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Twelve Hours of Sebring preview

This year’s running of International Motor Sports Association’s (IMSA) Twelve Hours of Sebring sees 58 cars entered into the race, Lamborghini making it’s GTP debut, and race title sponsor Mobil 1 celebrating its 50th anniversary with gold liveries, making it an unmissable event for motorsport and automotive enthusiasts. 

  • Race breakdown
  • Lamborghini IMSA GTP debut
  • Mobil 1 50th anniversary
  • Two all-female lineups
  • Qualifying 

5 min read

Race breakdown

The 17-turn 3.74 mile circuit of Sebring International Raceway is one of the toughest and unforgiving race tracks on the planet, with bumpy and narrow straights, treacherous corners, and very little run-off, making winning the 12-hour race a truly honourable feat.

This Saturday’s 72nd running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring marks the second race of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar championship, with all four classes, Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) competing. 

2023 Twelve Hours of Sebring (USA), 15th to 18th March 2023. BMW M Motorsport, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Twelve Hours of Sebring, BMW M Team RLL, #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, Philipp Eng (AUT), Augusto Farfus (BRA), Marco Wittmann (GER), #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, Connor De Phillippi (USA), Nick Yelloly (GBR), Sheldon van der Linde (RSA), GTP class (Photo courtesy of BMW Group Press Club)

Cadillac look set to continue their hot streak at Sebring, having won four of the last five Sebring 12 Hour races, including the last three, and sweeping the front row during qualifying Friday afternoon.

The race begins 9.40am ET/1:40pm UK time, with international coverage starting from 9am ET/1pm UK time via IMSA TV/IMSA Radio/IMSA YouTube.

This means that the race begins on a Floridian Saturday morning, and will end under the pitch black of night, following a glorious sunset in the final turn just after 7:30pm local time.

Lamborghini IMSA GTP debut

The Lamborghini SC63, with IMSA President John Doonan calling it the “Verde Mantis”, is making its IMSA GTP debut this Saturday, the fifth GTP manufacturer to compete in the series

With a Ligier chassis, an all-new 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8 engine, and with a bright green and Italian flag striped livery, it will surely turn heads this weekend.

Operated by the Iron Lynx team who will have the one car effort in IMSA’s GTP class with is Italian factory driver Andrea Caldarelli, Matteo Cairoli and ex-Formula 1 and full-time IndyCar driver Romain Grosjean piloting the No. 63 raging bull.

American Debut for Lamborghini Squadra Corse Iron Lynx at Sebring International Raceway (Photo courtesy of Lamborghini media center)

A single car entry has also been entered into the WEC season, already having raced in the WEC season opener at Qatar.

This is the first time Lamborghini’s Squadra Corse program has entered the top class of IMSA racing since entering the championship in 2016 with it’s Huracan GT3 GTD class car.

Emmanuel Esnault, the team’s racing director, said following its WEC at Qatar: “We will be competing in the Twelve Hours of Sebring, one of the world’s toughest races. We need to extract the maximum benefits from what we are learning during race weekends to develop the car and further improve our trackside operations to provide our drivers with the best possible opportunities.”

The team qualified eighth for Saturday’s race.

Mobil 1 50th anniversary

Motor oil company and title sponsor of the Twelve Hours of Sebring, Mobil 1, is celebrating its 50th anniversary since its inception, with several cars sporting special 50th anniversary gold liveries including the two Corvette Racing GTD Pro cars and No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GTD Pro car.

Two all-female lineups

Two all-female lineups, will race in Saturday’s Sebring Twelve Hours, an IMSA WeatherTech SportCar Championship first.

Katherine Legge will join Sheena Monk and Tati Calderon in the No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class, while Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting will co-drive the No. 83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.

#66: Gradient Racing, Acura NSX GT3, GTD: Sheena Monk, Katherine Legge, Tati Calderon, Stevan McAleer, racing the #62: Risi Competizione, Ferrari 296 GT3, GTD PRO: Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado in the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona (Photo courtesy of Honda Racing News Room)

Katherine Legge said: “Our program and Iron Dames are done in a serious and professional way. We are professional sports teams that just happen to be female. It’s showcasing female power. It’s not done as anything else. We’ve picked the best drivers we can pick. It’s a showcase rather than a publicity stunt.”

The same Iron Dames trio made history last year when they the GTE Am class in the WEC’s 8 Hours of Bahrain race, the first time an-all female lineup earned a class win in WEC history.

Qualifying

GTP

The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series. R ended qualifying right where they led off last year when they won the 2023 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring by qualifying on pole Friday afternoon with Pipo Derani by doing a 1.48.152 lap.

Derani is going for his fifth Twelve Hours of Sebring victory, this time teaming up with Jack Aitken and current IndyCar driver Tom Blomqvist.

Joining the No. 31 Whelen on the front row is the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series. R car after accomplished sportscar driver Sebastian Bourdais laid down a lap time of a 01:48.299.

Sebastian Bourdais qualifying the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series. R (Photo courtesy of Chip Ganassi Racing)

The qualifying session came down to who could get their car in optimum performance range after the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 car brought out the red flag after the car snapped in the exit of turn one as Mathieu Jaminet took too much kerb, smacking the right hand side wall with the front of the car.

With less than four minutes to go as the session went back green, it was about who could get their GTP car operating at it’s most optimum.

It looked like at first that the pole would go to the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura Arx-06 car being driven by Ricky Taylor when he laid down a lap time of 1.48.038, only to have it taken off them and be disqualified for working on the car under the red flag.

LMP2

The fan-favourite No. 99 AO Racing Oreca 07 Gibson car, known as “Spike the Dragon”, secured class pole, driven by PJ Hyett, with a lap time of 1.52.142.

Hyett said: “Let’s just say this is probably top three moments of my life happening right now. When I met my wife, birth of my children and I just got pole at Sebring in a P2. I don’t know what the hell’s happening, it’s wonderful!”

GTD Pro/GTD

GTD Pro qualifying saw Jack Hawksworth, piloting the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 car, locked down pole with a class-record lap of 1.58.714, sporting the Mobil 1 50th anniversary gold and black paint scheme.

The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 car also looked set to continue in the same fashion as Cadillac Racing by winning the GTD pole and second overall in GTD Friday afternoon with Phillip Ellis, following on from their 2024 Daytona 24 Hours class victory.

It was not to be however as the team was disqualified due to running unapproved sensors during the session, handing GTD pole to the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 team, with Antonio Fuoco qualifying the car second overall in GTD with a lap time of 1:59.014, so will start alongside the No. 14 Lexus.

The race begins Saturday 9.40am ET/1:40pm UK time, with international coverage starting from 9am ET/1pm UK time via IMSA TV/IMSA Radio/IMSA YouTube. 

Featured Image: The Lamborghini SC63 GTP at Sebring (Photo courtesy of Lamborghini Media Center)

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Josef Newgarden soars to third St. Pete victory

Josef Newgarden ruled the streets of St. Pete Sunday afternoon in IndyCar’s season opening race, leading 92 of the 100 laps to secure his third St. Pete win and first street course win for Team Penske after Penske went winless on street courses in 2023.

  • Josef Newgarden takes third St. Pete victory
  • Rest of race recap
  • Full race results/points standings 

3 min read

Newgarden converted his pole starting position to an over seven second lead over runner up Pato O’Ward come the checkered flag, with the win only ever looking in doubt when the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet machine lost three spots on pit road during the first pit stop cycle of the day but quickly gained them back and the lead after the restart.

Josef Newgarden and his No. 2 Chevrolet Team Penske team celebrate winning the 2024 GP of St. Pete (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

Newgarden said: “I had a lot of fun today. I think it’s so deserving for the work they (Team Penske) put in. We’ve worked really hard to close the gap. We didn’t have the speed we needed on road and street courses last year, at least on a consistency basis, and today we brought that speed.”

It was Newgarden’s 30th IndyCar Series win, passing Team Penske legend Rick Mears for 13th on the all-time IndyCar Series wins list.

Team Penske and Chevrolet have appeared to have got their street course package back on track, with all three Penske cars finishing in the top five with 2022 St. Pete winner McLaughlin finishing third and two-time St. Pete winner Will Power finishing fourth.

Last year Honda won all five street course races. Sunday saw Andretti Global’s Colton Herta, who won the 2021 edition of the race, be the highest finishing Honda in fifth.

Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward was Newgarden’s closest contender throughout the race, keeping Newgarden within two seconds of him until the final twenty laps where he extended it to an eight second lead while O’Ward had to drive with his rearview mirrors to keep the late charging McLaughlin and Power behind to hold on to the runners up position.

Josef Newgarden leads with Pato O’Ward giving chase (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

O’Ward said: “I think it’s a very solid foundation to what is going to be a very tight, very competitive rest of the year.”

Power and McLaughlin, on the softer alternate tyre were able to charge down O’Ward despite the No. 5 Arrow McLaren driver being on the harder primary tyre. Power had yet to take the alternate green lined tyre before his final pit stop, so as per IndyCar rules of having to run at least two laps on each tyre compound, Power was forced to take the softer tyre.

Rest of race recap

Josef Newgarden and Felix Rosenqvist led the 27-car field to green with Newgarden comfortably leading the opening stint.

The start of the St. Pete GP (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong brought out the first caution of the race on lap 26 when he locked up his No. 11 Ridgeline Honda in turn 10 slamming it into the outside tyre wall, taking himself out of the race.

Sting Ray Robb brought out the second of three cautions on lap 35 when he parked his No. 41 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet in the turn one escape road. Christian Lundgaard who had inherited the lead after not pitting during the previous caution due to pitting earlier in the race for a puncture, handed the lead back to Newgarden, who had raced past Rosenqvist and Herta to work back up to second prior to the caution.

Last year’s St. Pete winner Marcus Ericsson had to retire early from the race on lap 53 due to a mechanical failure. Ericsson had been running seventh before the failure.

Romain Grosjean’s late lunge on rookie Linus Lundqvist for 12th place on lap 68 saw the caution fly again as Lundqvist went spinning into the turn 10 outside tyre wall.

Lundqvist’s Chip Ganassi Racing team was able to replace his rear wing but would finish the race three laps down. Grosjean would later retire with gearbox failure after completing his drive through penalty for avoidable contact.

The next event is The $1 Million Challenge, a special, non-points race at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday, March 24 at The Thermal Club near Palm Springs, California.

Full race results/points standings

  1. Josef Newgarden 54
  2. Pato O’Ward 40
  3. Scott McLaughlin 35
  4. Will Power 32
  5. Colton Herta 31
  6. Alex Palou 28
  7. Felix Rosenqvist 26
  8. Alexander Rossi 24
  9. Scott Dixon 22
  10. Rinus VeeKay 20
  11. Santino Ferrucci 19
  12. Kyle Kirkwood 18
  13. Callum Ilott 17
  14. Kyffin Simpson 16
  15. Pietro Fittapaldi 15
  16. Graham Rahal 14
  17. Tom Blomqvist 13
  18. Agustin Canapino 12
  19. Jack Harvey 11
  20. Christian Lundgaard 10
  21. Christian Rasmussen 9
  22. Colin Braun 8
  23. Rinus Lundqvist 7
  24. Romain Grosjean 6
  25. Marcus Ericcson 5
  26. Sting Ray Robb 5
  27. Marcus Armstrong 5

Featured Image: Josef Newgarden celebrates winning the 2024 GP of St. Pete (Photo by Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment)

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Grand Prix of St. Pete race preview

The traditional NTT IndyCar Series season opener, the Grand Prix of St. Pete in Florida, gets underway this Sunday with a 27-car grid including five rookies, with Josef Newgarden and Felix Rosenqvist locking out the front row for Sunday’s 100-lap race.

Start of the 2023 GP of St. Pete (Photo by Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment).
  • Race preview/qualifying 
  • Full qualifying results

3 min read

IndyCar returns to St. Petersburg, Florida for it’s season opener in what will be the 21st running of the Grand Prix of St. Pete; a 100-lap, 180 mile race around the streets of downtown St. Pete and the Albert Whitted Airport with the race starting at 12pm ET/4pm UK time.

The 14-turn temporary street circuit never fails to bring the action as last year’s race was won in the final laps as Pato O’Ward’s car temporarily lost power, allowing Marcus Ericsson to drive by and take the checkered flag three laps later.

Marcus Ericsson leads Pato O’Ward in the 2023 GP of St. Pete (Photo by Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment)

Saturday’s qualifying saw Team Penske’s two-time St. Pete winner Josef Newgarden  put his No. 2 PPG Chevrolet on pole with a 59.5714 second lap.

Newgarden said: “I get jacked up every time I show up for an IndyCar race. This is a rockstar team.”

One of Newgarden’s main goals for the 2024 season was to secure a pole position, It is Newgarden’s third St. Pete pole, having gone without a pole in the 2023 season, last being on pole for the 2022 Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle.

Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet for Team Penske at St. Pete (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

Felix Rosenqvist, now racing for Meyer Shank Racing after being replaced at Arrow McLaren, joins Newgarden on the front row, having done a 59.5772 lap.

Rosenqvist said: “We don’t want to get carried away; the race is a different challenge. But we had a feeling from practice, from rolling off the truck, and that’s great.”

Rosenqvist broke the track record in the Group of 12 qualifying session with a lap of 59.2706 to advance to the Firestone Fast Six, beating Will Power’s 59.3466 lap in the Group of 12 session in 2022.

Six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon could only manage an 11th starting place. Dixon is still winless at St. Pete after 19 previous attempts.

Will Power also failed to make the fast six, with an eighth-place effort. Power had secured nine of the last 14 poles at St. Pete, also being a two-time winner, winning in 2010 and 2014, with Newgarden winning the 2019 and ’20 race respectively.

Tom Blomqvist was the best of the rookies, qualifying 17th with a lap time of 59.9968, driving for Meyer Shank Racing

Graham Rahal, Colton Herta, Scott McLaughlin, and Marcus Ericsson also have wins at St. Pete; 2008, 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively.

Different for this years’ race is the turn three repave, removing heavy bumps that means drivers can now go flat out through the corner.

Also different is the use of lighter chassis components on the cars including a new 3D-printed titanium aeroscreen top frame, saving seven pounds, as well as the switch to a magnesium gearbox casing and bellhousing. This is all in preparation for the arrival of the 2.2-litre twin-turbocharged V6 engines with hybrid technology this summer.

Catch the 2024 Grand Prix of St. Pete on Sunday at 12pm ET/4pm UK time.

Full qualifying results

  1. Josef Newgarden
  2. Felix Rosenqvist
  3. Pato O’Ward
  4. Colton Herta
  5. Romain Grosjean
  6. Marcus Ericsson
  7. Rinus VeeKay
  8. Will Power
  9. Scott McLaughlin
  10. Marcus Armstrong
  11. Scott Dixon
  12. Christian Lundgaard
  13. Alex Palou
  14. Santino Ferrucci
  15. Alexander Rossi
  16. Callum Ilott
  17. Tom Blomqvist (R)
  18. Kyle Kirkwood
  19. Linus Lundqvist (R)
  20. Agustin Canapino
  21. Christian Rasmussen (R)
  22. Graham Rahal
  23. Kyffin Simpson (R)
  24. Sting Ray Robb
  25. Colin Braun (R)
  26. Pietro Fittipaldi
  27. Jack Harvey

Featured Image: 2023 GP of St. Pete (Photo by Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment)

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McLaughlin wins his first IndyCar race on the streets of St. Pete

Scott McLaughlin led nearly half the race to take his first career IndyCar win after holding off Álex Palou in the final two laps. Starting from the pole, he led the first 25 laps before a yellow came out for rookie Malukas hitting the wall coming out of turn 3. Scott Dixon led 26 laps but was on a three-stop strategy while McLaughlin led the two stop drivers out on track. McLaughlin retook the lead with 22 laps to go when Dixon made his final stop after a 41 lap stint.

McLaughlin doing the shoey (Photo by Chris Jones/IndyCar Media)

A crucial moment that led to McLaughlin’s victory was a successful overcut by the Kiwi on Rinus VeeKay on lap 65, who had been leading the middle stage of the race, after making his final stop and just barely getting out in front.

In the final 20 laps, we saw a performance out of McLaughlin that was very reminiscent of his Supercar days, the Australian series that he won three years in a row with Team Penske, and promoted him to the IndyCar Series. Reigning champion Palou kept him honest and the gap to under a second. Both were barely able to use push-to-pass due to a lack of fuel. With two laps to go, Palou was piling on the pressure, before McLaughlin caught backmarker rookie Devlin DeFrancesco who refused to move out of the way. McLaughlin and Palou were still trapped behind him in the final corner but McLaughlin held off Palou in the hairpin and took the chequered flag.

Scott McLaughlin and Álex Palou (Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar Media)

The only yellow of the day came out for rookie David Malukas on lap 25 when he hit the outside wall after he ran across the marbles coming out of the first chicane. This flipped the field order as the top 12 drivers had yet to make their first stop which handed the lead to Alexander Rossi.

Will Power came home in third and was hovering at four seconds behind the leaders for the last 10 laps of the race in no man’s land. Power was the only driver to start the race on the primary black tyres and got squirrelly as he lit them up when taking the green flag. Power lost the position to Palou on the restart when he was the only one on the softer red tyre. The street course masters’ outright pace combined with a unique strategy that allowed for easier overtaking throughout his runs, resulted in two Roger Penske cars on the podium.

Podium; from left to right: Álex Palou (2nd), Scott McLaughlin (1st) and Will Power (3rd) (Photo by Chris Jones/IndyCar Media)

Colton Herta came home in fourth position but perhaps we could have seen him closer to the front three. Herta was frustrated to learn halfway through the race that his team pitted him extra early due to not getting enough fuel in the car on the first stop, denying him from being able to get the most out of his primary black tyres.

Romain Grosjean had a great Andretti Autosport debut coming in fifth place however one heart raising moment for him came on pit road during the first wave of pit stops when Marcus Ericsson hip-checked Graham Rahal into Grosjean and narrowly avoided being put into the pit wall. Veekay managed to convert his three-stop strategy to one less after pitting on lap 61 earning him sixth place. Rounding out the top 10 were Rahal, Dixon, Ericsson and Takuma Sato in his debut for Dale Coyne Racing with RWR.

Jimmie Johnson (Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar Media)

Christian Lundgaard had a quiet race but was the highest finishing rookie in 11th place. Jimmie Johnson had his best IndyCar race to date and was legitimately competing over 15th place at one point but came home in 23rd place in the end. Tatiana Calderón also had a successful debut and had multiple battles with her teammates Dalton Kellett and Kyle Kirkwood. Kellett fell well off the lead lap in the latter stages due to gearbox issues. Malukas retired from his crash on lap 25.

Full finishing order: (1st) Scott McLaughlin, (2nd) Álex Palou, (3rd) Will Power, (4th) Colton Herta, (5th) Romain Grosjean, (6th) Rinus VeeKay, (7th) Graham Rahal, (8th) Scott Dixon, (9th) Marcus Ericsson, (10th) Takuma Sato, (11th) Christian Lundgaard, (12th) Pato O’Ward, (13th) Jack Harvey, (14th) Helio Castroneves, (15th) Simon Pagenaud, (16th) Josef Newgarden, (17th) Felix Rosenqvist, (18th) Kyle Kirkwood, (19th) Callum Ilott, (20th) Alexander Rossi, (21st) Conor Daly, (22nd) Devlin DeFrancesco, (23rd) Jimmie Johnson, (24th) Tatiana Calderón, (25th) Dalton Kellett, (26th) David Malukas.

Featured Image: Scott McLaughlin celebrating in victory lane (Photo by Chris Jones/IndyCar Media)

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