Porsche Penske does it again after 12 hours of racing at Sebring International Raceway. The No. 07 led the 1-2 effort as Porsche Penske finished on top again after an already dominant start to the season at the Rolex 24. Felipe Nasr led the closing stint where he was never really challenged. Unlike the drama that has ensured over the past two years in the closing minutes of the 12 hours of Sebring; This year’s ending was mostly uneventful. Porsche had dominated the race and held the lead for the majority of the final 25% of the race. When the clock read 30 minutes left Porsche was in maintenance mode. The goal; take care of the car and bring it home.
Based on final pit stop strategy and tire management under a flurry of yellow flags. Porsche was able to extend its race stints and maximize performance when track temperature dropped in the evening. Of note, Nick Tandy joined a collective of legends as he finally has etched his name into the record books as the 10th driver to win the “triple crown”. That is wins at the Rolex 24, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 hours of Le Mans. While the wins did not occur in the same year, (yet). However, the achievement is one of the most coveted in the history of motorsports.
“Congratulations to the whole team for a flawless performance,” commented Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. “As expected, the 12 Hours of Sebring delivered some fierce competition. Drivers, mechanics, and engineers – everyone did an absolutely perfect job today. It couldn’t have gone better. The Porsche 963 has again upheld its reputation as the most successful LMDh car since the regulations were introduced. This is something we can all be very proud of. Thanks to everyone who contributed to these successes. I’d also like to congratulate our customer team AO Racing. They scored a well-deserved class victory with the Porsche 911 GT3 R.”
Inter Europol Wins LMP2
The No. 43 Inter Europol LMP2 car held on to the lead in the closing stages of the race. The team played the long game never taking unnecessary risks which left them poised to maintain their lead in the closing stages of the race. The car maintained a one second lead at the end of the race but leading up to the final laps, track traffic and overall pace left them in a comfortable position to take the in class win. despite the win the No. 43 only led the race for 12 of the 347 laps
Results from the 12 Hours of Sebring