IMSA Sebring 12 Hours: Porsche scores first outright victory since 2008
The German manufacturer came on top in a fierce battle with Cadillac to continue its perfect start to 2025
Porsche claimed a record-extending 19th victory at the Sebring 12 Hours after outgunning Cadillac in the second round of the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor took the chequered flag with a margin of 2.2s in the factory #7 Penske 963, leading a 1-2 result for Porsche ahead of the sister #6 entry shared by Mathieu Jaminet, Matt Campbell and Kevin Estre.
The result makes Tandy the first driver to score outright victories in the ‘big six’ endurance races, having already made history by winning the Daytona 24 Hours with Porsche in January.
The race boiled down to a straight fight between the two Porsches and the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R driven by Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti.
The Cadillac had cycled to the front during a caution period with over three hours to run, but Tandy made what turned out to be the decisive race-winning over Vesti at Turn 1 in the 11th hour.
The sister #6 car jumped to second in the penultimate hour, while the AXR Caddy dropped down to fourth after making an extra pitstop during a final-hour caution, caused by a loose wheel being dropped on track by a GTD Mercedes.
The #31 Cadillac was low on fuel and would have needed a splash and dash had the Full Course Yellow not been deployed.
This meant that the final spot on the podium went to the #93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Nick Yelloly, Renger van der Zande and Alex Palou, with the trio recovering from a drive through penalty for a pitlane infringement to claim third.
BMW endured a disappointing result in a race that promised so much, with Robin Frijns, Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann finishing fifth in the best of the two RLL-entered M Hybrid V8s.
Sixth place went to the privateer Proton Porsche of Neel Jani, Tristan Vautier and Nico Pino.
Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor and Will Stevens wound up seventh in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac after Taylor was penalised for an hour-one collision with an LMP2 car.
Aston Martin finished ninth on the IMSA debut of its new V12-powered Valkyrie driven by Ross Gunn, Roman de Angelis and Alex Riberas.
There was drama during the race’s ninth hour, as Tom Blomqvist in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura collided with the #24 BMW of Phillip Eng at the exit of the pitlane. Both cars sustained damage.
The incident dealt a further blow to the polesitting BMW, which had been playing catch-up ever since Dries Vanthoor picked up a drive through penalty for changing lanes before crossing the startline at the very beginning of the race.
The sole Lamborghini SC63 shared by Mirko Bortolotti, retired from the race with over three hours to go due to suspected floor damage.
Inter Europol takes LMP2 honour
In LMP2, Tom Dillmann pulled off a final-hour pass over Malthe Jakobsen to secure victory for the #43 InterEuropol Oreca 07 he shares with Bijoy Garg and Jeremy Clarke.
Sebastien Bourdais, Sebastian Alvarez and John Farano finished second in the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca, while the #11 TDS Racing Oreca of Mikkel Jensen, Steven Thomas and Hunter McElrea secured the final spot on the podium following a charging drive by Jensen after the last caution.
The #04 Crowdstrike Racing car driven by Jaobsen fell out of contention after being penalised for hitting for hitting the AWA Corvette GTD car with less than 30 minutes to run.
The #22 United Autosports Oreca was also in the fight for victory until Paul di Resta spun in the final hour after contact with Jensen’s TDS entry.
Porsche doubles up in GTD Pro
Porsche also emerged triumphant in GTD Pro, as Lauren Heinrich crossed the finish line with a four-second margin in the #77 AO Racing 911 GT3 R he shares with Klaus Bachler and Alessio Picariello.
Heinrich passed the #48 Paul Miller of Maxx Hesse with a little over an hour to go to seal the win for the Stuttgart-based brand.
BMW was always in the fight for victory but ultimately finished second and third, with the #48 Paul Miller M4 GT3 shared by Hesse, Dan Harper and Jesse Krohnn ending up less than a second clear of the sister #1 car driven by Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Connor de Phillippi.
Mercedes takes GTD win
Victory in the GTD class went to the #57 Winward Mercedes AMG GT3 crewed by Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje and Russell Ward.
Ellis barged past the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth with just 15 minutes left on the clock and then pulled away to the tune of four seconds to take the class win.
The final spot on the podium went to the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage of Tom Gamble, Casper Stevenson and Zacharie Robichon.
