Nasr Leads Porsche Penske 1-2 Finish at Sebring

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Porsche Penske Motorsport scored a 1-2 finish in the 73rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, with Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor claiming the unofficial ’36 Hours of Florida’.

Nasr took the No. 7 Porsche 963 to a 2.239-second win over the sister No. 6 entry of Mathieu Jaminet in a fast-paced second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season that saw the Porsches come to fore in the evening hours.

Tandy fought the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Frederik Vesti with two hours to go, which saw the pair of GTP entries exchange the lead prior to the penultimate pit stops that kept the No. 7 Porsche out front.

Jaminet, freshly installed in the No. 6 Porsche, then passed Earl Bamber for second a few laps later and stretched his advantage over the Kiwi, who faded in his double-stint run to the finish.

It marked both Porsche and Penske’s first overall Sebring triumph since 2008 when Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Emmanuel Collard took a LMP2 class Porsche RS Spyder to overall honors.

Additionally, it was the first overall Sebring wins for Vanthoor and Tandy, the latter who becomes the first driver to have won Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans, Petit Le Mans and the 24-hour races at Spa and the Nürburgring outright, known unofficially as the “big six” endurance races.

Tandy, meanwhile, became the tenth driver to win the ‘Triple Crown’ of enduros at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans.

Nasr, Tandy and Vanthoor also won January’s season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Jaminet shared the second-placed Porsche with Matt Campbell and Kevin Estre, which remained in the top-three for much of the around-the-clock enduro.

The No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Nick Yelloly, Renger van der Zande and Alex Palou completed the GTP podium after Yelloly was able to leapfrog the No. 25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid and No. 31 Action Express Cadillac in the pits while under a late yellow with 46 minutes to go.

Bamber made a late-race pass on Neel Jani to finish fourth in the Action Express Cadillac, demoting the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche to fifth until the Swiss driver made a pit stop for a splash of energy with two laps to go.

It promoted the No. 25 BMW of Robin Frijns to fifth, with the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche in eighth after being delayed with a brake-related issue while under the race’s second-to-last yellow.

The highly anticipated WeatherTech Championship debut for Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin Valkyrie netted a ninth place overall result for Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis and Alex Riberas, which overcame several minor setbacks, including a late-race drive-through penalty for exceeding powertrain parameters that ultimately dropped it two laps down.

Wayne Taylor Racing, meanwhile, had a race to forget for its pair of Cadillacs, which finished seventh and 11th in class, led home by the No. 10 entry in a late-race rally, despite finishing a lap behind.

It came after an early race throttle issue for Ricky Taylor, who later received a stop-and-hold plus 60-second penalty for alleged contact with the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of Charles Scardina.

Team owner Wayne Taylor told IMSA Radio the sanctioning body later said the penalty was a mistake, while the car lost further ground with a nose change.

The No. 40 Cadillac brought out the race’s fifth caution with Brendon Hartley, who nosed the car into the Turn 17 barriers and later received a stop-and-hold plus 60-second penalty for entering a closed pit. A late-race stop, which saw it not take the checkered flag, cost it a top-ten result.

Contact in the pit lane with just over three hours to go knocked both the No. 60 MSR Acura of Tom Blomqvist and Philipp Eng’s No. 24 BMW, which started on pole with Dries Vanthoor, out of contention with left-front and right-rear damage, respectively.

Blomqvist, who returned to action four laps down, was handed a drive-through penalty for pit lane protocol violation and finished tenth.

The No. 24 BMW also came back on track after extensive repairs to the right-side floor and rear brakes, but was more than 30 laps behind.

Lamborghini’s SC63 was again the first GTP retirement of the race, although after completing more than 250 laps before suffering a broken left exhaust in the ninth hour.

RESULTS: Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring

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