March 6, 2025
Aston Martin Valkyrie Debuts; Tandy Looks To Add Another Overall Win
Entry List (Click Here)
By Tony DiZinno
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The famed concrete surface and the notorious, legendary bumps of Sebring International Raceway greet the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the 73rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in just over a week. The second race of both the full 2025 season and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup is often advertised as half as long but twice as tough as the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, although both Florida races provide different tests to the field.
A field of 56 cars, spread across 13 Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), 12 Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), 11 Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and 20 Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class entries are set to tackle this year’s edition of the mid-March classic.
In GTP, Aston Martin debuts its new Valkyrie in North America, the first car built to Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) specifications competing alongside LMDh specification prototypes in IMSA. Aston Martin THOR Team runs the single entry, and its presence alongside five other manufacturers – Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Lamborghini and Porsche – sees a record-setting 13 GTP cars racing for the reborn class in its third year of competition.
After winning at the Rolex 24, Nick Tandy pursues an overall victory in the 12-hour race to add to his personal “Tandy Slam” of four major 24-hour endurance overall race victories. No top-class IMSA prototype entrant has won back-to-back overall in Daytona and Sebring since Wayne Taylor Racing did so in the first two Daytona Prototype international (DPi) category races in 2017, when Jordan and Ricky Taylor shared the winning Cadillac DPi-V.R with Max Angelelli and Jeff Gordon in Daytona and Alex Lynn in Sebring.
Key facts and figures ahead of this year’s race are below:
Fast Facts
73rd Running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
Sebring International Raceway – Sebring, Florida
March 12-15, 2025
Race Day/Time: Saturday, March 15 – 10:10 a.m. ET
Peacock Streaming Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 10:00 a.m. (IMSA.com/TVLive, YouTube.com/@IMSAOfficial outside the U.S.)
Live Qualifying Stream: Friday, March 14 – 11:20 a.m. (Peacock in the U.S. and IMSA.com/TVLive, YouTube.com/@IMSAOfficial outside the U.S.)
Circuit Type: 3.74-mile, 17-turn road course
Classes Competing: Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), Grand Touring Daytona (GTD)
Race Length: 12 hours
Track Social Media:
X / Twitter: @SebringRaceway
Instagram: @SebringRaceway
Facebook: @SebringInternationalRaceway
Event Hashtags: #IMSA, #Sebring12
WeatherTech Championship Track Records – Sebring International Raceway
GTP: Pipo Derani, Cadillac V-Series.R, 1:45.836 / 127.215 mph, March 2023
LMP2: Giedo van der Garde, ORECA LMP2 07, 1:48.311 / 124.308 mph, March 2022
GTD PRO: Jack Hawksworth, Lexus RC F GT3, 1:58.714 / 113.415 mph, March 2024
GTD: Daniel Serra, Ferrari 488 GT3, 1:58.710 / 113.420 mph, March 2018
2024 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Motul Pole Award Winners:
GTP: Pipo Derani, No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R
LMP2: PJ Hyett, No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07
GTD PRO: Jack Hawksworth, No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3
GTD: Antonio Fuoco, No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3
2024 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Winners:
GTP: Louis Deletraz/Jordan Taylor/Colton Herta, No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06
LMP2: Ryan Dalziel/Dwight Merriman/Connor Zilisch, No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07
GTD PRO: Jack Hawksworth/Ben Barnicoat/Kyle Kirkwood, No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3
GTD: Russell Ward/Philip Ellis/Indy Dontje, No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
Storylines
- Nick Tandy’s Sebring Overall Pursuit: After winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Nick Tandy has now won four major 24-hour endurance races overall in Daytona, Le Mans, the Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps. The three-time class winner at Sebring seeks to become the 10th driver to win Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans overall if he can win this year. He’ll share the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 with Felipe Nasr and Laurens Vanthoor.
- Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP Debut: The Aston Martin Valkyrie and its sonorous, shrieking 6.5L, V12 powerplant will make its North American race debut in Sebring. Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis and Alex Riberas are set to share the No. 23 car for the Aston Martin THOR (The Heart of Racing) Team.
- Eight Manufacturer Winners: The opening month-plus of the IMSA season produced eight different winning automotive manufacturers: Porsche, Ford and Chevrolet in WeatherTech Championship (with Porsche also winning in IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge), McLaren and Hyundai in Michelin Pilot Challenge, Toyota and BMW in VP Racing Challenge and Mazda in Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin.
- Intense GTD PRO, GTD Battles: Most of the GT field incurred battle scars at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Ford (GTD PRO) and Corvette (GTD) won their classes, but not without intense clashes also involving BMW, Aston Martin and Porsche, which also contended for class podiums. After tougher Daytona races, entries from defending Sebring GTD PRO and GTD winners Lexus and Mercedes-AMG, as well as Ferrari and Lamborghini will look to mix it up closer to the front of the field here.
- IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup: Three of the four Rolex 24 class winners also scored the most points toward the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, which awards separate points at different hourly markers in the five endurance races. At Sebring, points are awarded at the four-, eight- and 12-hour marks. Leading in each class following the Rolex 24 are the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 in GTP, the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07 in LMP2, the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 in GTD PRO, and a tie between the No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R and No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 in GTD.
- CrowdStrike Endurance, Teamwork and Speed Award: The No. 24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 (WeatherTech Championship) and No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing with Aerosport Ford Mustang GT4 (Michelin Pilot Challenge) were awarded the CrowdStrike Endurance, Teamwork and Speed Award for their performance at the Rolex 24 At Daytona weekend. The teams will be presented with the award during Sebring prerace ceremonies.
Who’s Hot?
- Porsche: A dominant 1-3 finish at the Rolex 24 At Daytona positioned Porsche Penske Motorsport for season-long success in GTP. Additionally, Porsche snared a GTD podium with Wright Motorsports in second place. At a track where Porsche has won seven races in GT classes since 2018, the manufacturer is looking for more including its first overall win at this race since 2008.
- Ford: Like Porsche in GTP, Ford ended 1-3 in GTD PRO at the Rolex 24 with the first global victory achieved for the new Mustang GT3. Ford also scored two podiums in the final three races of 2024, so the Ford Multimatic Motorsports team is riding its best wave of momentum thus far.
Who’s Good Here?
- Jordan Taylor and Cadillac: Three-time Sebring winner Taylor seeks to defend his 2024 win with Wayne Taylor Racing in the team’s return to Cadillac, a manufacturer that has won the Twelve Hours of Sebring overall five times in the last eight years (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023).
- Colin Braun, Nick Tandy: The pair of three-time Sebring class winners have never won this race overall, but a fourth Sebring win for either driver would erase that stat.
- Antonio Garcia and Corvette: The lone four-time Sebring winner in the field shares the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R with Alexander Sims and Daniel Juncadella. Corvette Racing has 12 Sebring wins although like Garcia, none since 2022.
