Fifty-Four Cars throughout the Five Classes are Entered for the 71st Running
March 8, 2023
By Mark Robinson
IMSA Wire Service
Entry List (Click Here)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship makes its second stop of the season next week at another iconic event. This time it’s the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, contested at the historic Sebring International Raceway – the airfield turned racetrack in Central Florida.Fifty-four cars are on the pre-event entry list, with all five series classes competing on the rough-and-tumble Sebring circuit that demands the most from driver and machine. Practice begins Thursday, March 16, with qualifying taking place the following morning on St. Patrick’s Day.Flag-to-flag race coverage will be available Saturday, March 18 on Peacock and IMSA Radio. USA Network picks up live TV coverage for the last half of the race.Here’s the information you need to know for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Fast Facts
Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
Sebring International Raceway – Sebring, Florida
March 16-18, 2023 Race Day/Time: Saturday, March 18 – 10:10 a.m. ET
Peacock Streaming Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 10 a.m.
NBC Sports Coverage: USA from 4:30-10:30 p.m.
IMSA.com/TVLive Live Qualifying Stream: Friday, March 17 – 9:10 a.m.
IMSA Radio: Select sessions live on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com; SiriusXM live race coverage begins March 18 at 9:45 a.m. (Sirius channel 216, XM 207, Web/App 992)
Circuit Type: 3.74-mile, 17-turn road course
Race Length: 12 hours
Classes Competing: Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3), GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), GT Daytona (GTD)
Track Social Media: Twitter: @SebringRacewayInstagram: @SebringRacewayFacebook: @SebringInternationalRacewayEvent Hashtags: #IMSA, #Sebring12
WeatherTech Championship Track Records
Qualifying:
GTP: New class in 2023 (DPi track record: Sebastien Bourdais, Cadillac DPi-V.R, 1:45.025 / 128.025 mph, March 2022
LMP2: Giedo van der Garde, ORECA LMP2, 1:48.311 / 124.308 mph, March 2022
LMP3: Rasmus Lindh, Ligier JS P320, 1:56.001 / 116.067 mph, March 2021
GTD PRO: Daniel Serra, Ferrari 488 GT3, 1:59.414 / 112.750 mph, March 2022
GTD: Daniel Serra, Ferrari 488 GT3, 1:58.710 / 113.420 mph, March 2018
2022 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Winners:
GTP: New class in 2023 (2022 DPi winners: Earl Bamber/Alex Lynn/Neel Jani, No. 02 Cadillac Racing Cadillac DPi V.R)
LMP2: Ben Keating/Mikkel Jensen/Scott Huffaker, No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07
LMP3: Joao Barbosa/Malthe Jakobsen/Lance Willsey, No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier JS P320
GTD PRO: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg, No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD
GTD: Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto/Antonio Fuoco, No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GT3
StorylinesRound 2 for Grand Touring Prototypes: The journey continues for the highly anticipated new top prototype class, Grand Touring Prototype (GTP). Acura fashioned a 1-2 finish in the hybrid-powered class at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January. How will fellow manufacturers Cadillac, BMW and Porsche respond to the challenge at Sebring?
Season Championship Begins for LMP2 and LMP3: While Le Mans Prototype 2 and 3 cars raced at Daytona, season points weren’t awarded for the classes there – making the Twelve Hours of Sebring the first race counting toward the season championship. Who will stake an early claim for the title in each class? The defending race winners in each class – PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports in LMP2 and Sean Creech Motorsport in LMP3 – are back to defend.
Auberlen Reaches Another Milestone: Bill Auberlen has already established himself as one of the greats of the sport, with more race wins (65) than anyone in IMSA’s top-tier series. When he takes the green flag at Sebring, it will mark his 100th start since the unification of North American sports car racing in 2014 – another first for the legend. A year ago at Sebring, Auberlen collected his 500th start for BMW in any sports car series.
Ferrari Defends in GTD: Fabled Italian marque Ferrari captured its first Twelve Hours of Sebring win in six years in 2022, thanks to Cetilar Racing in GTD. The team and its same trio of drivers – Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Antonio Fuoco – are back to defend, though this year it will be in the new Ferrari 296 GT3 and not the 488 GT3 that won a year ago.
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 four endurance races. At Sebring, those junctures are the four-, eight- and 12-hour marks. Leading in each class following the Rolex 24 are the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 in GTP, the No. 55 Proton Competition ORECA LMP2 07 in LMP2 (not entered for Sebring), the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier JS P320 in LMP3; the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in GTD PRO and the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in GTD.
Who’s Hot?Meyer Shank Racing: The Ohio-based team closed the 2022 season and the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) chapter by winning the Motul Petit Le Mans in an Acura ARX-05. MSR opened the new GTP era by defending their win in the Rolex 24 to open the ’23 campaign in the Acura ARX-06. Does the streak continue at Sebring?
Gradient Racing: Also an Acura team, Gradient won its GTD class in the 2022 finale. With a mostly new driver lineup and an updated Evo22 version of the NSX GT3, Gradient finished a solid fourth at Daytona in January.
Aston Martin: The Heart of Racing Team’s No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 won the GTD championship in 2022 and started 2023 by winning the class in the Rolex 24. It was Aston Martin’s first victory at the iconic Daytona race. What’s more, with Magnus Racing placing second, it gave Aston Martin a 1-2 finish and tons of momentum heading to Sebring.
Who’s Good Here?Antonio Garcia: The uber-talented Spaniard collected his fourth Sebring win a year ago, all with Corvette Racing and the latest coming in the GTD PRO class. Garcia has the most Sebring victories of any driver in this year’s field, though there are nine drivers just a win behind.
PR1 Mathiasen and Scott Huffaker: PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports is the three-time defending LMP2 champion at Sebring. Scott Huffaker was the driver constant in all three wins but he’ll be competing this time for TDS Racing in the same class. As will Mikkel Jensen, who was with PR1 Mathiasen for the ’21 and ’22 triumphs. Ben Keating is back to head the PR1 Mathiasen effort after also winning with the team the past two years.
Porsche: The German manufacturer has 100 class wins at the track, as many Sebring victories as all other current WeatherTech Championship manufacturers combined. With entries in three classes this year – GTP, GTD PRO and GTD – Porsche looks to add to that total.
Previous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Winners in 2023 Field (37)
Antonio Garcia (4): GT1 – 2009; GTLM – 2015, 2017; GTD PRO – 2022
Bill Auberlen (3): GTS-2 – 1995; GTS-3 – 1997; GT3 – 1998
Joao Barbosa (3): P2 – 2012; P – 2015; LMP3 – 2022
Sebastien Bourdais (3): GT2 – 2006; P – 2015; DPi – 2021
Colin Braun (3): PC – 2014, 2016; LMP3 – 2021
Pipo Derani (3): P – 2016, 2018; DP – 2019
Scott Huffaker (3): LMP2 – 2020, 2021, 2022
Ian James (3): P2 – 2004, 2005; GTD – 2015
Ben Keating (3): GTD – 2017; LMP2 – 2021, 2022
Nick Tandy (3): GTLM – 2018, 2019, 2020
Mikkel Jensen (2): LMP2 – 2021, 2022T
ommy Milner (2): GT – 2013; GTLM – 2016
Patrick Pilet (2): GTLM – 2018, 2019
Jordan Taylor (2): P – 2017; GTD PRO – 2022
Dane Cameron (1): LMPC – 2011
Matt Campbell (1): GTLM – 2021
Michael Christensen (1): GTLM – 2014
Ryan Dalziel (1): WEC P2 – 2012
Antonio Fuoco (1): GTD – 2022
Ryan Hardwick (1): GTD – 2020
Jan Heylen (1): GTD – 2020
Mathieu Jaminet (1): GTLM – 2021
Lars Kern (1): GTD – 2021
George Kurtz (1): LMP2 – 2021
Roberto Lacorte (1): GTD – 2022
Andy Lally (1): GTD – 2014
Corey Lewis (1): GTD – 2018
Felipe Nasr (1): DP – 2019
John Potter (1): GTD – 2014
Alex Riberas (1): GTD – 2015
Zacharie Robichon (1): GTD – 2021
Bryan Sellers (1): GTD – 2018
Giorgio Sernagiotto (1): GTD – 2022
Madison Snow (1): GTD – 2018
Ricky Taylor (1): P – 2017
Laurens Vanthoor (1): GTD – 2021
Lance Willsey (1): LMP3 – 2022
Previous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Pole Winners in 2023 Field (20)
Bill Auberlen (4): GTU – 1994; GTS-3 – 1997; GT3 – 1998; GTLM – 2016
Dane Cameron (3): LMPC – 2011; GTD – 2014; DPi – 2019
Sebastien Bourdais (2): P – 2014; DPi – 2022
Colin Braun (2): LMPC – 2013; PC – 2016
Antonio Garcia (2): GTLM – 2020, 2021
Jan Heylen (2): GTD – 2020, 2021
Daniel Serra (2): GTD – 2018; GTD PRO – 2022
Michael Christensen (1): GTLM – 2014
Connor De Phillippi (1): GTLM – 2018
Pipo Derani (1): DPi – 2021
Scott Dixon (1): P1 – 2009
Trent Hindman (1): GTD – 2019
Gunnar Jeannette (1): LMPC – 2010
Ben Keating (1): LMP2 – 2022
Andy Lally (1): GTC – 2013
Patrick Pilet (1): GTLM – 2019
Zacharie Robichon (1): GTD – 2022
Gar Robinson (1): LMP3 – 2022
Ricky Taylor (1): DPi – 2020
Steven Thomas (1): LMP2 – 2021
Previous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Winning Teams in 2023 Field (20)
Corvette Racing (12): GTS – 2002, 2003, 2004; GT1 – 2006, 2007, 2008 2009; GT – 2013; GTLM – 2015, 2016, 2017; GTD PRO – 2022
PR1 Mathiasen (5): LMPC – 2013; PC – 2015; LMP2 – 2020, 2021, 2022
Penske Racing (4): PROTO 15 – 1964; GT13 – 1966; Trans-Am – 1968; P2 – 2008
Risi Competizione (3): GT2 – 2007, 2009, 2010
Action Express Racing (2): P – 2015; DP – 2019
BMW M Team RLL (2): GT – 2011, ALMS GT – 2012
Performance Tech Motorsports (2): PC – 2017; LMP2 – 2019AF Corse (1): WEC GT – 2012
Andretti Autosport (1): P2 – 2007
Cetilar Racing (1): GTD – 2022
Chip Ganassi Racing (2): P – 2014; DPi – 2022
JDC-Miller MotorSports (1): DPi – 2021
Magnus Racing (1): GTD – 2014
Paul Miller Racing (1): GTD – 2018
Pfaff Motorsports (1): GTD – 2021
Riley Motorsports (1): GTD – 2017
Sean Creech Motorsport (1): LMP3 – 2022
Wayne Taylor Racing (1): P – 2017
WeatherTech Racing (1): GTLM –
Motorsports (1): GTD – 2020
Previous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Winning Manufacturers in 2023 Field (9)
Porsche – 100
Chevrolet – 41
Ferrari – 38
BMW – 7
Cadillac – 4
Acura – 3
Aston Martin – 3
Lamborghini – 2
Mercedes-AMG – 2 |
