The sports car classic in Florida, the toughest and oldest sports car race in the USA, will be held for the 66th time this weekend. Porsche has written motorsport history on the legendary Sebring International Raceway scoring a raft of successes.
So far the marque has taken 18 overall victories and 70 class wins, making Porsche the most successful manufacturer at this classic. At least one Porsche has lined up on the grid every year since 1953 – except in 1974 when the race was cancelled due to the oil crisis. Fifty-eight years after the first overall victory with the Porsche 718 RS, two 911 RSR fielded by the Porsche GT Team will go up against four other automobile manufacturers in the strongly represented GTLM class. Porsche customer teams campaign two 911 GT3 R racers at round two of the IMSA SportsCar Championship and the North American Endurance Cup.
In Sebring, the #911 Porsche 911 RSR fielded by the Porsche GT Team is driven by Patrick Pilet (France), Nick Tandy (Great Britain) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France). Sharing driving duties in the #912 cockpit are Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), Earl Bamber (New Zealand) and Gianmaria Bruni (Italy).
“Since our memorable 50-hour test with the 911 RSR, I know every kerb at Sebring,” commented Bamber. “I’m really looking forward to this cool race with masses of fans and its great atmosphere. After Daytona, we’re obviously under a bit more pressure, however we can’t afford to let that make us crazy. One decent result at Sebring and everyone will quickly forget about the not-so-convincing start of the season.”
Two customer teams tackle the GTD class with the 911 GT3 R and support from works drivers: Competing for Wright Motorsports are Patrick Long (USA), Porsche Young Professional Mathieu Jaminet (France), Robert Renauer (Germany) and 2018 Porsche Selected Driver Christina Nielsen (Denmark). Park Place Motorsports puts its trust in Jörg Bergmeister (Germany) and his American teammates Patrick Lindsey and Timothy Pappas.
This race is one of the great sports car classics. Immortalised on the winners’ list are Porsche legends such as Dan Gurney, Hans Hermann and Jacky Ickx, as well as the Formula One World Champions Juan Manuel Fangio and Mario Andretti.
Hollywood stars have also fulfilled their racing dreams on the Sebring International Raceway: Paul Newman and Patrick Dempsey competed here, as did Steve McQueen, who even finished on the podium scoring second overall in 1970 with a Porsche 908. The 5.954-kilometre Sebring International Raceway, remodelled from a former US Air Force airfield, hosted the inaugural race on December 31, 1950.
Porsche’s first victory at the Sebring International Raceway came in 1960 courtesy of Hans Herrmann and Olivier Gendebien in the 718 RS/60. Since then, the sports car manufacturer has notched up a total of 18 overall victories and 70 class wins.
The most recent success was in 2015 with the Porsche 911 GT America fielded by Alex Job Racing. One year prior, Jörg Bergmeister, Michael Christensen and Patrick Long triumped at the wheel of a Porsche 911 RSR.
Since 1979, Porsche has netted 28 GT class victories, with a sports car from Zuffenhausen starting from the GT pole position 15 times. With these impressive successes and an unparalleled series of 13 straight outright victories between 1976 and 1988, Porsche is a Sebring record-holder.
The 12-hour race takes off on Saturday, 17 March, at 10.40am local time (15.40 hrs CET) and can be viewed live outside the USA on www.imsa.com.
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