This weekend, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship wraps up their season with the fourth and final endurance race of the year.  The Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring was originally scheduled for March 21, but was postponed onto what was originally the Encore weekend due to COVID-19.  Coverage of the race is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday on NBCSN.  It will stay there until 3 p.m.  At that point, it will move to NBC for three hours.  At 6 p.m., the race moves back to NBCSN for the finish.  The full race will also be available to subscribers to NBC Sports' TrackPass.  Finally, it will be available to listen to on IMSA Radio at IMSA.com.  It will also be available at 10:10 a.m. on SiriusXM Channel 202.
 

Records and facts

Last year's Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Acura started in heavy rains, resulting in the first 40 minutes being run under yellow.  Once the green came out, pole sitter Dane Cameron dropped like a stone as his Acura ARX-05 was ill-suited to the conditions.  By the time the track dried, the Acuras were out of contention.

Mazda Motorsports (then-Mazda Team Joest) was very competitive early,  Then, bad luck struck.  The No. 77 of Tristan Nunez led early, but ended up having to retire due to an electrical fire.  The No. 55 with Jonathan Bomarito at the wheel crashed in the third hour.

Ultimately, Action Express Racing's Cadillac with the lineup of Eric Curran, Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr ended up never getting too far ahead, but still dominated to win while leadnig 249 of 348 laps.

Wayne Taylor Racing's Cadillac of Jordan Taylor, Renger van der Zande and Matthieu Vaxiviere was a second back at the finish.  Action Express Racing's Filipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa and Brendon Hartley were third, while Acura Team Penske's Helio Castroneves, Alexander Rossi and Ricky Taylor were fourth.  The Nissan DPi of CORE autosport's Jon Bennett, Colin Braun and Romain Dumas were a lap down in fifth.

Performance Tech Motorsports' Cameron Cassels, Andrew Evans and Kyle Masson won in LMP2, while GT Le Mans was won by Porsche GT Team's Frederic Makowiecki, Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy.  GT Daytona was won by the Lamborghini of GRT Grasser Racing Team's Mirko Bortolotti, Rik Breukers and Rolf Ineichen.

Among active drivers, Pipo Derani has the most overall victories in the 12 Hours of Sebring with three.  These wins have come in the last four years.

All-time, Tom Kristensen has the most overall victories with six.  One was in a BMW V12 LMR (1999), two were with the Audi R8 (2000 and 2005), and one each with the Audi R10 TDI (2006), Audi R15 TDI (2009) and Audi R18 TDI (2012).  Kristensen's former Audi teammates dominate the all-time wins list.  Rinaldo "Dindo" Capello has five overall victories, while Frank Biela and Allan McNish have four each.

Track Facts 
Track / Race Length: 3.74-mile road course, 12 Hours

Grandstand Seating: No Grandstands

Pit Road Speed: 60 kph (~37-38 mph)
Pace Car Speed: 45 mph
Opened: 1950

Website: http://www.sebringraceway.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SebringInternationalRaceway

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sebringraceway

Remaining Pre-Race Schedule:

Qualifying: 10:10 a.m. on IMSA.com

Say What?!

"Running the 12 Hours of Sebring in November means we definitely will have a lot more darkness than we are used to, which is a challenge in itself.  Sebring at night is tricky. The track has helped by putting lights at some of the apex corners but that doesn’t help you navigate some of the other parts of the track.

"Luckily, headlights were a priority of the C8.R and the team has done a good job of building in that lighting for night-time conditions. Hopefully that will minimize that challenge." - Tommy Milner

"The [Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Advance Auto Parts] is always a flat-out brawl of a race. Typically, the pace is fast, there aren’t many yellows and a consistent car is super important. I know we’ve done a lot of analysis since our sprint race there a few months ago and I have high hopes that we can go there to fight for the win.” - Connor de Phillippi

"I feel the Mercedes-AMG GT3 is the perfect car for Sebring. Let’s face it, this track is brutal on the car and drivers. Twelve hours of bumps, high speeds, heavy brake zones and limited grip is tough on any car. However, I know our hot rod will navigate these extremes very well." - Lawson Aschenbach

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.  Photo is courtesy of IMSA.