Sebring 3-hour race 1962

Fiat-Abarth 1000 Bialbero

The 3 Hours of Sebring 1962 , also 12 Hours of Sebring (Florida International 3 Hour Grand Prix of Endurance - For Under 1000 cc Division I GT Cars), Sebring , took place on March 23 at the Sebring International Raceway and was the second round of the sports car world championship this year.

The race

The 3-hour race in Sebring was already the second world championship run in 1962 and took place one day before the 12-hour race . Since titles were awarded in all racing classes in the world championship, new events were created. In addition to the one in Sebring, there was also a 3-hour race in Daytona , which Dan Gurney won in a Lotus 19 .

In Sebring, only GT cars in three cubic capacity classes were allowed to compete. The race turned into an exciting encounter between the Abarth factory team and the Briggs Cunningham racing team who fielded the Fiat Abarth 1000 . The race ended with a double victory for the Cunningham-Abarth. Bruce McLaren won after almost 3 hours driving time 10 seconds ahead of his team mate Walt Hansgen .

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	GT 1.0	8th	Briggs Cunningham	Bruce McLaren	Fiat-Abarth 1000 Bialbero	46
2	GT 1.0	7th	Briggs Cunningham	Walt Hansgen	Fiat-Abarth 1000 Bialbero	46
3	GT 1.0	15th	BMC	Stirling Moss	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	45
4th	GT 1.0	4th	Abarth	Alfonso Thiele	Fiat-Abarth 1000	45
5	GT 1.0	5	Abarth	Mauro Bianchi	Fiat-Abarth 1000	45
6th	GT 1.0	22nd	BMC	Pedro Rodríguez	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	45
7th	GT 1.0	17th	BMC	Innes Ireland	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	44
8th	GT 1.0	2	Ecurie Francorchamps	Léon Dernier	Fiat-Abarth 1000	43
9	GT 1.0	16	BMC	Steve McQueen	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	43
10	GT 1.0	23	Paul Layman	Ray Cuomo Paul Layman	Fiat-Abarth 1000	42
11	GT 1.0	1	Ecurie Francorchamps	Olivier Gendebien	Fiat-Abarth 1000	42
12	GT 850	26th	Howard Hanna	Paul Hagan	DB	38
13	GT 850	28	Dorothy Stein	Charles stone	Fiat-Abarth 850	38
14th	GT 1.0	37	William Storey	Anson Johnson	Austin-Healey Sprite	38
15th	GT 1.0	21st	Paul Layman	Bill Kirtley	Austin-Healey Sprite	38
16	GT 1.0	25th	Eugene Barmac	Fred Hoffman John Barmac	DB	37
17th	GT 1.0	11	Lee Koon	Lee Koon	Austin-Healey Sprite	36
18th	GT 850	27	Don Bolton	Don Bolton	Saab GT750	36
19th	GT 1.0	14th	CC Canada	CC Canada Cecil Stockard	Austin-Healey Sprite	32
20th	GT 1.0	20th	Lewis Smith	John Skene Lewis Smith	DB HBR5	29
21st	GT 1.0	19th	Cesar Sandoval	Cesar Sandoval	Austin-Healey Sprite	28
22nd	GT 1.0	12	William Martin	Ralph Noseda	Austin-Healey Sprite	28
Failed
23	GT 1.0	3	Abarth	Carlo-Maria Abate	Fiat-Abarth 1000	43
24	GT 850	29	George Avent	George Avent Paul Buchanan	Fiat-Abarth 600	34
25th	GT 500	35	Hugh Kleinpeter	Hugh Kleinpeter	Berkeley B95	27
26th	GT 850	33	Carl Dorr	Brian O'Neil	Fiat-Abarth 600	20th
27	GT 1.0	9	Briggs Cunningham	Roger Penske	Fiat-Abarth 1000 Bialbero	19th
28	GT 1.0	6th	Abarth	Paul Richards	Fiat-Abarth 1000	15th
Not started
29	GT 1.0	18th	Art Huttinger	Art Huttinger	Austin-Healey fuel	1
30th	GT 1.0	T	BMC	Stirling Moss Steve McQueen Innes Ireland Pedro Rodríguez	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	2
31	GT 1.0	10	Frank Mabry	Dave Clark Frank Mabry	Austin-Healey Speedwell Sprite	3

¹ not started ² training car ³ accident during training

Only in the entry list

No further reports are known for this race.

Class winner

class	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
GT 1.0	Bruce McLaren	Fiat-Abarth 1000 Bialbero	Overall victory
GT 850	Paul Hagan	DB	Rank 12
GT 500	no participant in the finish

Racing data

• Registered: 31
• Started: 28
• Valued: 22
• Race classes: 3
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: cold and dry
• Route length: 8.369 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 3: 03: 01,000 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 46
• Distance of the winning team: 384.955 km
• Winner's average: 126.205 km / h
• Pole position: unknown
• Fastest race lap: Bruce McLaren - Fiat-Abarth 1000 Bialbero (# 8) - 3: 47.400 = 133.093 km / h
• Racing series: 2nd round of the 1962 World Sports Car Championship

Web links

• Results at Racing Sports Cars

Previous race 3 Hours of Daytona 1962

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 12-hour race at Sebring in 1962