| March 10, 2021By Mark RobinsonIMSA Wire ServiceSebring International Raceway – Sebring, Fla. | March 18-20, 2021 Fast Facts Race Day/Time: Saturday, March 20 – 10:10 a.m. ET TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 10:10 a.m. NBC Sports Race Coverage: NBCSN from 10 a.m.-noon; NBC Sports App from noon-7 p.m.; NBCSN from 7-10:30 p.m. IMSA.com/TVLive Live Qualifying Stream: Friday, March 19 – 11:10 a.m. IMSA Radio: All sessions live on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com; SiriusXM live race coverage begins March 20 at 10 a.m. (Sirius channel 216, XM 392, Internet 992) Circuit Type: 3.74-mile, 17-turn road course Race Length: 12 hours Track Social Media: Twitter/Instagram: @SebringRaceway; Facebook: @SebringInternationalRaceway Event Hashtags: #IMSA, #Sebring12 Entry List (Click Here) WeatherTech Championship Track Records Qualifying:DPi: Dane Cameron, Acura DPi, 1:45.865 / 127.180 mph, March 2019 LMP2: Matt McMurry, ORECA LMP2, 1:49.728 / 122.703 mph, July 2020 LMP3: None (class is new in 2021) GTLM: Antonio Garcia, Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, 1:55.456 / 116.615 mph, November 2020 GTD: Tristan Vautier, Mercedes-AMG GT3, 1:59.738 / 112.445 mph, March 2017 2020 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts Winners: DPi: Jonathan Bomarito/Harry Tincknell/Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 55 Mazda Motorsports Mazda DPi LMP2: Patrick Kelly/Simon Trummer/Scott Huffaker, No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 LMP3: None (class is new in 2021) GTLM: Nick Tandy/Fred Makowiecki/Earl Bamber, No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 GTD: Ryan Hardwick/Patrick Long/Jan Heylen, No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R Storylines · Back Where It Belongs: After serving as the season finale for the pandemic-altered 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring returns to its traditional March date as the second event on the 2021 calendar. This year marks the 69th running of the iconic race. · All in for Points Now: The 2021 opener, the Rolex 24 At Daytona, paid points toward the season championship in three of the five competing classes. The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring will award championship points in all five classes: Daytona Prototype international (DPi), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3), GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD). The points format has changed for this season, with drivers and teams in each class earning 350 points for a win, 320 for second place, 300 for third and descending downward. Also, points are now awarded in qualifying at one-tenth the rate of a race (35 points for fastest qualifier, 32 for second and so on). · Revised qualifying format: The qualifying session to determine the race starting grid has changed for 2021. The GTD class will feature two segments. The first will see a Silver- or Bronze-rated driver in each GTD car battling for 15 minutes to decide race starting position. Following a mandatory driver change, another 15-minute GTD session will take place to decide qualifying points for the class. All other classes will have a single 15-minute session to determine both points and starting position, though LMP2 entries must use a Bronze-rated driver and LMP3 entries must use a Silver driver under 30 years old or a Bronze driver for the session. · IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup: The second race of the WeatherTech Championship season also marks the second event counting toward the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, where separate points are accumulated at different junctures of the endurance races. For Sebring, those junctures are the four-, eight- and 12-hour marks. Leading cars in each class following the Rolex 24 At Daytona are: in DPi, the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura; in LMP2, the No. 8 Tower Motorsport ORECA; in LMP3, the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320; in GTLM, the No. 4 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R; and in GTD, the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. · You’ve Got an Ally: Following its second-place finish in what was originally a one-off appearance at the Rolex 24, the No. 48 Ally Cadillac Racing Cadillac DPi and its all-star lineup have been reassembled to compete in the entire IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup slate. Operated by Action Express Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, the driver lineup for Sebring features seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud and FIA World Endurance Championship titlist Kamui Kobayashi. Who’s Hot? · Wayne Taylor Racing: The No. 10 Konica Minolta entry won its third straight Rolex 24 in January, albeit with a different manufacturer and drivers. This time, it was in an Acura with Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Alexander Rossi and Helio Castroneves at the wheel. All but Castroneves are back for Sebring, with Taylor the only previous Sebring winner (2017). · No. 74 Riley Motorsports LMP3: The new WeatherTech Championship class showed well in its debut at Daytona, particularly considering it was the first time anywhere that the prototype had raced for 24 hours. The No. 74 Ligier JS P320 was the class of the field, running a near-flawless race and winning by three laps. Gar Robinson, Spencer Pigot and Scott Andrews go for two in a row at Sebring. · No. 3 Corvette: Fresh off their 2020 GTLM championship, Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor started this season with a class win at the Rolex 24, along with endurance add-on Nicky Catsburg. The trio are back in the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R for Sebring, with Garcia and Taylor each in search of a second Sebring win and Catsburg aiming for his first. · First Time, Looking for More: A pair of teams – Mazda Motorsports in DPi and Wright Motorsports in GTD – gained their first Sebring triumphs in November’s 2020 race. Both are seeking a repeat this weekend. Who’s Good Here? · Tandy Is Dandy: Nick Tandy enters as the three-time defending Sebring Twelve Hours champion in the GTLM class, but those came with the Porsche GT Team. Tandy now drives for Corvette Racing, which hasn’t won this race since completing a three-peat of its own in 2017. Like Tandy, five other entered drivers have three Sebring victories each. · Corvette Racing, but not Recently: No entered team has more Sebring Twelve Hour wins than Corvette Racing with 11. But again, the popular Chevrolet model hasn’t been to Victory Lane since 2017. · Porsche by a Wide Margin: The German manufacturer has amassed 98 class wins at Sebring, the first coming in 1955. That’s more Sebring wins than all the other current WeatherTech Championship manufacturers combined. Porsche has added four wins in the past three years – three in a row in GTLM and last year in GTD. Previous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts Winners in 2021 Field (34) Bill Auberlen (3) – GTS-2 – 1995; GTS-3 – 1997; GT3 – 1998 Pipo Derani (3) – P – 2016, 2018; DP – 2019 Antonio Garcia (3) – GT1 – 2009; GTLM – 2015, 2017 Ian James (3) – P2 – 2004, 2005; GTD – 2015 Patrick Long (3) – GT2 – 2005; GTLM – 2014; GTD – 2020 Nick Tandy (3) – GTLM – 2018, 2019, 2020 Joao Barbosa (2) – P2 – 2012; P – 2015 Jonathan Bennett (2) – PC – 2014, 2016 Jeroen Bleekemolen (2) – GTC – 2013; GTD – 2017 Sebastien Bourdais (2) – GT2 – 2006; P – 2015 Colin Braun (2) – PC – 2014, 2016 Mario Farnbacher (2) – GTD – 2015, 2017 Tommy Milner (2) – GT – 2013; GTLM – 2016 Earl Bamber (1) – GTLM – 2020 Jonathan Bomarito (1) – DPi – 2020 Dane Cameron (1) – LMPC – 2011 Ryan Dalziel (1) – WEC P2 – 2012 Loic Duval (1) – P1 – 2011 Ryan Hardwick (1) – GTD – 2020 Jan Heylen (1) – GTD – 2020 Scott Huffaker (1) – LMP2 – 2020 Oliver Jarvis (1) – P1 – 2013 Ben Keating (1) – GTD – 2017 Andy Lally (1) – GTD – 2014 Corey Lewis (1) – GTD – 2018 Cooper MacNeil (1) – GTC – 2013 Felipe Nasr (1) – DP – 2019 Christina Nielsen (1) – GTD – 2016 John Potter (1) – GTD – 2014 Bryan Sellers (1) – GTD – 2018 Madison Snow (1) – GTD – 2018 Jordan Taylor (1) – P – 2017 Ricky Taylor (1) – P – 2017 Harry Tincknell (1) – DPi – 2020 Previous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts Pole Winners in 2021 Field (13) Bill Auberlen (4) – GTU – 1994; GTS-3 – 1997; GT3 – 1998; GTLM – 2016 Dane Cameron (3) – LMPC – 2011; GTD – 2014; DP – 2019 Colin Braun (2) – LMPC – 2013; PC – 2016 Tristan Vautier (2) – GTD – 2017; P – 2018 Jeroen Bleekemolen (1) – GTD – 2015 Sebastien Bourdais (1) – P – 2014 Connor De Phillippi (1) – GTLM – 2018 Scott Dixon (1) P1 – 2009 Antonio Garcia (1) – GTLM – 2020 Jan Heylen (1) – GTD – 2020 Andy Lally (1) – GTC – 2013 Fred Makowiecki (1) – GTLM – 2015 Ricky Taylor (1) – DPi – 2020 Previous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts Winning Teams in 2021 Field (14) Corvette Racing (11) – GTS – 2002, 2003, 2004; GT1 – 2006, 2007, 2008 2009; GT – 2013; GTLM – 2015, 2016, 2017 CORE autosport (3) – LMPC – 2012; PC – 2014, 2016 PR1 Mathiasen (3) – LMPC – 2013; PC – 2015; LMP2 – 2020 Action Express/Whelen Engineering Racing (2) – P – 2015; DP – 2019 BMW Team RLL (2) – GT – 2011; ALMS GT – 2012 Performance Tech (2) – PC – 2017; LMP2 – 2019 Chip Ganassi Racing (1) – P – 2014 GRT Grasser Racing Team (1) – GTD – 2019 Magnus (1) – GTD – 2014 Mazda Motorsports (1) – DPi – 2020 Paul Miller Racing (1) – GTD – 2018 Riley Motorsports (1) – GTD – 2017 Wayne Taylor Racing (1) – P – 2017 Wright Motorsports (1) – GTD – 2020 Previous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts Winning Manufacturers in 2021 Field (9) Porsche – 98 Chevrolet – 40 Mazda – 14 BMW – 7 Acura – 3 Aston Martin – 3 Cadillac – 2 Lamborghini – 2 Mercedes – 2 |
