Motorsport Week picked out five key storylines from a thrilling 73rd edition of the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s 12 Hours of Sebring.
The second round of the 2025 IMSA schedule delivered with action, drama and heartbreak across the 12 hours.
As one of motorsport’s most gruelling endurance races, the 12 Hours of Sebring delivered once again for a great racing spectacle.
Out of the 56 entries which started the race at 09:00 local time, just 10 retired throughout with half of the DNFs attributed to the GTD category.
From the hectic opening phase of the race, to the brilliant racing offered in the middle of four hours of green flag running, finalised by an intense sprint to the finish – there were numerous winning and losing names from the 12 Hours of Sebring.
This piece selected and explored some of the key storylines from the race held on 15 March in hot and humid ambient conditions.
Read our end-of-race reports:
- Porsche claim 1-2 as #7 car takes victory at Sebring
- ‘Rexy’ charges to GTD Pro 12H Sebring victory after closing sprint
One penalty is all it takes in LMP2
It was no surprise to see the LMP2 win decided within the final hour, yet it was not entirely due to the sprint to the end.
At the beginning of the race, there was early contact between the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 and the #88 AF Corse Oreca 07 marking an otherwise untidy start in the LMP2 category.
TDS Racing’s #11 Oreca were a clear benchmark throughout the race as Steven Thomas, Hunter McElrea and Mikkel Jensen unlocked stronger pace than any of the other Oreca 07s.
The Peugeot Hypercar driver set the #11’s fastest lap time, a 1:50.860, whereas the other LMP2s could manage the 1:51 bracket at best.
Crowdstrike Racing and their #04 Oreca, along with the #43 Inter Europol Competition team, were TDS Racing’s key rivals in the pursuit of victory.
In the final hour, Malthe Jakobsen – also a WEC Peugeot Hypercar driver – led the final sprint to the end. The #04 Oreca team had undeniably strong, consistent form against TDS Racing’s pace thus allowing them to lead the category for the majority of the race.
Margins are fine in motorsport and IMSA’s LMP2 category was no exception. Jakobsen retained the lead during the final caution period, an exceptional circumstance along with the pit entry being closed to Jakobsen but not to his rivals directly behind him.
The #43 driver Tom Dillmann hung on his tail during the final sprint and the pair minded their way through GT traffic with great difficulty.
Unfortunately, Jakobsen lightly rear-ended Matt Bell’s #13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R thus earning the team’s only penalty – a drive-through – with 10 minutes remaining.
Reigning GTD Pro and GTD champions reaffirm status
Both the GTD Pro and GTD categories saw the series’ outgoing champions take victory having reaffirmed their undeniable form and reigning status.
In GTD Pro, the #77 AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3.R have their full-season duo of Laurin Heinrich (2024 GTD Pro drivers’ champion) and Klaus Bachler with Alessio Picariello assisting in the Endurance Cup races.
AO Racing were unable to take pole position for Sebring, but were only 0.172 seconds away thanks to Heinrich’s 1:59.397 taken on his penultimate flying lap.
More significantly, AO Racing reminded others that they are the benchmark in the category with an iron fist.
Mistake-free driving in the early phases of the Sebring 12 Hours rewards the teams by keeping them on the lead lap for the night-time later on.
Initially, the GTD Pro lead fights were between the #65 Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3 and the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
AO Racing silently but surely kept themselves in the background of the fight before turning up the heat in the final hours, setting class-leading pace towards a well-earned maiden Endurance Cup race victory.
GTD’s Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 showcased similar form. Russell Ward and Indy Dontje carried consistent race pace during the majority of the race.
Dontje acclimatised the most driving time out of the trio at over 4 hours in total, but Philip Ellis also delivered during the most crucial half of the Sebring 12 Hours.
It came down to Ellis wrestling his way past Jack Hawksworth’s #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 after trying twice without success.
The pair made nose-to-tail contact just after they overtook the lapped #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alexander Sims.
Porsche Penske perfection, WTR not quite so
Porsche now have as many wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring as they do at the 24 Hours of Le Mans – 19.
The Weissach manufacturer had both cars together on strong long-run pace from free practice and so their #7 Porsche Penske 963 GTP led for 166 laps, almost half of the 353 total lap count at the checkered flag.
Nick Tandy showed his eager racing enthusiasm when he notably fought back and forth with Frederick Vesti’s #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.
The British driver set fast pace but it was the GTD traffic management which enabled him to secure the place without Vesti returning the favour.
Wayne Taylor Racing encountered one of their most difficult races as the #31 Whelen Cadillac rose as the sole Cadillac which best contended for the 12 Hours of Sebring win.
The first controversial incident seemingly had #40 Cadillac driver Ricky Taylor ‘instigate’ contact with Charles Scardina’s #021 Ferrari 296 GT3 – ‘sending’ him head-on into the barrier at T13.
Speculation raised whether there was actual contact between Taylor and Scardina’s Triarsi Competitzione Ferrari after Wayne Taylor himself on the broadcast claimed race control admitted an error of judgement for penalising the #10 for incident responsibility.
Meanwhile Brendon Hartley found himself in the wall at T17, the final corner, though not causing fatal damage to his #40 Cadillac.
From poor clarification over the Taylor-Scardina scenario, to mistiming the pit entry closed lights to the Porsche Penskes and Meyer Shank Acuras during a caution period and not to those behind them – and allowing Romain Grosjean’s #63 Lamborghini SC63 GTP to be an active hazard on a restart – race control were under pressure for these avoidable errors.
AF Corse suffers double trouble
AF Corse were the one team which arguably suffered the most after having to retire their #88 Oreca 07 LMP2 and the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 (GTD).
The LMP2 car was involved in the first race incident with the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca but it was a later moment which ended the run for the #88 Oreca.
Matias Perez Companc seemingly ran out of room as he went through Sunset Bend, the circuit’s bumpiest corner.
He crashed into a tyre wall on the exit of T17 with under three hours remaining thus marked a difficult end for the #88 AF Corse team – yet the GTD car endured a more heartbreaking retirement.
The #21 Ferrari started on pole position by Alessandrio Pier Guidi and quickly built up a lead from lights out.
Pier Guidi extended his lead to nine seconds before a brake failure caused the Italian to massively overshoot and spin on the grass at Turn 10, crucially avoiding external bodywork damage to his Ferrari.
The team changed the front-left brake unit and through good pace, no mistakes and utilising the total four caution periods by that point, they not only returned to the GTD class lead lap but to the GTD lead.
A miraculous redemption drive by AF Corse kept them in the fight as their lead reached as high as 16 seconds over second-placed Seth Lucas’ #32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3 before they undramatically yet abruptly stopped at Turn 5 – whilst leading at the time – after the engine cut out indefinitely.
Four hours later in the #21 Ferrari, Lilou Wadoux had an issue on her out-lap having just taken over from Pier Guidi, sadly resulting in smoke pouring from the rear.
Top-10 finish for the Valkyrie’s IMSA debut
Alex Riberas, Ross Gunn and Romain de Angelis co-drove the #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie during its IMSA debut at Sebring.
The smooth and flat Lusail International Circuit in Qatar could not have been a greater contrast to demanding bumps and the decades-old concrete of the Sebring International Raceway.
Despite this difference, they were both lengthy endurance races at 10 and 12 hours in duration.
With such a new car, the focus was on learning more about the Valkyrie and gaining further data in what was its second race outing.
Despite the fact the Valkyrie is not competitive (yet), the #23 Aston Martin gained 1,312.128 miles of race running towards a highly impressive ninth place in the GTP category.
The FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar category is more competitive with two more manufacturers in their top category compared to IMSA’s six in GTP, who opt for more frequent ‘caution’ periods in comparison.
We must not, however, shed doubt on the Valkryie’s progression after just two weeks from its WEC debut albeit with a different set of staff – mechanics, engineers etc. – running the US-based operation.
Many of their most representative lap-times resided in the 1:52-1:53 bracket whereas the more competitive GTP cars were in the 1:51-1:52 range.
Heart of Racing outperformed Lamborghini who retired again albeit lasted longer than their 90-minutes at Daytona.
Step-by-step, the progression in the Valkyrie is positive and their hopes to fight in the field will become more apparent as we work towards the Valkyrie’s important Le Mans debut on 14-15 June.
READ MORE: Nick Tandy on securing ‘Endurance Triple Crown’ after ‘Grand Slam’
