2018 12 Hours of Sebring

Nissan Onroak DPi #22 of Tequila Patrón ESM which won the 2018 12 Hours of Sebring
Sebring International Raceway

The 66th Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts was an endurance sports car racing event held at Sebring International Raceway near Sebring, Florida from 15 to 17 March 2018. The race was the second round of the 2018 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as well as the second round of the North American Endurance Cup.

The race was won by Tequila Patrón ESM's Nissan Onroak DPi driven by Pipo Derani, Johannes van Overbeek, and Nicolas Lapierre, ahead of the Cadillac DPi-V.R's of Wayne Taylor Racing and Whelen Engineering Racing. Porsche took GTLM honours with Nick Tandy, Frédéric Makowiecki, and Patrick Pilet behind the wheel of their 911 RSR. The GTD category was won by Paul Miller Racing's Corey Lewis, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow in a GT3-spec Lamborghini Huracán.

Background

Sebring International Raceway, where the race was held.

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2017. It was the fifth consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SCC, and the 66th 12 Hours of Sebring. The 24 Hours of Daytona was the second of twelve scheduled sports car endurance races of 2018 by IMSA, and the second of four races of the North American Endurance Cup (NAEC). It was held at the 17-turn, 3.741-mile (6.021 km) Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida on March 17, 2018.

On March 1, 2018, IMSA released a bulletin outlining the minimum refueling times for all the classes. All cars in the Prototype class were given 30 second minimum refueling time while GTLM and GTD were given times of 34 and 40 seconds, respectively. The times were made to override any refueling restrictor size following Montaplast by Land-Motorsport's penalty at Daytona.

After the 24 Hours of Daytona 7 weeks earlier, Filipe Albuquerque, João Barbosa, and Christian Fittipaldi were leading the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 35 points. GTLM was led by Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, and Scott Dixon with a three-point advantage over Joey Hand, Dirk Müller, and Sébastien Bourdais. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Mirko Bortolotti, Rik Breukers, Rolf Ineichen, and Franck Perera with 35 points. Cadillac, Ford, and Lamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Mustang Sampling Racing, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, and GRT Grasser Racing Team each led their own Teams' Championships.

On March 7, 2018, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event. In the Prototype class, the Acura ARX-05 received a reduction of turbo boost and a fuel capacity reduction of 1 liter while the Nissan Onroak DPi got a turbo boost reduction between 6000-7600 rpm. The Cadillac DPi-V.R received a 10 kilogram weight increase while the Mazda RT24-P received a fuel capacity increase of 2 liters and adjustments to the cars rear wing. In the GTLM class, the BMW M8 GTE received a 20 kilogram weight reduction and increase of power between 5000-7500 rpm while the Porsche 911 RSR got a fuel capacity increase of 2 liters. In the GTD class, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 received a 20 kilogram weight increase and a 1mm air restrictor increase while the Lexus RC F GT3 received a 1mm air restrictor increase.

Entries

A total of 43 cars took part in the event split across 3 classes. 16 cars were entered in P, 9 in GTLM, and 18 in GTD. In P, BAR1 Motorsports and Jackie Chan DCR JOTA were absent while United Autosports scaled down to 1 entry. Paul Di Resta joined Phil Hanson and Alex Brundle in the United Autosports #32 entry while Bruno Senna missed the event after having undergone a surgical procedure a few weeks earlier. In GTD, Grasser Racing Team and Manthey Racing skipped the event while Risi Competizione scaled down focussing on its GTLM effort. CJ Wilson Racing made their IMSA SportsCar Championship debut at this event. Dillon Machavern and Markus Palttala joined Don Yount in the Turner Motorsport entry. Following the retirement of Scott Pruett, Sean Rayhall joined 3GT Racing in the teams #15 entry. Corey Lewis joined Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow in the Paul Miller Racing entry. Tom Dyer joined Ryan Eversley and Chad Gilsinger in the HART entry.


Practice

There were four practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, three on Thursday and one on Friday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Thursday morning and afternoon. The third held later that evening ran for 90 minutes; the fourth on Friday morning lasted an hour.

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 11:00 am ET on Thursday and ended with Hélio Castroneves topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:48.237.

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 P 7 Acura Team Penske Hélio Castroneves 1:48.237 _
2 P 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Tristan Vautier 1:48.387 +0.150
3 P 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Renger van der Zande 1:48.415 +0.178
Source:

Practice 2

The second practice session took place at 3:10 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Acura Team Pensken, with a lap time of 1:47.841.

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 P 7 Acura Team Penske Ricky Taylor 1:47.841 _
2 P 55 Mazda Team Joest Jonathan Bomarito 1:48.753 +0.912
3 P 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Filipe Albuquerque 1:48.805 +0.964
Source:

Night Practice

The night practice session took place at 7:30 pm ET on Thursday and ended with René Rast topping the charts for Mazda Team Joest, with a lap time of 1:48.233.

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 P 77 Mazda Team Joest René Rast 1:48.233 _
2 P 55 Mazda Team Joest Harry Tincknell 1:48.690 +0.457
3 P 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Felipe Nasr 1:48.799 +0.566
Source:

Final Practice

The fourth and final practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Friday and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:47.076.

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 P 7 Acura Team Penske Ricky Taylor 1:47.076 _
2 P 22 Tequila Patrón ESM Pipo Derani 1:47.512 +0.436
3 P 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Patricio O'Ward 1:47.861 +0.785
Source:


Qualifying

Tristan Vautier (pictured in 2015) took the overall pole position for Spirit of Daytona Racing.

Friday afternoon's 65-minute qualifying session was divided into three groups. All three categories had 15-minute individual sessions, and regulations stipulated teams to nominate a single driver to qualify their cars. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order with the grid arranged to put the Prototype and GTLM cars ahead of all GTD entries.

The first was for cars in GTD class. Daniel Serra qualified on pole for the class driving the #51 car for Spirit of Race, beating Christopher Mies in the #29 Montaplast by Land-Motorsport car by over five tenths of a second.

The second session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Connor De Phillippi qualified on pole driving the #25 car for BMW Team RLL, beating James Calado in the #62 Risi Competizione car by less than one tenth of a second.

The final session of qualifying was for the P class. Tristan Vautier qualified on pole driving the #90 car for Spirit of Daytona Racing, besting Olivier Pla in the #2 Tequila Patrón ESM entry.

Qualifying results

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap Grid
1 P 90 United States Spirit of Daytona Racing France Tristan Vautier 1:47.432 _ 1‡
2 P 2 United States Tequila Patrón ESM France Olivier Pla 1:47.592 +0.160 2
3 P 7 United States Acura Team Penske United States Ricky Taylor 1:47.773 +0.341 3
4 P 22 United States Tequila Patrón ESM Brazil Pipo Derani 1:47.834 +0.402 4
5 P 31 United States Whelen Engineering Racing Brazil Felipe Nasr 1:47.853 +0.421 5
6 P 6 United States Acura Team Penske Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya 1:48.177 +0.745 6
7 P 77 Germany Mazda Team Joest Germany René Rast 1:48.192 +0.760 151
8 P 5 United States Mustang Sampling Racing Portugal Filipe Albuquerque 1:48.256 +0.824 7
9 P 55 Germany Mazda Team Joest United States Jonathan Bomarito 1:48.279 +0.847 162
10 P 10 United States Wayne Taylor Racing Netherlands Renger van der Zande 1:48.370 +0.938 8
11 P 99 United States JDC-Miller MotorSports South Africa Stephen Simpson 1:48.742 +1.310 9
12 P 38 United States Performance Tech Motorsports Mexico Patricio O'Ward 1:49.068 +1.636 10
13 P 54 United States CORE Autosport United States Colin Braun 1:49.158 +1.726 11
14 P 85 United States JDC-Miller MotorSports Switzerland Simon Trummer 1:49.329 +1.897 12
15 P 52 United States AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Colombia Sebastián Saavedra 1:49.423 +1.991 13
16 P 32 United States United Autosports United Kingdom Paul di Resta 1:49.488 +2.056 143
17 GTLM 25 United States BMW Team RLL United States Connor De Phillippi 1:55.839 +8.407 17‡
18 GTLM 62 United States Risi Competizione United Kingdom James Calado 1:55.897 +8.465 18
19 GTLM 24 United States BMW Team RLL Finland Jesse Krohn 1:55.985 +8.553 19
20 GTLM 67 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Racing United Kingdom Richard Westbrook 1:56.098 +8.666 20
21 GTLM 66 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Racing United States Joey Hand 1:56.191 +8.759 21
22 GTLM 912 United States Porsche GT Team Belgium Laurens Vanthoor 1:56.251 +8.819 22
23 GTLM 3 United States Corvette Racing Spain Antonio García 1:56.588 +9.156 23
24 GTLM 911 United States Porsche GT Team United Kingdom Nick Tandy 1:56.626 +9.194 24
25 GTLM 4 United States Corvette Racing United States Tommy Milner 1:56.900 +9.468 25
26 GTD 51 Switzerland Spirit of Race Brazil Daniel Serra 1:58.710 +11.278 26‡
27 GTD 29 Germany Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Germany Christopher Mies 1:59.229 +11.797 27
28 GTD 15 United States 3GT Racing United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth 1:59.251 +11.819 28
29 GTD 14 United States 3GT Racing Austria Dominik Baumann 1:59.476 +12.044 29
30 GTD 48 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Madison Snow 1:59.489 +12.057 30
31 GTD 63 United States Scuderia Corsa United States Gunnar Jeannette 1:59.609 +12.177 31
32 GTD 75 United States SunEnergy1 Racing Germany Thomas Jäger 1:59.952 +12.520 32
33 GTD 69 United States HART United States Tom Dyer 2:00.069 +12.637 33
34 GTD 64 United States Scuderia Corsa United States Frankie Montecalvo 2:00.080 +12.648 34
35 GTD 86 United States Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian United Kingdom Katherine Legge 2:00.198 +12.766 35
36 GTD 58 United States Wright Motorsports Denmark Christina Nielsen 2:00.378 +12.946 36
37 GTD 36 United States CJ Wilson Racing United States Marc Miller 2:00.686 +13.254 37
38 GTD 71 United States P1 Motorsports United States Kenton Koch 2:00.717 +13.285 38
39 GTD 33 United States Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport United States Ben Keating 2:00.743 +13.311 39
40 GTD 44 United States Magnus Racing United States John Potter 2:02.151 +14.719 40
41 GTD 96 United States Turner Motorsport United States Dillon Machavern 2:03.227 +15.795 41
42 GTD 73 United States Park Place Motorsports United States Tim Pappas 2:04.650 +17.218 42
43 GTD 93 United States Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian did not participate 434
Sources:
  • 1 The No. 77 Mazda Team Joest entry was moved to the back of the P field after failing post qualifying technical inspection.
  • 2 The No. 55 Mazda Team Joest entry was moved to the back of the P field failing post qualifying technical inspection.
  • 3 The No. 32 United Autosports entry initially qualified sixteenth for the P class. However, the team changed engines after qualifying. By IMSA rules, the entry was moved to the rear of the P field on the starting grid.
  • 4 The No. 93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian entry was moved to the back of the GTD field for starting the race with a different driver than who qualified.

Race

Start and early hours

Afternoon

Sunset to finish

Post-race

In Prototype, Curran, Nasr, and Conway moved to first after being second coming into Sebring. Albuquerque, Barbosa, and Fittipaldi dropped from first to third. The result kept Briscoe, Westbrook, and Dixon atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 63 points. Pilet, Tandy, and Makowiecki advanced from eighth to second while Hand, Müller, and Bourdais dropped from second to fourth. De Phillippi, Sims, and Auberlen moved to fifth after being ninth coming into Sebring. As a result of winning the race, Sellers and Snow took the lead of the GTD Drivers' Championship. Bleekemolen, Keating, and Stolz advanced from fourth to second while Legge, Parente, and Hindman dropped from second to third. MacNeil, Jeannette, and Balzan advanced from tenth to fourth. Cadillac, Ford, and Lamborghini continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Ford Chip Ganassi Racing kept their respective advantage in the GTLM Teams' Championship. Whelen Engineering Racing and Paul Miller Racing took the lead in their respective Teams' Championships with ten rounds left in the season.

Race Results

Class winners are denoted in bold.

Final race classification
Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Time/Retired
Engine
1 P 22 United States Tequila Patrón ESM Brazil Pipo Derani
United States Johannes van Overbeek
France Nicolas Lapierre
Nissan Onroak DPi C 344 12:00:34.369
Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6
2 P 10 United States Wayne Taylor Racing United States Jordan Taylor
Netherlands Renger van der Zande
United States Ryan Hunter-Reay
Cadillac DPi-V.R C 344 +12.427
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
3 P 31 United States Whelen Engineering Racing Brazil Felipe Nasr
United States Eric Curran
United Kingdom Mike Conway
Cadillac DPi-V.R C 344 +53.075
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
4 P 54 United States CORE Autosport United States Jon Bennett
United States Colin Braun
France Romain Dumas
Oreca 07 C 344 +1:16.328
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
5 P 32 United States United Autosports United Kingdom Paul di Resta
United Kingdom Alex Brundle
United Kingdom Phil Hanson
Ligier JS P217 C 344 +1:30.732
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
6 P 55 Germany Mazda Team Joest United States Jonathan Bomarito
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
United States Spencer Pigot
Mazda RT24-P C 343 +1 Laps
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4
7 P 99 United States JDC-Miller MotorSports Canada Mikhail Goikhberg
South Africa Stephen Simpson
United States Chris Miller
Oreca 07 C 338 +6 Laps
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
8 P 77 Germany Mazda Team Joest United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United States Tristan Nunez
Germany René Rast
Mazda RT24-P C 334 +10 Laps
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4
9 P 85 United States JDC-Miller MotorSports United States Robert Alon
Switzerland Simon Trummer
France Nelson Panciatici
Oreca 07 C 331 +13 Laps
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
10 GTLM 911 United States Porsche GT Team France Patrick Pilet
United Kingdom Nick Tandy
France Frédéric Makowiecki
Porsche 911 RSR M 328 +16 Laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
11 GTLM 25 United States BMW Team RLL United States Connor De Phillippi
United States Bill Auberlen
United Kingdom Alexander Sims
BMW M8 GTE M 328 +16 Laps
BMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V8
12 GTLM 912 United States Porsche GT Team New Zealand Earl Bamber
Belgium Laurens Vanthoor
Italy Gianmaria Bruni
Porsche 911 RSR M 328 +16 Laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
13 GTLM 67 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Australia Ryan Briscoe
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook
New Zealand Scott Dixon
Ford GT M 328 +16 Laps
Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6
14 GTLM 62 United States Risi Competizione United Kingdom James Calado
Italy Alessandro Pier Guidi
Finland Toni Vilander
Ferrari 488 GTE M 328 +16 Laps
Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8
15 GTLM 4 United States Corvette Racing United Kingdom Oliver Gavin
United States Tommy Milner
Switzerland Marcel Fässler
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 327 +17 Laps
Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8
16 P 5 United States Mustang Sampling Racing Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
Portugal João Barbosa
Brazil Christian Fittipaldi
Cadillac DPi-V.R C 324 +20 Laps
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
17 GTD 48 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Bryan Sellers
United States Madison Snow
United States Corey Lewis
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 321 +23 Laps
Lamborghini 5.2 L V10
18 GTD 63 United States Scuderia Corsa Italy Alessandro Balzan
United States Cooper MacNeil
United States Gunnar Jeannette
Ferrari 488 GT3 C 321 +23 Laps
Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8
19 GTD 33 United States Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen
United States Ben Keating
Germany Luca Stolz
Mercedes-AMG GT3 C 321 +23 Laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
20 GTD 29 Germany Montaplast by Land-Motorsport South Africa Sheldon van der Linde
Germany Christopher Mies
Belgium Alessio Picariello
Audi R8 LMS GT3 C 321 +23 Laps
Audi 5.2L V10
21 GTD 15 United States 3GT Racing United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
Denmark David Heinemeier Hansson
United States Sean Rayhall
Lexus RC F GT3 C 321 +23 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
22 GTD 58 United States Wright Motorsports United States Patrick Long
Denmark Christina Nielsen
France Mathieu Jaminet
Germany Robert Renauer
Porsche 911 GT3 R C 321 +23 Laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
23 GTD 93 United States Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Germany Mario Farnbacher
United States Justin Marks
United States Lawson Aschenbach
Acura NSX GT3 C 321 +23 Laps
Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
24 GTD 86 United States Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian United Kingdom Katherine Legge
Portugal Álvaro Parente
United States Trent Hindman
Acura NSX GT3 C 321 +23 Laps
Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
25 GTD 73 United States Park Place Motorsports Germany Jörg Bergmeister
United States Patrick Lindsey
United States Tim Pappas
Porsche 911 GT3 R C 321 +23 Laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
26 GTD 75 United States SunEnergy1 Racing Australia Kenny Habul
Germany Thomas Jäger
Canada Mikaël Grenier
Mercedes-AMG GT3 C 321 +23 Laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
27 GTD 96 United States Turner Motorsport United States Don Yount
United States Dillon Machavern
Finland Markus Palttala
BMW M6 GT3 C 320 +24 Laps
BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8
28 GTD 51 Switzerland Spirit of Race Canada Paul Dalla Lana
Portugal Pedro Lamy
Austria Mathias Lauda
Brazil Daniel Serra
Ferrari 488 GT3 C 320 +24 Laps
Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8
29 GTD 44 United States Magnus Racing United States John Potter
United States Andy Lally
United States Andrew Davis
Audi R8 LMS GT3 C 319 +25 Laps
Audi 5.2L V10
30 GTD 14 United States 3GT Racing Austria Dominik Baumann
Canada Kyle Marcelli
Switzerland Phillipp Frommenwiler
Lexus RC F GT3 C 316 +28 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
31 P 52 United States AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Colombia Sebastián Saavedra
Colombia Gustavo Yacamán
Mexico Roberto González
Ligier JS P217 C 315 +29 Laps
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
32 GTD 69 United States HART United States Ryan Eversley
United States Chad Gilsinger
United States Tom Dyer
Acura NSX GT3 C 312 +32 Laps
Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
33 GTD 36 United States CJ Wilson Racing United States Marc Miller
United Kingdom Till Bechtolsheimer
Canada Kuno Wittmer
Acura NSX GT3 C 309 +35 laps
Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
34

DNF

GTLM 24 United States BMW Team RLL United States John Edwards
Finland Jesse Krohn
Netherlands Nick Catsburg
BMW M8 GTE M 296 Did Not Finish
BMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V8
35

DNF

P 90 United States Spirit of Daytona Racing Italy Eddie Cheever III
United States Matt McMurry
France Tristan Vautier
Cadillac DPi-V.R C 294 Crash
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
36 GTLM 3 United States Corvette Racing Spain Antonio García
Denmark Jan Magnussen
Germany Mike Rockenfeller
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 283 +61 laps
Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8
37

DNF

GTLM 66 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Racing United States Joey Hand
Germany Dirk Müller
France Sébastien Bourdais
Ford GT M 277 Did Not Finish
Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6
38

DNF

P 38 United States Performance Tech Motorsports United States James French
United States Kyle Masson
Mexico Patricio O'Ward
Oreca 07 C 276 Did Not Finish
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
39

DNF

P 6 United States Acura Team Penske United States Dane Cameron
Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya
France Simon Pagenaud
Acura ARX-05 C 203 Lost Power
Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6
40

DNF

P 7 United States Acura Team Penske Brazil Hélio Castroneves
United States Ricky Taylor
United States Graham Rahal
Acura ARX-05 C 172 Engine
Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6
41

DNF

GTD 64 United States Scuderia Corsa United States Townsend Bell
United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Bill Sweedler
Ferrari 488 GT3 C 9 Crash
Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8
42 GTD 71 United States P1 Motorsports United States Kenton Koch
Colombia JC Perez
Italy Loris Spinelli
Mercedes-AMG GT3 C 316 +28 laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
43

DNS

P 2 United States Tequila Patrón ESM United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
United States Scott Sharp
France Olivier Pla
Nissan Onroak DPi C Did Not Start
Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6
Sources:
Tyre manufacturers
Key
Symbol Tyre manufacturer
C Continental
M Michelin
  1. ^ The No. 71 P1 Motorsports entry originally finished 30th overall and 14th in the GTD class but was demoted to last in class after the race had finished for exceeding the maximum stint for a single driver.


Standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.



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