Sebring 12 hour race 2011

The victorious Oreca - Peugeot 908 HDi FAP with starting number 10, here at the Petit Le Mans 2011 . At Sebring, Nicolas Lapierre , Loïc Duval and Olivier Panis won the race with this vehicle

The Audi R15 TDI with starting number 2. Allan McNish , Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello thus achieved fourth place in the overall standings

The transition to the pit area at the beginning of the last hour of the race at night

The 59th Sebring 12-hour race , also the 59th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida, Sebring International Raceway , took place on March 19, 2011 at the Sebring International Raceway and was the first race of the ALMS Season and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup 2011 .

The race

The French racing team Oreca surprisingly won the 12-hour race with the privately entered Peugeot 908 HDi FAP against the strong factory competition from Audi and Peugeot . The result was astonishing, especially for Peugeot, as the works team brought a new Le Mans prototype to Sebring with the 908 . Due to the changes in the regulations in 2011, a smaller diesel engine was installed than in the previous model. It was a 3.7 liter V8 engine with an output of 405 kW (550 hp). In accordance with the changes in the regulations, a fin was added above the engine cover to prevent the vehicle from rolling over in the event of an accident. In addition, now the same tire size was on the front axle as used at the rear axle, on both axles magnesium wheels were mounted with 14.5 inch wide, with the Michelin - Radial tires were / frosted size 37 71-18. Further modifications to the chassis should improve the drivability of the vehicle. The two works cars were driven by the teams Alexander Wurz / Anthony Davidson / Marc Gené and Franck Montagny / Stéphane Sarrazin / Pedro Lamy .

Audi had also developed a new, this time closed, prototype for the 2011 sports car season with the E18 . In Sebring, however, the open R15 TDIs were used one last time . The drivers were the well-known Audi drivers Allan McNish , Tom Kristensen , Rinaldo Capello and Mike Rockenfeller . Then there were Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas , actually Porsche factory drivers, who contested selected long-distance races for Audi.

Both Audi got into trouble early on in the race. The number 1 car suffered a tire damage after Mike Rockenfeller drove over wreckage. The body was damaged in the process, which required a lengthy repair. The second R15 collided with Marc Gené's works 908 and suffered suspension damage. Tom Kristensen overlooked Gene while he was trying to overtake, and both vehicles spun. The Audis fell far behind, but were able to finish the race and finished fourth and fifth in the final classification.

Things went better at Peugeot at the beginning. From the start, the 908 with starting number 8 led the race for nine hours. Then Pedro Lamy spun off the track with cold tires. A full race lap was lost before he could steer the car back onto the track. The second 908 fell out of the top field after the collision with the Audi and the subsequent repair. Since there are no closed pit systems in Sebring, Gené had to drive into the paddock, as is usual at US motorsport events, to have the necessary interventions carried out there. The team lost 17 laps to the eventual winners.

The decision was made 40 minutes before the end, when Loïc Duval in the Oreca-908 HDi FAP came to the pits for the last refueling stop and was then able to drive through to the end. As a result, the HPD ARX-01e of David Brabham , Simon Pagenaud and Marino Franchitti took the lead, but had to refuel again shortly before the end and lost the win. Franck Montagny and Stéphane Sarrazin could only make up half of the lost full lap in the 908 with the number 8 and had to be satisfied with third place with team-mate Lamy.

170,000 spectators came to the track on race day. This record crowd also had its reason in the large starting field. While only 33 teams took up the race in the previous year , it was 56 in 2011.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	LMP1	10	Team Oreca Matmut	Nicolas Lapierre Loïc Duval Olivier Panis	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	332
2	LMP1	01	Highcroft Racing	David Brabham Simon Pagenaud Marino Franchitti	HPD ARX-01e	332
3	LMP1	8th	Peugeot Sport Total	Franck Montagny Stéphane Sarrazin Pedro Lamy	Peugeot 908	332
4th	LMP1	2	Audi Sport Team Joest	Allan McNish Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello	Audi R15 TDI	327
5	LMP1	1	Audi Sport Team Joest	Mike Rockenfeller Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas	Audi R15 TDI	326
6th	LMP1	016	Dyson Racing Team Inc.	Chris Dyson Jay Cochran Guy Smith	Lola B09 / 86	324
7th	LMP1	12	Rebellion Racing	Neel Jani Jeroen Bleekemolen Nicolas Prost	Lola B10 / 60	320
8th	LMP1	7th	Peugeot Sport Total	Alexander Wurz Anthony Davidson Marc Gené	Peugeot 908	315
9	LMPC	036	Genoa Racing	Mike Guasch Jens Petersen Dane Cameron	Oreca FLM09	312
10	GT	56	BMW Motorsport	Dirk Müller Joey Hand Andy Priaulx	BMW M3 E92 GT	312
11	LMPC	005	Core autosport	Ryan Dalziel Jon Bennett Frankie Montecalvo	Oreca FLM09	312
12	GT	66	BMW Motorsport	Dirk Werner Bill Auberlen Augusto Farfus	BMW M3 E92 GT	312
13	GT	03	Corvette Racing	Olivier Beretta Tommy Milner Antonio García	Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1	312
14th	GT	04	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Jan Magnussen Richard Westbrook	Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1	311
15th	GT	51	AF Corse	Gianmaria Bruni Giancarlo Fisichella Pierre Kaffer	Ferrari F430 GTC	311
16	GT	045	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Long Marc Lieb	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	310
17th	GT	044	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Darren Law Seth Neiman Marco Holzer	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	306
18th	LMPC	006	Core autosport	Gunnar Jeannette Ricardo González Rudy Junco	Oreca FLM09	305
19th	GTE Am	57	Krohn Racing	Tracy Krohn Michele Rugolo Niclas Jönsson	Ferrari F430 GTC	302
20th	LMP2	055	Level 5 motorsports	Luis Díaz Ryan Hunter-Reay	Lola B11 / 40	300
21st	GTC	054	Black Swan Racing	Damien Faulkner Tim Pappas Sebastiaan Bleekemolen	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	299
22nd	GTC	066	TRG	Duncan End Alain Li Spencer Pumpelly	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	299
23	GTC	030	NGT Motorsports	Sean Edwards Henrique Cisneros Carlos Kauffmann	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	296
24	GTC	011	JDX Racing	Nick Ham Scott Blackett Chris Cumming	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	295
25th	GTC	068	TRG	Dion by Moltke Jim Norman Peter Ludwig	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	295
26th	GT	040	Robertson Racing	Boris Said III Andrea Robertson David Robertson	Ford GT	294
27	LMPC	063	Genoa Racing	Christian Zugel Elton Julian Éric Lux	Oreca FLM09	294
28	GT	59	Luxury racing	Jean-Denis Delétraz Frédéric Makowiecki Stéphane Ortelli	Ferrari 458 Italia	292
29	GTC	034	Kelly Moss Motorsports	Peter LeSaffre Andrew Davis Bob Faieta	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	291
30th	LMP2	26th	Signatech Nissan	Franck Mailleux Lucas Ordoñez Soheil Ayari	Oreca 03	290
31	LMP2	35	OAK Racing	Frédéric Da Rocha Patrice Lafargue Andrea Barlesi	Pescarolo 01	287
32	GTC	077	Magnus Racing	Craig Stanton John Potter Mathew Marsh	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	282
33	LMP2	33	Level 5 motorsports	Christophe Bouchut Scott Tucker João Barbosa	Lola B11 / 80	280
34	GTC	023	Alex Job Racing	Leh Keen Bill Sweedler Brian Wong	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	279
35	GT	098	Jaguar RSR	PJ Jones Ken Wilden Rocky Moran Junior	Jaguar XKR	256
36	GTE Am	63	Proton Competition	Richard Lietz Gianluca Roda Christian Ried	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	252
37	LMPC	018	Performance Tech Motorsports	Jan-Dirk Lueders Anthony Nicolosi Jarrett Boon	Oreca FLM09	246
38	GT	099	Jaguar RSR	Bruno Junqueira Cristiano da Matta Oriol Servià	Jaguar XKR	35
Failed
39	GT	002	Extreme speed motorsports	Guy Cosmo Ed Brown Rob Bell	Ferrari 458 Italia	268
40	GT	062	Risi Competizione	Jaime Melo Toni Vilander	Ferrari 458 Italia	266
41	GT	004	Robertson Racing	Anthony Lazzaro David Murry Colin Brown	Ford GT	261
42	GT	048	Paul Miller Racing	Bryce Miller Sascha Maassen René Rast	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	231
43	GTE Am	62	CRS Racing	Pierre Ehret Roger Willis Shaun Lynn	Ferrari F430 GTC	223
44	LMP1	15th	OAK Racing	Matthieu Lahaye Pierre Ragues Guillaume Moreau	Pescarolo 01	222
45	GT	017	Team Falken Tire	Bryan Sellers Martin Ragginger Wolf Henzler	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	220
46	LMPC	038	Iconik Energy Drinks WRO	Johnny Mowlem Luca Moro Olivier Lombard	Oreca FLM09	203
47	LMPC	052	PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports	Ryan Lewis Ken Dobson Henri Richard	Oreca FLM09	185
48	LMP1	06	Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing	Greg Pickett Klaus Graf Lucas Luhr	Lola B08 / 62	151
49	LMP1	24	OAK Racing	Richard Hein Jacques Nicolet Jean-François Yvon	Pescarolo 01	110
50	GTC	032	Spectra Resources GMG Racing	James Sofronas Jan Seyffarth Bret Curtis	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	87
51	LMPC	089	Intersport Racing	Kyle Marcelli Rusty Mitchell Tomy Drissi	Oreca FLM09	85
52	GT	001	Extreme speed motorsports	Scott Sharp Johannes van Overbeek Dominik Farnbacher	Ferrari 458 Italia	58
53	GTE Am	50	Larbre Compétition	Gabriele Gardel Patrick Bornhauser Julien Canal	Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1	37
54	GT	050	Panoz Racing	Ian James Benjamin Leuenberger	Panoz Abruzzi	19th
55	GT	008	West Yokohama Racing	Nicky Pastorelli Dominik Schwager Brett Sandberg	Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4	10
56	GTE Am	60	Gulf AMR Middle East	Roald Goethe Mike Wainwright Fabien Giroix	Aston Martin V8 Vantage	5
Not started
57	GTC	023T	Alex Job Racing	Leh Keen Bill Sweedler Brian Wong	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	1

¹ training car

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
58	LMP1	007	Aston Martin Racing	Stefan Mücke Darren Turner Adrián Fernández	Aston Martin AMR-One
59	LMP1	037	Intersport Racing	Jon Field Clint Field	Lola B06 / 10
60	LMP2	05	LNT	Andrew Prendeville Rusty Mitchell Luke Hines	Radical SR9
61	LMP1	5	Hope Racing	Steve Zacchia Olivier Lombard	Oreca 01
62	GT	58	Luxury racing	François Jakubowski Anthony Beltoise	Ferrari 458 Italia
63	GT	61	AF Corse	Piergiuseppe Perazzini Marco Cioci	Ferrari F430 GTC

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
LMP1	Nicolas Lapierre	Loïc Duval	Olivier Panis	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Overall victory
LMP2	Luis Díaz	Ryan Hunter-Reay		Lola B11 / 40	Rank 20
LMPC	Mike Guasch	Jens Petersen	Dane Cameron	Oreca FLM09	Rank 9
GT	Dirk Mueller	Joey hand	Andy Priaulx	BMW M3 E92 GT	Rank 10
GTE Am	Tracy Krohn	Michele Rugolo	Niclas Jönsson	Ferrari F430 GTC	Rank 19
GTC	Damien Faulkner	Tim Pappas	Sebastiaan Bleekemolen	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	Rank 21

Racing data

• Registered: 63
• Started: 56
• Rated: 38
• Race classes: 6
• Spectators: warm and dry
• Race day weather: 1700000
• Route length: 5.955 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 12:00: 28.423 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 332
• Total distance of the winning team: 1976.918 km
• Winner's average: 164.634 km / h
• Pole position: Stéphane Sarrazin - Peugeot 908 (# 9) - 1: 46.571 - 201.147 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Alexander Wurz - Peugeot 908 (# 7) - 1: 48.141 - 198.228 km / h
• Racing series: 1st round of the 2011 ALMS season
• Racing series: 1st round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup 2011

Web links

Commons : 12 Hours of Sebring 2011  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Race results at Racing Sports Cars
• Race report