsche , the triumph was the first overall victory at Sebring since the success of Hans-Joachim Stuck and Klaus Ludwig in 962 in 1988 .

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	LMP2	7th	Penske Racing	Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas Emmanuel Collard	Porsche RS Spyder	351
2	LMP2	20th	Dyson Racing Team	Butch Leitzinger Marino Franchitti Andy Lally	Porsche RS Spyder	351
3	LMP1	1	Audi Sport North America	Rinaldo Capello Tom Kristensen Allan McNish	Audi R10 TDI	351
4th	LMP2	16	Dyson Racing Team	Chris Dyson Guy Smith	Porsche RS Spyder	350
5	LMP2	9	Patron Highcroft Racing	David Brabham Scott Sharp Stefan Johansson	Acura ARX-01b	349
6th	LMP1	2	Audi Sport North America	Marco Werner Lucas Luhr Mike Rockenfeller	Audi R10 TDI	333
7th	LMP2	27	Horag Racing	Jan Lammers Fredy Lienhard Didier Theys	Porsche RS Spyder	333
8th	GT1	3	Chevrolet Corvette Racing	Jan Magnussen Johnny O'Connell Ron Fellows	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	328
9	LMP1	37	Intersport Racing	Jon Field Clint Field Richard Berry	Lola B06 / 10	327
10	GT1	4th	Chevrolet Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta Massimiliano Papis	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	320
11	LMP1	07	Equipe Peugeot Total	Nicolas Minassian Stéphane Sarrazin Pedro Lamy	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	318
12	GT2	45	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Wolf Henzler Jörg Bergmeister Marc Lieb	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	314
13	GT2	44	Flying Lizard Motorsports 44	Darren Law Alex Davison Seth Neiman	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	311
14th	GT2	61	Risi Competizione	Niclas Jönsson Tracy Krohn Eric van de Poele	Ferrari F430 GTC	308
15th	GT2	73	Blackboard Racing	Allan Simonsen Pierre Ehret Jim Tafel	Ferrari F430 GTC	305
16	GT1	008	Bell Motorsports	Antonio García Terry Borcheller Chapman Ducote	Aston Martin DBR9	299
17th	GT2	11	Primetime Race Group	Joel Feinberg Chris Hall	Dodge Viper Competition Coupe	295
18th	GT2	5	VICI Racing	Craig Stanton Nathan Swartzbaugh Uwe Alzen	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	286
19th	GT2	71	Blackboard Racing	Dirk Müller Rob Bell Dominik Farnbacher	Ferrari F430 GTC	280
20th	GT2	46	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Johannes van Overbeek Richard Lietz Patrick Pilet	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	280
Disqualified
21st	LMP1	15th	Lowe's Fernandez Racing	Luis Díaz Adrián Fernández	Acura ARX-01b	351
Failed
22nd	LMP2	26th	Andretti Green Racing	Marco Andretti Christian Fittipaldi Bryan Herta	Acura ARX-01b	287
23	LMP1	12	Autocon Motorsports	Chris McMurry Tony Burgess Bryan Willman	Creation CA06 / H	250
24	GT2	21st	Panoz Team PTG	Tommy Milner Joey Hand Tom Sutherland	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	200
25th	GT2	40	Robertson Racing	David Murry Andrea Robertson David Robertson	Ford GT-R	186
26th	GT2	77	Autoracing Club Bratislava	Miro Konôpka Mauro Casadei Miroslav Hornak	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	173
27	GT2	62	Risi Competizione	Jaime Melo Mika Salo Gianmaria Bruni	Ferrari F430 GTC	137
28	GT2	87	Farnbacher Loles	Dirk Werner Marc Basseng Bryce Miller	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	136
29	GT2	28	LG Motorsports	Marc Goossens Doug Peterson Lou Gigliotti	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	99
30th	LMP2	32	Barazi Epsilon	Michael Vergers Jean-Christophe Ravier Juan Barazi	Zytek 07S	88
31	GT2	007	Drayson-Barwell	Paul Drayson Jonny Cocker Tim Sugden	Aston Martin DBR9	70
32	LMP2	6th	Penske Racing	Sascha Maassen Patrick Long Ryan Briscoe	Porsche RS Spyder	29
Not started
33	LMP2	8T	BK Motorsport	Ben Devlin Gerardo Bonilla Raphael Matos	Lola B07 / 46	1
34	GT2	48	Corsa Motorsports	Gunnar Jeannette Johnny Mowlem Ralf Kelleners	Ferrari F430 GTC	2
35	LMP1	1T	Audi Sport North America	Rinaldo Capello Tom Kristensen Allan McNish	Audi R10 TDI	3
36	LMP2	8th	BK Motorsports	Ben Devlin Gerardo Bonilla Raphael Matos	Lola B07 / 46	4th
37	GT2	18th	Corsa Motorsports	Gunnar Jeannette Ralf Kelleners	Ferrari F430 GTC	5
38	LMP1	10	ECO racing	Ben Collins Harri Toivonen Simon Wright	Radical SR10	6th

¹ disqualified before the start ² did not start ³ training car ⁴ accident during qualification training ⁵ replacement car ⁶ technical inspection failed

Only in the entry list

No further reports are known for this race.

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
LMP1	Rinaldo Capello	Tom Kristensen	Allan McNish	Audi R10 TDI	Rank 3
LMP2	Timo Bernhard	Romain Dumas	Emmanuel Collard	Porsche RS Spyder	Overall victory
GT1	Jan Magnussen	Johnny O'Connell	Ron Fellows	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	Rank 8
GT2	Wolf Henzler	Jörg Bergmeister	Marc Lieb	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	Rank 12

Racing data

• Registered: 38
• Started: 32
• Rated: 21
• Race classes: 4
• Spectator: unknown
• Weather on race day: unknown
• Route length: 5.955 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 12:01: 39.587 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 351
• Total distance of the winning team: 2090.055 km
• Winner's average: 173.771 km / h
• Pole position: Rinaldo Capello - Audi R10 TDI (# 1) - 1: 43.195 - 207.728 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Pedro Lamy - Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP (# 07) - 1: 44.536 - 205.063 km / h
• Racing series: 1st run for the 2008 ALMS season

Web links

Commons : 12 Hours of Sebring 2008  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Race results at Racing Sports Cars
• Race report
• Race report (German)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Audi voices on the course of the race

Previous race 4 Hours of Laguna Seca 2007

American Le Mans Series

Successor to the 1.55-hour race in St. Petersburg 2008