12 Hours of Sebring
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The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race held at Sebring Raceway, a former Air Force base in Sebring, Florida.
History
The track opened in 1950 on an airfield and is a road racing course styled after those used in European Grand Prix motor racing. The race is now considered one of the premier endurance races in the United States and is famous for its "once around the clock" action, starting during the day and finishing at night. For many years Sebring was part of the World Sportscar Championship.
The race has a rich history, as legendary drivers such as Stirling Moss, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jacky Ickx, Briggs Cunningham, Lake Underwood, and Mario Andretti and manufacturers such as Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Jaguar, Cunningham, and Ford have all been victorious.
Since the 24 Hours of Daytona are part of the Grand-Am only, the Sebring race is now the season opening event in the American Le Mans Series. It is known as an excellent preparation for the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, as the track's extremely bumpy surface, combined with South Florida's perennial hot weather, is a true test of a car's reliability. In recent years, six overall victories have been achieved by the all-conquering Audi R8, one shy of the seven wins of the Porsche 935 since 1978.
The Event
Fans are allowed to camp inside the green of the race track, starting several days before the actual race. They can bare witness to many practice and qualification races, as well as a vintage race. There are several classes of tickets, anywhere from full-access to simply the (usually Saturday) actual race.
Within the track is a Midway, containing everything from sounevirs and official merchandise, to hot coffee and cold beer.
Recent results
In 2005, the Chevrolet Corvette C6R and Aston Martin DB9R made their race debut in the hotly contested GT1 class, with Aston Martin winning for the first time in 49 years at Sebring ahead of the two Corvettes. Corvette had dominated the class the past three years with its previous generation C5R.
The all-new Audi R10 TDI won the 2006 edition of the race, the car's first ever run in competition. The victory marked the first time a diesel powered car has won a major sportscar race, and set the stage for an even more momentous win by the R10 in its next race, the Le Mans 24 Hours later in the year. The much-hyped Porsche RS Spyder campaigned by Penske Racing dropped to take 2nd place in its LMP2 class, behind the Intersport Lola car. The GT1 Corvette C6R team got their revenge against the Aston Martin, although the second Corvette came within 1/3 of a second of the podium in the closing laps of the race.
Overall Winners
The very first race on New Year's Eve of 1950 was won by Frits Koster and Ralph Deshon in a Crosley Hot Shot [link]
| Year | Drivers | Car |
|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Frazer-Nash | |
| 1953 | Cunningham C4R | |
| 1954 | Stirling Moss / B. Lloyd | Osca MT4 |
| 1955 | Mike Hawthorn / P. Walters | Jaguar D-Type |
| 1956 | Juan Manuel Fangio / Eugenio Castellotti | Ferrari 860 |
| 1957 | Jean Behra / Juan Manuel Fangio | Maserati 450S |
| 1958 | Phil Hill / Peter Collins | Ferrari 250 |
| 1959 | Dan Gurney / Chuck Daigh / Phil Hill / Olivier Gendebien | Ferrari 860 |
| 1960 | Hans Herrmann / Olivier Gendebien | Porsche 718 |
| 1961 | Phil Hill / Olivier Gendebien | Ferrari TR 250 |
| 1962 | Jo Bonnier / Lucien Bianchi | Ferrari TR 250 |
| 1963 | John Surtees / Ludovico Scarfiotti | Ferrari 250P |
| 1964 | Mike Parkes / Umberto Maglioli | Ferrari 275P |
| 1965 | Jim Hall / Hap Sharp | Chaparral 2A |
| 1966 | Ken Miles / Lloyd Ruby | Ford X1 |
| 1967 | Bruce McLaren / Mario Andretti | Ford Mk IV |
| 1968 | Jo Siffert / Hans Herrmann | Porsche 907 |
| 1969 | Jacky Ickx / Jackie Oliver | Ford GT40 |
| 1970 | Ignazio Giunti / Nino Vaccarella | Ferrari 512S |
| 1971 | Vic Elford / Gérard Larrousse | Porsche 917K |
| 1972 | Mario Andretti / Jacky Ickx | Ferrari 312PB |
| 1973 | Hurley Haywood / Peter H. Gregg / D. Helmick | Porsche 911 |
| 1974 | No race | |
| 1975 | Brian Redman / Allan Moffat / Sam Posey / Hans-Joachim Stuck | BMW 3.0 CSL |
| 1976 | Al Holbert / M. Keyser | Porsche 911 |
| 1977 | Porsche 911 | |
| 1978 | Brian Redman / C. Mendez / B. Garretson | Porsche 935 |
| 1979 | Porsche 935 | |
| 1980 | John Fitzpatrick / Dick Barbour | Porsche 935 |
| 1981 | Hurley Haywood / Al Holbert | Porsche 935 |
| 1982 | John Paul, Jr. | Porsche 935 |
| 1983 | Porsche 935 | |
| 1984 | Hans Heyer / Stefan Johansson | Porsche 935 |
| 1985 | A. J. Foyt / Bob Wollek | Porsche 962 |
| 1986 | Hans-Joachim Stuck / Jo Gartner / B. Akin | Porsche 962 |
| 1987 | Jochen Mass / Bobby Rahal | Porsche 962 |
| 1988 | Klaus Ludwig / Hans-Joachim Stuck | Porsche 962 |
| 1989 | Geoff Brabham / Chip Robinson / Arie Luyendyk | Nissan GTP |
| 1990 | Derek Daly / B. Earl | Nissan GTP |
| 1991 | Derek Daly / Geoff Brabham / Gary Brabham | Nissan NPT-90 |
| 1992 | Juan Manuel Fangio II / Andy Wallace | Eagle Mk III |
| 1993 | Juan Manuel Fangio II / Andy Wallace | Eagle Mk III |
| 1994 | Johnny O'Connell / John Morton | Nissan 300ZX |
| 1995 | Fermin Velez / Eric van de Poele | Ferrari 333 SP |
| 1996 | Wayne Taylor / Jim Pace / Eric van de Poele | Riley & Scott Mk III |
| 1997 | Fermin Velez / Yannick Dalmas / Stefan Johansson | Ferrari 333 SP |
| 1998 | Didier Theys / Gianpiero Moretti / Mauro Baldi | Ferrari 333 SP |
| 1999 | Tom Kristensen / JJ Lehto / Jörg Müller | BMW V12 LMR |
| 2000 | Frank Biela / Tom Kristensen / Emanuele Pirro | Audi R8 |
| 2001 | Rinaldo Capello / Michele Alboreto / Laurent Aïello | Audi R8 |
| 2002 | Rinaldo Capello / Christian Pescatori / Johnny Herbert | Audi R8 |
| 2003 | Frank Biela / Marco Werner / Philipp Peter | Audi R8 |
| 2004 | Allan McNish / Frank Biela / Pierre Kaffer | Audi R8 |
| 2005 | JJ Lehto / Marco Werner / Tom Kristensen | Audi R8 |
| 2006 | Tom Kristensen / Allan McNish / Rinaldo Capello | Audi R10 Diesel |
External links
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