12H Sebring Postponed to November as Season Finale

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring has been postponed until November due to travel restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Series officials announced Thursday that the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will not take place next weekend as originally planned and is instead now scheduled for Nov. 11-14.

The decision came just hours after the FIA World Endurance Championship canceled its 1000-mile race at the track, also due to U.S. President Trump’s new restrictions that’s set to ban travel for foreign nationals who have been in the Schengen area of Europe within the last 14 days.

The travel ban that covers 26 European nations but not the UK, will go into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Friday and last for 30 days.

In a statement released on Thursday, IMSA said the travel ban would “prevent a number of drivers, teams and key personnel from participation” on the originally scheduled date.

The rescheduled race will now become the season-ending round of the 2020 WeatherTech Championship.

This date was originally scheduled for the third running of the IMSA Michelin SportsCar Encore, which was also to be held at the 3.7-mile Florida airfield circuit.

In addition to the WeatherTech Championship, the rescheduled weekend will also feature the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and the IMSA Prototype Challenge season-ending races.

The annual WeatherTech Night of Champions awards banquet, meanwhile, will take place on Nov. 15 at the Seven Sebring Raceway Hotel, which is adjacent to the circuit.

Previously purchased 2020 admission tickets and parking will be honored at the above rescheduled event.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John