12 Hours of Sebring Hour 12: Penske Porsche 1-2 at finish
Porsche has clinched first and second place at round two of this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Brazilian Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy from Great Britain, and Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium swept to victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring at the wheel of their No. 7 Porsche 963.
This victory comes after the trio’s triumph at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January. Matt Campbell from Australia and the two Frenchmen Mathieu Jaminet and Kévin Estre rounded off the stellar performance of the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team with second place.
In summer temperatures reaching 31 degrees Celsius, a fierce battle among the top GTP contenders unfolded as soon as the lights turned green at 10:10 am local time. After just 15 minutes, Felipe Nasr swept to the front at the wheel of the No. 7 Porsche 963. While the Brazilian and his teammates Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor relinquished the lead around an hour later, they ultimately fought their way up the order to regain the lead in the evening after overcoming difficult conditions on the extremely hot track at the Sebring International Raceway.
The decisive moment came after the ninth and final yellow phase when the field went head-to-head in a thrilling sprint during the final 31 minutes of the race. Nasr fended off his attacking rivals to bring home Porsche Penske Motorsport’s second victory of the season at round two. For Porsche as the record Sebring winner, this marked the 19th overall victory at the endurance classic in Florida – the first since 2008. For Nick Tandy, who earned himself the nickname “Mister 24 Hours” after his victory in Daytona, this latest triumph was another dream come true: The UK ace is just the tenth racing driver in the world to achieve the so-called Triple Crown of endurance racing after scoring overall victories at Sebring and the 24-hour races in Le Mans and Daytona.
The No. 6 sister car also ran among the frontrunners for much of the twelve-hour race. Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet, and Kévin Estre ultimately crossed the finish line just 2.239 seconds behind their victorious teammates. Thanks to the one-two finish at Sebring, Porsche has extended its lead in the manufacturers’ championship. The two driver crews now lock out the top two positions in the overall standings.
“Congratulations to the whole team for a flawless performance,” commented Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. “As expected, the 12 Hours of Sebring delivered some fierce competition. Drivers, mechanics, and engineers – everyone did an absolutely perfect job today. It couldn’t have gone better. The Porsche 963 has again upheld its reputation as the most successful LMDh car since the regulations were introduced. This is something we can all be very proud of. Thanks to everyone who contributed to these successes. I’d also like to congratulate our customer team AO Racing. They scored a well-deserved class victory with the Porsche 911 GT3 R.”
“Victory at Daytona, and now Sebring: We’ve won the 36 Hours of Florida,” said a delighted Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh. “That was one of our most outstanding races, absolutely flawless. I’m ecstatic. All the drivers and the entire team put in an incredibly strong effort: pit stops, strategy, car – everything went perfectly.”
“A superb performance from all six drivers and the whole team,” declared Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport. “Just two seconds separated our two cars after twelve hours. This underlines just how perfectly and smoothly everything went for us. We were able to set a strong pace, especially in the dark when temperatures got cooler. Several other team members and I witnessed the last overall victory for Porsche at Sebring in 2008, so it’s simply wonderful to be at the front together again now.”
The No. 7 Porsche is also the first car to win back-to-back IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races in Daytona and Sebring in the same season since Wayne Taylor Racing achieved the feat in 2017 with a Cadillac DPi-V.R, albeit with different driver lineups.
The Porsches came alive in the cooler night conditions after fighting most of the race with the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R. The No. 7 Porsche beat the sister No. 6 Porsche, driven by Mathieu Jaminet, Matt Campbell and Kevin Estre by 2.239 seconds, with the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 in third.
Inter Europol Competition scored the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class victory with a mix of good strategy, able to emerge in podium position after the final round of pit stops, plus a sprinkle of luck when the leading No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR car ran aground of a Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class car inside the final 20 minutes. Tom Dillmann, Bijoy Garg and Jeremy Clarke shared the winning No. 43 ORECA LMP2 07.
AO Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3 R triumphs after fierce battle
In the GTD Pro class, the customer team AO Racing celebrated its first-ever victory in one of the major endurance races of the IMSA series with the Porsche 911 GT3 R. At the wheel of the fan favorite “Rexy”, the two former Porsche Juniors Laurin Heinrich from Germany and Klaus Bachler from Austria joined forces with Belgian Alessio Picariello to drive a flawless race. After an intense fight for the lead, the trio ultimately won by a margin of 4.371 seconds.
Winward Racing repeated its 2025 GTD class win with the same trio of Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3. A forceful pass by Ellis on last year’s GTD PRO winner, Jack Hawksworth, netted the Winward Mercedes-AMG the top spot.
Drivers’ comments after the Sebring race
Nick Tandy (Porsche 963 #7): “It feels amazing to win two races in a row. But winning the 36 Hours of Florida in Daytona and Sebring is hard to believe. And to top it off, both Porsche 963 finished both races on the podium. Given the fierce competition, that’s incredible. No mistakes, no penalties, no damage – today was simply a dream in endurance racing.”
Matt Campbell (Porsche 963 #6): “The one-two finish is obviously a banner result for Porsche Penske Motorsport. Congratulations to our victorious sister car. Today was incredibly long and tough for us; the race went back and forth. We experienced some difficulties in the intense heat of the early afternoon, but our Porsche was incredibly strong in the cooler evening. It’s terrific to score the maximum number of points together.”