12 Hours of Sebring is next weekend

Sebring Flag stand

On the 17^th of March, Sebring International Raceway in Florida will host the opening round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship, welcoming a large field of over 60 cars entered for the 60^th anniversary of the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring. 2012 marks a very memorable motorsport year as all three major sports car endurance races are celebrating an anniversary: earlier this year, the Rolex 24 At Daytona held its 50^th anniversary and later, in June, Les 24 Heures du Mans will have its 80^th running.

Sebring International Raceway opened in 1950 and that same year held the first American sports car race run in strict accordance with international rules. This was just four years after the former Hendricks Field Airport was turned over to the city of Sebring. During the World War II, the airport was used as a training facility for US Boeing B-17 bombers, yet when the war ended, the airport no longer served any military need. Following sporadic success as a commercial airport, race promoter Alec Ulmann suggested organizing a ‘Little Le Mans’ endurance race over a course combining runways and asphalt roads, a configuration would hardly change over the next 60 years.

The first twelve-hour race in southern Florida took place in March 1952 and had 32 entries, including several international teams and drivers. After the race’s initial success, Ulmann convinced the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) in Paris that an American event should be included in its new championship and that his event was the perfect fit. The concrete course, once former runways, characterizes the historical part of the raceway still in use. “Sebring is a very bumpy track because of the concrete surface, but that also is part of its charm," remarks driver Tom Kristensen. The eight-time winner of Les 24 Heures du Mans will be back for this year’s anniversary edition of the Sebring race, hoping to win it for the sixth time. “Although it is in a remote area, we love to come here. It is a wonderful location where we have some great races," added the Danish Rolex Testimonee.

There is a lot of history at Sebring. Here the winning Ferrari in 1970. The #21 Ferrari 512s above is the 1970 winning car, but that's not Mario Andretti driving when this photo was taken. That's Nino Vaccarella. You can tell by his helmet. Mario's helmets have always been silver, usually with a red stripe, but Nino wore Italian colors. Mario actually started in the #19 sister car, but was transferred to this car after his had a transmission failure. Andretti won Sebring 3 times.

As part of a world championship, the winners list at Sebring features some of the best drivers of different decades: Stirling Moss (GBR), Mike Hawthorn (GBR), Juan Manuel Fangio (ARG) and Phil Hill (USA) were all among the early winners in the 1950s. Various Formula One champions also visited victory lane in the sixties and seventies: John Surtees (GBR), Mario Andretti (ITA/USA), Jacky Ickx (BEL), Bruce McLaren (NZL) and Jo Siffert (SUI). In the golden age of sports car racing, Sebring was considered one of the crown jewels on the annual calendar, together with the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Les 24 Heures du Mans, events that, even after many decades, are still on the top of each driver’s “to do" list.

“I went there only once, in 1966, but I remember the special ambiance and the challenging conditions," remembers three-time Formula One World Champion and Rolex Testimonee Sir Jackie Stewart. “Together with Graham Hill (GBR), I drove an Alan Mann Ford GT and was in the top ten most of the time until an engine problem forced us to retire." The 12 Hours of Sebring was one of the rare sports car events in which this famous Scottish driver competed.

As racing speeds increased, along with the demand for more safety, the Sebring circuit received its first layout changes in the 1980s. By then, the 12-hour race had become a round of the popular American IMSA Series and winners of that era included famous Indianapolis 500 winners like Al Unser (USA), A.J. Foyt (USA), Arie Luyendyk (NED) and Bobby Rahal (USA). Since the turn of the century, the 12 Hours of Sebring has been a round of the American Le Mans Series, a series affiliated with Les 24 Heures du Mans, and which therefore helped attract several European teams like Porsche, BMW, Audi and Peugeot.

Last year, the 12 Hours of Sebring was also the opening round of the then newly created Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, an international challenge that has since evolved into the brand new FIA World Endurance Championship 2012.

With over sixty entries this year, the American event at Sebring once again proves to be a popular race. “We are fully committed to the FIA WEC and are happy to be back at Sebring," said Dr. Ullrich, Audi Motorsports Director. “Over the years, we have had great successes here and we found this race and location a perfect test bed for the European season. Last year we stayed after the race to test our new Audi R18 and in 2006, we debuted our Diesel powered R10 here."

Bruce McLaren and Mario Andretti won the 1967 race by over 5 laps in the 1967 race with the Ford Mk IV

Testing at Sebring has always been on the calendar of the top teams. For example, in 1967 Ford debuted their magnificent Mk IV prototype in Sebring. It was the only event this famous sports car ran before going to Le Mans and eventually winning the French 24-hour race. And although the Sebring Raceway is not on the IndyCar calendar, the location is known as famous pre-season testing ground for the open wheelers. To further underline the international recognition of Sebring, in 1959 the raceway hosted the first American Formula One Grand Prix. After 42 laps at this demanding track, New Zealander Bruce McLaren won his first Grand Prix at a record young age of 22. It wasn’t until 2003 that Fernando Alonso (ESP) became a younger winner.

This year’s 60^th edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring is the opening round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship, a newly created sport car series that includes eight events to be run on four continents. After Sebring there are races scheduled at Spa-Francorchamps, Le Mans and Silverstone in Europe, before the series moves on to Brazil, Bahrain, Japan and China later this fall. These races are open to two classes: Le Mans Prototypes (LMPs) and GTs. Each class has two sub divisions: LMP1 and LMP2, and GTAM Pro and GTAM Amateur. Major manufacturers engaged in this championship include Audi, BMW, Honda, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Toyota, Chevrolet and Porsche. Of special interest this year will be the Hybrid entries of Audi and Toyota. This state-of-the-art technology will find its way into international sports car racing for the first time this season.

2012 will be a sports car year to remember: the 50^th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the 60^th anniversary of the 12 Hours of Sebring and – later in June – the 80^th edition of Les 24 Heures du Mans. In this year of anniversaries, we honor those drivers who have won all three events, a task that only eleven drivers have managed to accomplish up until today. The most successful of these were American Hurley Haywood, who won a total of eleven races, and Belgian racing legend Jacky Ickx, who won a total of nine. As sponsor and Official Timekeeper of the 2012 FIA WEC, Rolex is proud to be part of this memorable year in motorsport.

The 12 Hours of Sebring, also known as “America’s Greatest Sports Car Race", will begin on March 17 at 10:30 local time. Practice and qualifications will be on the Thursday and Friday before, March 15 and 16.