A Penske-perfect run earns Nick Tandy his endurance crown at Sebring: Final report

It is a good evening to be a Porsche driver, particularly Nick Tandy. Porsche Penske Motorsport‘s 1-2 end total on the 12 Hours of Sebring additionally earned Tandy, now often known as “Mr. 24,” the Triple Crown of endurance — having accomplished a set of victories on the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours at Daytona (profitable in January), and at the moment, the 12 Hours of Sebring. Tandy’s the tenth particular person to ever full the Triple Crown of endurance racing — becoming a member of the ranks of greats like Hurley Haywood, Hans Herrmann, and A.J. Foyt.

But it surely’s not only a massive celebration for Tandy’s feat, or the 1-2 win at Porsche. The #7 Porsche Penske automotive had simply accomplished a flawless back-to-back win of Daytona and Sebring. 

“You not often see… one thing… do a single occasion with none faults or errors or something like this,” Tandy instructed media within the post-race press convention. “We have simply been celebrating with 24 folks that have simply flawlessly run a automotive for 36 hours — clearly Daytona and Sebring mixed — and it is only a testomony to what Porsche and Porsche Penske has put collectively as a bunch of individuals. They permit us to go racing and have the success with no mistake. As a result of the simplest factor on this planet to do in racing is make a mistake, whether or not you are in there driving, or whether or not you have been making a technique name or something.”

Incomes one other win for Porsche was Laurin Heinrich and the #77 AO Racing Porsche (Rexy), (who will possible acquire one other gold tooth for this one) for the GTD Professional class. The 23-year-old German driver additionally managed to interrupt an IMSA GTD Professional race-lap report at Sebring, and instantly broke it once more throughout the remaining minutes of the race, posting a lap time of two:00.451.

Rexy’s win places the #77 second within the factors for the class, second to the #65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang, who gained the class on the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Within the LMP2 class, whereas the #8 Turner Motorsport tried to take care of the lead for the ultimate hour, the #43 Inter Europol Competition was in a position to slide previous for the class win.

And at last — a nail-biting race for the primary a part of the final inexperienced part of the race for the GTD class because the #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus (Jack Hawksworth) and #57 Team Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG (Philip Ellis) put up a formidable struggle. A too-close for consolation move, within the midst of impatient site visitors from the GTP class, allowed the #57 to steal the lead from the #12 Lexus, finally claiming the general win.

#57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje

Picture by: IMSA

Earlier than we shut the guide on this 12 hours of racing, a take a look at what occurred within the remaining third of the race:

Hour 9: The GTD class-leader, #21 AF Corse, kicks issues off with a driver change — Lilou Wadoux changing Alessandro Pier Guidi — and a problem that stopped the Ferrari along side Flip 6. The race remained inexperienced briefly till crews are launched to retrieve the stopped #21. 

The solar, on its method to sundown, has now turn out to be a obvious downside for drivers going into Flip 7. In different “7”-related information, there are solely seven automobiles presently on the lead lap.

Through the full course yellow, simply earlier than the top of the hour, an incident in the course of the hybrid class pit cycle between the #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian and #24 BWM M Group RLL leads to minor chaos within the pits. The #60 was launched unsafely when it made contact with the #24. Unable to maneuver, the Acura remained in place till pitting was accomplished. It’s finally wheeled again to its pit field to repair the numerous harm that was stopping it from transferring. The #24 suffers harm and is pulled behind the wall for repairs. The #60 is issued a drive by means of penalty for the unsafe launch.

#48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO: Max Hesse, Dan Harper, Jesse Krohn

Picture by: IMSA

Hour 10: 5 minutes at first of the tenth hour, racing returns to inexperienced, briefly,  till the #88 AF Corse LMP2 made contact with the wall in Flip 17. It seems to have simply missed the flip or a possible subject with the automotive despatched it straight. However the contact causes vital harm. A “quick yellow” is issued, which means there will probably be no pit cycles throughout this warning. Driver Matias Perez Companc is reported to be okay and out of the automotive.

The #63 Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse GTP, having gone behind the wall in the course of the full course yellow, formally retires resulting from a compromised flooring. AF Corse retires each its #21 Ferrari GTD and #88 LMP2.

Massive lead change as Nick Tandy, brings the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche to the entrance of the sector.

Hour 11: Again in motion and now 31 laps down, is the #24 BMW with pole-setting driver Dries Vanthoor behind the wheel — returning to the observe after the unlucky pit incident the hour prior with the #60 Acura. Even 31 laps down, it is nonetheless forward of the retired #63 Lamborghini GTP. 

The previous few minutes of the penultimate hour, and the #021 Triarsi Competizione is having a tough go of it. It went off at Flip 8 and has been slowly make its approach across the course to the pit, having recorded over 100-second instances in every sector. It retired shortly after.

#023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Onofrio Triarsi, Charles Scardina, Alessio Rovera

Picture by: IMSA

Remaining Hour: With an hour to go, Porsche practically guidelines all of the courses. The general lead belongs to the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche with Felipe Nasr on the wheel. Sébastien Bourdais pilots the  #8 LMP2 class-leading Tower Motorsports automotive — the one non-Porsche main its respective class. Laurin Heinrich continues to impress along with his skill to deal with a automotive, driving the #77 AO Racing Porsche (Rexy) on the entrance of the GTD Professional discipline, and the ultimate Porsche, is the #120 of Wright Motorsports, with Elliott Skeer.

#80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG (GTD) limps by means of Flip 16 with a flat tire — its shredded stays left behind within the middle of a darkish portion of the observe. Race management points a full course yellow with 46 minutes left of the race with pit cycles for prototype and GT automobiles — probably the final of the evening.

The course returns to inexperienced with simply over a half hour left of the race and instantly the #22 United Autosports USA LMP2 automotive spins in Flip 1 — simply out of harms approach, however makes an attempt to get itself out of the barrier to rejoin the sector. It proceeds with harm to rear wing, and a warning is prevented in the interim. It is a Porsche 1-2-4 within the GTP class with Porsche Penske Motorsport‘s #7 (Felipe Nasr) and #6 (Mathieu Jaminet), and #5 Proton Competitors (Neel Jani). One lonely Acura, the #93 Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian sits amongst them in third. LMP2 chief is Maithe Jakobsen within the #04 Crowdstrike automotive. Within the GTs, Laurin Heinrich once more takes the lead with #77 AO Racing Porsche for GTD Professional, and the #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus piloted by Jack Hawksworth for GTD.

Heinrich, sustaining his lead of the GTD Professional discipline breaks the IMSA GTD Professional race-lap report at Sebring, posting a 2:00.500 within the #77 automotive. With lower than 5 minutes left within the race, he then breaks his personal report he had simply set — posting a 2:00.451.

Hold a watch out for all the remainder of our race protection of the 2025 12 Hours of Sebring on Motorsport.com’s IMSA hub.