Felipe Nasr And Porsche Penske Capture The Twelve Hours Of Sebring
Sebring, Florida (March 15th, 2025)
Two races into the IMSA racing season and pattern is beginning to develop, Porsche wins and heartbreak for BMW. Just like the season opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, in the GTP class of the 12 Hours Of Sebring the No. 7 Porsche Penske Porsche 963 with Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor won again. Once again the No. 24 BMW Team RLL captured the pole and failed to convert it into a podium finish.
The first of the problems for the No. 24 BMW Team RLL car started mere feet before the race start. As the field was heading for a green flag start to the race, BMW driver Dries Vanthoor changed columns before crossing the start line and was handed a drive through penalty for the infraction. During the opening lap, an incident between two LMP2 cars caused a full course caution, so Vanthoor would have to wait until the caution was to serve his penalty. When he finally served his penalty the No. 24 car was at the back of the GTP field in 13th place.
While the drama with BMW was unfolding, at the end of the first hour both the Porsche Penske Porsche 963’s had moved to the front of the field and now occupied first and second place. In third and fourth were both of the Meyer Shank Racings Acura’s.
By hour three the Action Express No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R with Frederik Vesti behind the wheel was now leading the race, with the Meyer Shank No. 93 Acura ARX-06 hot on their heels in second place. From this point on, the Action Express Cadillac looked like it had a firm lock on the race and would be in the top spot for the next several hours.
As the sun went down, the cooler weather brought the Penske Porsche’s back to life. With Nick Tandy behind the wheel of the No. 7 Penske Porsche, he battled with Vestri and his Cadillac. The two would trade the lead, with the Porsche ultimately staying ahead by the second to last round of pit stops. Meanwhile the Action Express squad was starting to fade and were passed by the No. 6 Penske Porsche.
With Earl Bamber behind the wheel of the No. 31 Cadillac, the team decided on an alternate strategy to try and get back into the thick of things. After the race Bamber said “We had to come in for a splash with about 40 minutes left and we tried to take the alternate tire strategy, We thought it might work but the dirty air was just too much. We just didn’t make our way forward. The car was good, so it is bittersweet that we didn’t get a podium. We’ll just have to roll into Long Beach. The guys did a great pit stop, beat the BMW, but we just couldn’t get through fast enough and the other guys just had way too much speed. That’s sort of what we had”
With the No. 7 Penske Porsches win it was the first time since 2008 that Porsche captured top honors of the race. This wouldn’t be the only accolade, as for Driver Nick Tandy this win made him the tenth driver to win the triple crown of endurance races which include this race, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and the 24 Hours Of LeMans.
In the LMP2 category the Inter Europol Competition Team captured the class win in dramatic fashion. With driver Tom Dillman behind the wheel of the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 Gibson in second place as the race was winding down, Malthe Jakobsen behind the wheel of class leading CrowdStrike by APR made contact with one of the GTD cars. Not only did he lose places but a penalty was assessed as well.
This moved the Inter Europol Competition Team up into the lead as well as moving the Tower Motorsports squad into second place. Two time Sebring winner Sebastien Bourdais was behind the wheel of the Tower Motorsports car and was putting heavy pressure on Dillman. But Dillman was able to withstand it and captured the class win by a scant 1.117 seconds.
As the sun went down the Tower Motorsports team found themselves in the lead and looking at the class win. When a full course caution happened both Inter Europol and Crowd Strike By APR decided not to pit allowing both teams to get past Tower Motorsports before the final restart. It was at this restart where Jakobsen made contact with the AWA Corvette and knocked the team out of contention.
TDS Racing captured the pole position, and for the first few hours of the race looked like they were going to convert that pole position to a class win but ultimately finished third.
The GTD Pro category turned into a battle of German marquees. AO Racings No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R fan favorite nicknamed Rexy and the Paul Miller No. 48 BMW M4 GT3 EVO were both at or near the front of the field for most of the race. Throughout the race both squads found themselves in the lead.
With a little more than an hour left in the race Laurin Heinrich behind the wheel of the AO racing Porsche managed to get by Max Hesse in the Paul Miller BMW. When the final caution of the race ended Heinrich nailed the restart and held off Hesse to grab the win by 4.371 seconds. This was AO racings first win of a major endurance classic.
Rounding out the top three was Paul Miller BMW teammates in the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO driven by Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi. The No 1 car had to settle for third as it couldn’t manage to get past their teammates in the No. 48 car.
In the GTD category, saw a rarity a repeat winner. Yes Winward Racing the 2024 class winner pulled it off again for 2025 in their No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
The victory was by no means assured. Winward racing driver Phillip Ellis was in a heated battle with the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus piloted by Jack Hawksworth. As Hawksworth came up on a slower car, Ellis managed to sneak the nose of his Mercedes on the inside of turn five. The two cars made contact and Hawksworth slid wide and Ellis snuck through and into the lead with fifteen minutes left in the race.
Hawksworth was able to quickly recover and manage to get back into the fight, but Ellis managed to hold him off for the class win. Rounding out the podium was the Heart of Racing Team in the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.
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