The 2021 12 Hours of Sebring (formally known as the 69th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts) was an endurance sports car race held at Sebring International Raceway near Sebring, Florida from 17 to 20 March 2021. It was the second round of both the 2021 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Michelin Endurance Cup. Mazda Motorsports entered as the defending overall winners of the 12-hour event.[1]
International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in September 2020. It was the eighth consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SCC, and 69th 12 Hours of Sebring.[2] The 12 Hours of Sebring was the second of twelve sports car endurance races of 2021 by IMSA, and the second of four races of the Michelin Endurance Cup (MEC).[3] It was held at the 17-turn, 3.741-mile (6.021 km) Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida on March 20, 2021.[4]
After being postponed to November the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the race returned to its traditional March date for 2021. Originally, the 1000 Miles of Sebring, the FIA World Endurance Championship event run in conjunction with the 12 Hours in 2019, was slated to return, but was later cancelled due to international travel restrictions still imposed by the pandemic.[5]
Supporting the race during the week were IMSA's Michelin Pilot Challenge series, Porsche Carrera Cup North America series, and Mazda MX-5 Cup series.[6]
The race would see the debut of the new for 2021 GTD qualifying format, with two sessions for the category.[7] The first session would mandate any bronze/silver driver to qualify their car and determine the starting lineup for the race. The second session would see each team allow to change tires and drivers, and championship points would be awarded.[8]
Before the race, Filipe Albuquerque, Hélio Castroneves, Alexander Rossi, and Ricky Taylor led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 376 points, ahead of Jimmie Johnson, Kamui Kobayashi, Simon Pagenaud, and Mike Rockenfeller in second with 345 points.[9] Nicky Catsburg, Antonio García, and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 382 points, 27 points ahead of Tommy Milner, Alexander Sims, and Nick Tandy.[9] With 376 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Indy Dontje, Philip Ellis, Maro Engel, and Russell Ward.[9] Acura, Chevrolet, and Mercedes-AMG were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, Corvette Racing, and Winward Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.[9] LMP2 drivers and teams as well as LMP3 drivers and teams would be scoring their first championship points of the season due to Daytona only counting towards the Michelin Endurance Cup championship.
A total of 37 cars took part in the event split across five classes. 7 cars were entered in DPi, 5 in LMP2, 7 in LMP3, 5 in GTLM, and 13 in GTD.[10] In DPi, Action Express Racing confirmed their #48 entry would contest the remaining Michelin Endurance Cup events.[11] In LMP2, High Class Racing, Racing Team Nederland, Cetilar Racing, RWR Eurasia, and DragonSpeed USA skipped the event. United Autosports made their first start in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship since 2018.[12] In LMP3, Mühlner Motorsports America were absent while WIN Autosport made their class debut.[13] Oliver Askew and Stevan McAleer joined Austin McCusker in the Forty7 Motorsports entry.[13][14] Dan Goldburg joined Mateo Llarena and Rasmus Lindh in the Performance Tech Motorsports entry.[15] In GTLM, Risi Competizione were absent.[13] Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet joined Cooper MacNeil in the WeatherTech Racing entry.[16] In GTD, AF Corse, NTE Sport, HTP Winward Motorsport, Scuderia Corsa, Team TGM, and TF Sport were absent while GRT Grasser Racing Team scaled down to one entry.[17] Stephen Simpson subbed for Misha Goikhberg in the #19 GRT Grasser Racing Team entry.[18] Michael de Quesada joined Daniel Morad and Billy Johnson in the Alegra Motorsports entry. Maro Engel joined Mikaël Grenier and Kenny Habul in the SunEnergy1 Racing entry. Trent Hindman subbed for Ryan Hardwick in the Wright Motorsports entry.[19] Team Hardpoint EBM added a second entry featuring Earl Bamber,Trenton Estep, and Rob Ferriol.[20]
There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, all three one on Thursday. The first session on Thursday morning lasted one hour. The second session on Thursday afternoon ran for 75 minutes while the final session on Thursday evening ran for 90 minutes.[21]
In the first session, Felipe Nasr's No. 31 Cadillac lapped quickest at 1:46.212, 0.407 seconds ahead of CGR's Renger van der Zande. Dane Cameron was third in MSR's No. 60 Acura. Vautier's No. 5 Cadillac, along with Ricky Taylor's WTR Acura were fourth and fifth.[22] The quickest LMP2 lap was set by Mikkel Jensen in PR1's Oreca.[22] Jeroen Bleekemolen led LMP3 in Riley Motorsports' No. 91 Ligier.[22] The quickest GTLM entry was the No. 3 Corvette of Jordan Taylor, whose 1:56.715 lap led Mathieu Jaminet's second-placed WeatherTech Porsche.[23] With a 2:00.456 lap, Bill Auberlen led the 13-car GTD class in Turner Motorsports' No. 96 BMW M6 by 0.207 seconds over Jack Hawksworth's No. 14 Lexus.[24]
In the second session, Nasr's No. 31 WER Cadillac set the fastest overall lap of 1 minute, 47.323 seconds. Duval was 0.181 seconds behind in second, with the No. 55 Mazda of Jarvis in third. Kevin Magnussen fourth in CGR's No. 01 Cadillac and Albuquerque's WTR Acura was fifth.[25][26] Jensen led in LMP2 with a 1:50.224 lap in PR1's car, 0.456 seconds ahead of Tristan Nunez in WIN Autosport's second-placed No. 11 entry.[27] The quickest LMP3 lap was set by Dylan Murry in Riley Motorsports' No. 91 Ligier, and Pigot was second in the sister No. 74 Riley Motorsport Ligier.[28] Campbell's 1:56.891 lap led the GTLM class in WeatherTech Racing's Porsche, 0.573 seconds faster than Connor De Phillippi's No. 25 BMW; Nick Tandy's No. 4 Corvette was third.[27] GTD saw Mikaël Grenier's SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG record the fastest class lap: 2:01.111, 0.208 seconds faster than Foley's No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW.[26]
Pipo Derani led the last practice session in the No. 31 WER car with a lap of 1 minute, 46.898 seconds. van der Zande's No. 01 CGR car was second-fastest. The No. 10 Acura of Ricky Taylor set the third-quickest lap. Kobayashi's No. 48 Ally Cadillac, along with Bourdais' No. 5 JDC car were fourth and fifth.[29] Jensen's No. 52 PR1 car led LMP2 with a 1:50.270 lap, faster than Boyd's No. 22 United Autosports vehicle.[30][29] Riley Motorsports occupied first and second in LMP3 with Bleekemolen faster than his teammate Pigot by 0.525 seconds.[29] In GTLM, Jaminet was fastest again in the class with a lap of 1 minute, 56.563 seconds. García was second-fastest in the No. 3 Corvette, and his teammate Sims took third in the sister No. 4 car. Vanthoor set the fastest time in GTD, followed by Aaron Telitz's No. 14 VSR Lexus.[31][29]
Qualifying was broken into four sessions. The first was for cars in GTD class. Tim Zimmermann set the fastest time driving the #19 car for GRT Grasser Racing Team.[32] However, the team were sent to the back of the GTD grid after the team's Lamborghini was found to have a wifi hotspot onboard.[33] As a result, Jan Heylen was promoted to pole position.[34] Zacharie Robichon suffered an ABS failure on his #9 Porsche and touched the tire barrier at turn 13.[35] Robichon went off at the same part of the track on his second lap and didn't set a competitive time.[34][35]
The second session was for cars in the GTLM and GTD classes. Antonio García qualified on pole in GTLM driving the #3 car for Corvette Racing, beating teammate Tommy Milner in the sister #4 Corvette Racing entry by less than 0.050 seconds.[36] Jack Hawksworth set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session and earned 35 championship points.[35]
The third session was for cars in the LMP3 class. Rasmus Lindh qualified on pole for the class driving the #38 car for Performance Tech Motorsports, beating Oliver Askew in the Forty7 Motorsports entry by less than one-tenth of a second.[35]
The final session of qualifying was for cars in the DPi and LMP2 classes. Pipo Derani took overall pole for the event driving the #31 car for Whelen Engineering Racing, besting Ricky Taylor in the WTR-Konica Minolta Acura entry.[36] Steven Thomas qualified on pole in LMP2 driving the WIN Autosport Oreca.[34] Jimmie Johnson, driving the #48 Ally Cadillac Racing entry, spun at turn 16 in the closing moments of the session and attempted to get one more lap in. However, Johnson crashed at turn 17 and the #48 Cadillac suffered extensive damage. Due to the damage from the accident, Ally Cadillac Racing would use a spare tub for the race.[37] For causing a red flag, Johnson had his best two laps from the session deleted.[38]
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
The result kept Filipe Albuquerque, Alexander Rossi, and Ricky Taylor atop the DPi Drivers' Championship with 688 points. Bourdais, Duval, and Vautier advanced from sixth to second while Johnson, Kobayashi, and Pagenaud dropped from second to fifth. Bomarito, Jarvis, and Tincknell jumped from third to second.[44] Since it was the season's first points paying race, Huffaker, Jensen, and Keating led the LMP2 Drivers' Championship with 382 points.[44] Since it was the season's first points paying race, Bennett, Braun, and Kurtz led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship with 378 points.[44] As a result of winning the race, MacNeil advanced from sixth to second in the GTLM Drivers' Championship. Milner, Sims, and Tandy dropped from second to fourth.[44] As a result of winning the race, Long, Hindman, and Heylen advanced from fourth to first in the GTD Drivers' Championship. Grenier and Habul dropped from second to fifth while Kern, Robichon, and Vanthoor advanced from eleventh to fourth.[44] Cadillac and Porsche took the lead in their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Chevrolet continued to top the GTLM Manufacturers' Championship.[44] WTR-Konica Minolta Acura and Corvette Racing continued to top their respective Teams' Championships while Wright Motorsports took the lead of the GTD Teams' Championship. PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports and CORE Autosport became the leaders of their respective class Teams' Championships with ten rounds remaining in the season.[44]
Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.