| With Quartet of 24-Hour Wins Achieved, Sebring’s Tough 12-Hour Classic Lies Next February 10, 2025By Tony DiZinnoIMSA Wire Service |
| DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. –Legacies are defined by strong performances in the most historic, or greatest, events. One such legacy – or moniker – was created at the Rolex 24 At Daytona: the “Tandy Slam.” Whether it’s referred to as that, a “Grand Slam,” the “Great 96,” or simply an entry into sports car racing’s “G.O.A.T.” discussion, what Nick Tandy achieved as part of Porsche Penske Motorsport’s winning lineup in Daytona to kick off the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season entered him into unchartered territory. The overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) win at Daytona established the 40-year-old Englishman as the first driver, globally, to win overall in four marquee 24-hour endurance sports car races held at Le Mans (2015), the Nürburgring (2018), Spa-Francorchamps (2020) and Daytona (2025). Others have won three of the four overall, or even class wins in all four. Tandy won Le Mans and Daytona overall in two distinct types of Porsche prototypes (an LMP1-spec Porsche 919 Hybrid compared to an LMDh-spec, GTP class-entered Porsche 963), and the Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps in Porsche 911 GT3 R GT cars. Overnight stints at Le Mans and Daytona stood out, as did his performance in adverse conditions at the Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps. It’s a dynamic feat, one Tandy was quick to reflect upon when he shared the winning dais at Daytona with co-drivers Felipe Nasr and Laurens Vanthoor. “To be the first person ever to do something is quite unbelievable, really,” Tandy said. “I think, first of all, you’ve got to be proud that you’ve been put in a position to be able to compete in these sort of races, and then be in a car that can compete for the win. “But yeah, it never really dawned on me about these sort of records and stuff like this until Laurens, when we won at Spa and somebody said, ‘Well, you’ve got class wins in all the four majors now.’ “And then you kind of look into it and you see there’s other people, legendary names on these lists who have won various things, but never overall in all four. Class winners, yes. “But yeah, it’s something that since that day in probably 2020, it’s something that I’ve definitely wanted to check off the list.” Check, mate. |
| The best part? He can add further accolades to his ledger starting with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring (Saturday, March 15, 10 a.m. ET, Peacock). There’s a case to be made that a Sebring overall win is the last remaining major overall win to capture for Tandy, and something that can extend his legacy even further. Keep in mind, he also has a Motul Petit Le Mans overall win, which he’ll celebrate the 10-year anniversary of later this year. He drove with Patrick Pilet and Richard Lietz in 2015 in a GT Le Mans-class entered Porsche 911 RSR in a waterlogged and rain-shortened affair, against a full field of both prototypes and GT cars. Tandy knows how to win at Sebring, as he did so three years consecutively as part of that CORE autosport-run, Porsche North America factory-entered GTLM program from 2018 to 2020. The last of those three capped off that program’s history in its final race. Overall, he has unfinished business. When the two Porsche 963s were part of a multi-car incident late in the 2023 edition, Tandy lost a chance at winning Sebring overall. Porsche has not won overall at Sebring since another Porsche Penske entry did so in 2008. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Emmanuel Collard steered a Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class Porsche RS Spyder to the overall win that year. There’s a list Tandy would enter if he wins at Sebring overall: those who have won Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans overall. He’d become its 10th member, following Bernhard, Mauro Baldi, A.J. Foyt, Hurley Haywood, Hans Herrmann, Al Holbert, Jackie Oliver, Andy Wallace and Marco Werner. Haywood, Herrmann and Holbert won all their overall races at those three venues in Porsches. Baldi, Bernhard, Foyt, Oliver and Werner had at least one of their overall wins with either a full Porsche car or a Porsche engine with a different chassis. Tandy stealthily snuck in some of his other achievements on the stage in Daytona. “Winning Daytona is a massive thing anyway as a standalone event. Don’t get me wrong. I’m very proud to be sat here again. Obviously as an overall winner is special,” he said. “To get the big four 24-hour wins – one would be just an incredible career, so to be able to get four and a few Sebrings and a few Petits is ‘dream come true’ stuff.” Imagine if the dream adds more real moments from here. |
