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2017 12 Hours of Sebring

The 65th Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring fueled by Fresh from Florida was an endurance sports car racing event held at Sebring International Raceway near Sebring, Florida from 16 to 18 March 2017. The race was the second round of the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as well as the second round of the North American Endurance Cup.

The race was won by Wayne Taylor Racing's Cadillac DPi-V.R driven by Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, and Alex Lynn, ahead of Mustang Sampling Racing's Cadillac DPi-V.R and Whelen Engineering Racing's Cadillac DPi-V.R. The PC class winners were Performance Tech Motorsports with drivers James French, Patricio O'Ward, and Kyle Masson driving an Oreca FLM09. Corvette Racing won the GTLM class for the third straight year with Antonio García, Jan Magnussen, and Mike Rockenfeller taking the win in their Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. The GTD category was won by Riley Motorsports - WeatherTech Racing's Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen, and Mario Farnbacher in a Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Background

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed that the race was part of the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship schedule in August 2016. It was the fourth year in a row that the race was part of the series calendar, and the 65th 12 Hours of Sebring. The race was the second of 2017's twelve scheduled IMSA automobile endurance races, and the second of four North American Endurance Cup (NAEC) events. It was held at the 17-turn, 3.741-mile (6.021 km) Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida on March 18, 2017.

After the 24 Hours of Daytona 7 weeks earlier, Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor, Max Angelelli, and Jeff Gordon were leading the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 35 points. With 36 points, James French, Patricio O'Ward, Kyle Masson, and Nicholas Boulle led the PC Drivers' Championship. GTLM was led by Joey Hand, Dirk Müller, and Sébastien Bourdais with a three-point advantage over Frédéric Makowiecki, Patrick Pilet, and Dirk Werner. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Michael Christensen, Carlos de Quesada, Michael de Quesada, Jesse Lazare, Daniel Morad with 35 points ahead of Connor De Phillippi, Jules Gounon, Christopher Mies, and Jeffrey Schmidt. Cadillac, Ford, and Porsche were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsport, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, and Alegra Motorsports each led their own Teams' Championships.

On March 8, 2017, IMSA issued the latest technical bulletin outlining the Balance of Performance for the event. In P, the Cadillac DPi-V.R received a 20 kilogram weight increase and a 0.6 mm smaller air restrictor. In GTLM, the BMW M6 GTLM and Porsche 911 RSR were given fuel capacity increases of 4 and 3 liters, respectively. In GTD, the Acura NSX GT3 received a 20 kilogram weight increase as well an increase in turbo boost, and 1 extra liter of fuel capacity. The Audi R8 LMS received a 5 kilogram weight increase. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 received a 20 kilogram weight increase as well as a 1.5 mm larger air restrictor, and 2 extra liters of fuel capacity. The Porsche 911 GT3 R received a fuel capacity increase of 2 liters while the Lexus RC F GT3 lost 1 liter of fuel capacity.

Entries

A total of 46 cars took part in the event split across four classes. 10 cars were entered in P, 4 in PC, 10 in GTLM, and 21 in GTD. In P, Alex Lynn replaced Max Angelelli in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry after Angelelli retired from racing after Daytona. DragonSpeed were absent. Marino Franchitti joined Tom Long and Joel Miller in the #70 Mazda Motorsports entry. In PC, Starworks Motorsport scaled down to one entry. Garett Grist, Max Hanratty, and Sean Rayhall shared the #8 Starworks Motorsport entry. Gustavo Yacamán joined Marc Drumwright, Chapman Ducote, and Colin Thompson in the #26 BAR1 Motorsports entry. In GTLM, Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK scaled down to one entry. In GTD, Konrad Motorsport, Spirit of Race, Manthey Racing, Aston Martin Racing, and TRG were absent. GRT Grasser Racing Team scaled down to one entry. Spencer Pumpelly joined Daniel Morad, Michael Christensen, and Michael de Quesada in the #28 Alegra Motorsports entry.

Practice

There were four practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, three on Thursday and one on Friday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Thursday morning and afternoon. The third held later that evening ran for 90 minutes; the fourth on Friday morning lasted an hour.

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 11:10 am ET on Thursday and ended with Stephen Simpson topping the charts for JDC-Miller MotorSports, with a lap time of 1:49.516. The PC class was topped by the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09 of Patricio O'Ward with a time of 1:55.172. Frédéric Makowiecki was fastest in GTLM while Bryan Sellers set the fastest time in GTD.

Practice 2

The second practice session took place at 3:15 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Jordan Taylor topping the charts for Wayne Taylor Racing, with a lap time of 1:49.888. Colin Thompson set the fastest time in PC. The GTLM class was topped by the #4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Tommy Milner with a lap time of 1:57.206. Sébastien Bourdais was second in the #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing car and Antonio García rounded out the top 3. Andrew Davis was fastest in GTD.

Night Practice

The night practice session took place at 7:30 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Mike Conway topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:49.815. Gustavo Yacamán set the fastest time PC by 0.257 seconds ahead of Sean Rayhall in the #8 Starworks Motorsport entry. Sébastien Bourdais set the fastest time in GTLM with a time of 1:57.166. The GTD class was topped by the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS of Lawson Aschenbach with a lap time of 2:00.964.

Final Practice

The fourth and final practice session took place at 9:20 am ET on Friday and ended with Christian Fittipaldi topping the charts for Mustang Sampling Racing, with a lap time of 1:49.211. Gustavo Yacamán set the fastest time in PC. Dirk Müller was fastest in GTLM while Michael Christensen set the fastest time in GTD.

Qualifying

On Friday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying, each category had separate 15-minute sessions. Regulations stipulated that teams nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class' starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM and GTD cars.

The first was for cars in GTD class. Tristan Vautier qualified on pole for the class driving the #75 SunEnergy1 Racing car.

The second session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Ryan Briscoe qualified on pole driving the #67 car for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, besting Dirk Müller in the sister #66 entry.

The third session of qualifying was for cars in the PC class. Gustavo Yacamán set the fastest time driving the #26 BAR1 Motorsports car.

The final session of qualifying was for the P class. Neel Jani qualified on pole driving the #13 car for Rebellion Racing, beating Christian Fittipaldi in the #5 Mustang Sampling Racing by less than one tenth of a second.

Qualifying results

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.

¹ The No. 4 Corvette Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field for violating competition rules regarding the car's ride height.
² The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).

Race

Start and early hours

Afternoon

Sunset to finish

Post-race

With a total of 70 points, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Fittipaldi, Barbosa, and Albuquerque in the Prototype Drivers' Championship to 5 points. Cameron, Curran, and Conway advanced from sixth to third. In the PC Drivers' Championship, Rayhall advanced from fourth to second while Boulle dropped from first to fifth. The result kept Hand, Müller, and Bourdais atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship. García, Magnussen, and Rockenfeller advanced from fourth to second. As a result of winning the race, Bleekemolen, Keating, and Farnbacher advanced from third to first in the GTD Drivers' Championship. Cadillac, and Ford continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Mercedes-AMG took the lead of the GTD Manufacturers' Championship. Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, and Ford Chip Ganassi Racing kept their respective advantages in their of Teams' Championships. Riley Motorsports Team AMG took the lead of the GTD Teams' Championship with ten rounds remaining.