Michelin Sebring Notebook

The Rites of Spring

After one of the coldest races in IMSA history, the teams, officials and fans are ready for the 70th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

The late Dan Gurney, a Sebring winner as a driver and as a team owner called the race, “a Spring ritual for all road racers around the world.”

What Goes Up

While officially flat, the bumpy 3.74-mile Sebring International Raceway circuit produces up to 18 feet of vertical wheel travel per lap as the front tires and wheels rebound off the bumps.

It Gets Dark

In addition to the bumps, another challenge at Sebring is the darkness. Unlike the stadium lighting at Daytona International Speedway, the 3.74-mile Sebring circuit is more like Le Mans with limited track lighting.

Drivers do get a break before the race with daylight savings time in March, allowing them an extra hour to navigate the course in daylight.

Happy Anniversary to You, and You, and You

This marks the 70th anniversary of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Three of the four IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events are celebrating Milestone anniversaries in 2022.

Daytona International Speedway recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Rolex 24.

The newest of the four major endurance events, the season ending Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta will mark its silver anniversary at the season finale on Oct. 1.

Lastly, the 24 Hours of Le Mans celebrates its centennial in 2023 and Watkins Glen will host its 40th edition of the Six-Hours of the Glen.

Super!

Super Sebring 2022 will be the largest event in Michelin Motorsport history. Michelin is supporting the IMSA WeatherTech Championship, FIA World Endurance Championship, Michelin Pilot Challenge and Porsche Carrera Cup North America.

In total, Michelin will be fitting 163 entries across the four series. The previous record of 137 entries was set at the inaugural Super Sebring in 2019.

A Very Big Tent

Located in the IMSA paddock, the Michelin Tire Workshop will be hard to miss.

The 24,000 square-foot Michelin tent houses nearly 15,000 tires and the staff and equipment to support four tire mounting, balancing, pressure and team release lines.

Additional tires are loaded on trailers staged outside the paddock. Trailers are rotated in and out each evening as the week progresses.

Record Year

There were nine new records set at Sebring in 2021 across the IMSA WeatherTech Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge.

That included six new qualifying records, and a new DPi-distance record. The winning JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac driven by Tristan Vautier, Loic Duval and Sébastien Bourdais logged 349 laps or 1,305.26 miles.

Michelin has set 180 new race and qualifying records in IMSA since becoming the Official Tire in 2019.

Track Records

Qualifying:
DPi: 1:45.354/Pipo Derani/2021
LMP2: 1:49.728/Matthew McMurry/2019
LMP3: 1:56.001/Rasmus Lindh/2021
GTD: 1:58.710/Daniel Serra/2018
GS: 2:10.521/Owen Trinkler/2019
TCR: 2:13.751/Britt Casey Jr/2019

Race:
DPi: 1:46.151/Renger van der Zande/2021
LMP2: 1:48.474/Scott Huffaker/2021
LMP3: 1:56.166/Colin Braun/2021
GTD: 2:00.628/Dominik Baumann/2018
GS: 2:10.889/Jan Heylen/2021
TCR: 2:14.799/Denis Dupont/2021

12H Sebring Tire Allocations

WeatherTech Championship:
DPi: 24 sets – IMSA Medium
LMP2: 24 sets – IMSA Medium
LMP3: 19 sets – Michelin Pilot Sport GT S8M (Fronts) / S9M (Rears)
GTD Pro: 19 sets – Michelin Pilot Sport GT S9M
GTD: 19 sets – Michelin Pilot Sport GT S9M

Michelin Pilot Challenge:
GS: 5 sets – Michelin Pilot Sport GT S9M
TCR: 4 sets – Michelin Pilot Sport GT S9M+