This past weekend was a great one for racing. The season opener of the World Endurance Championship, the 1000 Miles of Sebring, and the second round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship are back to back. It was a weekend of hard endurance racing, which calls many to continue the tradition of in Sebring, Florida.
The Historic 12 Hours of Sebring
Here are some of the sights and sounds of vintage Sebring. Cars began racing at Sebring in 1950, the modern circuit used to be a World War II airfield in Florida. The original layout connected the two airplane runways with turns that have been modified throughout it’s history.
The Sebring International Raceway has played a large part in making sportscar and endurance racing popular in the United States. The greatest drivers raced there, including Juan Manuel Fangio, Jacky Ickx, Stirling Moss, Mike Hawthorn, and six-time Sebring winner, Tom Kristensen.
The 12 Hours of Sebring is known for being brutal, it’s physically and mentally draining, and the 12 hours can feel as difficult as a 24 at Daytona. It is one of the main opportunities to prepare for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
World Endurance Championship
This past Friday marked round one of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship, the Sebring 1000, which featured several new entries in the Hypercar category. Ferrari, Porsche, and Cadillac were all racing their new LMDh Hypercars.
Ferrari make history and take first ever pole position for the 499P in the Hypercar class with Antonio Fuoco clocking a 1:45.067.#WEC #1000MSebring @FerrariHypercar pic.twitter.com/cNBlZQiyPo
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) March 16, 2023
Last season in the WEC, the Hypercar class only consisted of Toyota Gazoo Racing, Glickenhaus Racing, Alpine, and Peugot. Toyota have dominated since they first entered back in 2021, and they consistently finish 1-2.
Toyota lost out on pole position when the #7 Toyota crashed out in qualifying. They were on the back foot, but immediately recovered after the green flag, and closed the gap to the Ferrari.
There was a massive crash by the #83 Richard Mille Racing Ferrari GTD on the exit of Turn One. He walked away after reorganizing the tire barrier. This was a scary one:
The #50 Ferrari AF Corse was the only car to put up a fight with the Toyotas, but it still wasn’t enough. It is another Toyota 1-2 in Sebring, the #7 car finishing ahead of the #8 sister car.
Star driver and team Toyota Team Principal, Kamui Kobayashi won the first round of the WEC season alongside, Mike Conway, and José María López. They continued their dominance from last season.
TOYOTA #7 WIN IN SEBRING! @TGR_WEC
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) March 18, 2023
#WEC #1000MSebring pic.twitter.com/Wyo76nxAKT
IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship
On Saturday, March 18th, the 12 Hours of Sebring took over the track following the WEC Sebring 1000. The track was rubbered in and a split field of cars saw the green flag. As the prototype field dove into Turn One lead by the #31 Cadillac of Pipo Derani from the pole position, an LMP3 car ended up backwards on track. The GT field was fast approaching and everyone managed to avoid the stranded car.
Derani crashed with an LMP2 car early in the running, but managed to get back on the lead lap. The #01 Cadillac was also off track early on after a spin.
After about 7 hours of running and several cautions, an LMP3 awkwardly crashed into the back of the #6 Porsche Penske prototype car during the caution period. They were able to repair that damage and remain in contention.
Navigating the Bumps
To win at Sebring, one must respect the bumps. Carrying too much speed into a corner is punished by uneven track, going off track is punished by grass and tire barriers. Normally, endurance races are challenging because they are multi-class, and faster cars have to get around slower ones. However, Sebring adds an extra element of risk and danger being on a bumpy old airfield.
It’s all about the bumps.
— #IMSA (@IMSA) March 15, 2023
Read more➡️ https://t.co/3TpaFHC4rf#IMSA | #RespectTheBumps pic.twitter.com/BYOjrTFck5
Turn One is a sweeping left-hand corner that must be on the limit to achieve a fast lap. Tremendous commitment is also required on Turn 17, the final corner onto the start-finish straight. This fast right-hand corner requires braking and turning, while not scrubbing to much speed, and getting back on the power.
There are also several slow corners such as the hairpin, Turn Three, Five, and Ten. Several cars had moments in every class, as expected from any endurance race, but no one expected what was about to happen as night fell. In the top category, there were still five cars in contention for the win.
Chaos in the Night
The visibility drops significantly at Sebring when the sun goes down. At first, the drivers do several laps with the sunset in their eyes. Then the clouds turn pink and purple as the sun retreats, but then it quickly becomes dark.
The race was yellow flagged 11 times, and the final caution flew when the GTP leaders crashed in spectacular fashion. After the restart, the faster class hit GTD traffic while racing for the win in the last 20 minutes. They failed to negotiate the traffic safely and this was the result:
ABSOLUTE CHAOS! THE LEADERS ALL CRASH!#IMSA | @USANetwork and @peacock pic.twitter.com/CrGzSvUsp3
— Motorsports on NBC (@MotorsportsNBC) March 19, 2023
The #10 Acura and the #6 Porsche Hypercars were battling for position through Turn One, when the #6 caught GTD traffic. The GT cars were two wide, also fighting for position, when Mathieu Jaminet (#6) moved to the inside of the track to try and pass the traffic. Filipe Albuquerque (#10) had a great run through Turn One and wanted to go for the same gap as Jaminet.
Likely unaware of the #10 car’s presence, Jaminet went to the inside and pushed the #10 onto the grass. There was no saving it from there. The #6 was out of shape into to the braking zone and hit the two GT cars, then #10 plowed into the #6. Albuquerque then took another big hit from the #7 Porsche of Filipe Nasr, who was bumped from behind when the chaos started.
With only 20 minutes remaining in the race, the GTP leaders were out of the running, and several GTD cars were eliminated as well. Both Jaminet and Albuquerque took responsibility for the accident and apologized to one another. They felt that it was an unfortunate racing incident, what they mean is… that’s racing.
Jack Aitken and Cadillac Racing won the 12 hours in GTP after the crash. Their #31 Cadillac was on the pole position and it ran in contention all 12 hours. Whelen Engineering Racing were victorious in Sebring with Jack Aitken, Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims, and their Cadillac V-Series.R
IMSA 2023 12 Hours of Sebring Results
My name is Morgan Raynal, and I am a writer for Belly Up Racing and Belly Up Sports. You can find me on Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram.
