12 Hours of Sebring

12 Hours of Sebring

The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race held at Sebring International Raceway, a former Army 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 Mario Andretti, Briggs Cunningham, Juan Manuel Fangio, A.J. Foyt, Jacky Ickx, Stirling Moss and Lake Underwood, and manufacturers such as Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Jaguar, Cunningham, Audi and Ford have all been victorious.

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-central 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 Audi R8, one less than record seven wins of the Porsche 935.

The Event

Fans are allowed to camp inside the green of the race track, starting several days before the actual race. Both general admission and, for a fee, reserved camping exists. RVs and cars are allowed into the track. Fans that show up during the week (and in some cases months before the actual race) can bear witness to many practice and qualification races, as well as a vintage race. There are several classes of tickets, ranging anywhere from full-access to simply the (usually Saturday) actual race. The tickets are numbered, and there are designated numbered tickets needed to access pit areas, press and spectator boxes, and certain parts of the track.

Within the track is a Midway, containing everything from souvenirs and official merchandise, to hot coffee and cold beer. Attractions are also featured in the midway and differ from year to year; In recent years Spring Break attractions have been set up to draw in college students on break during the week of the race. Radio promotions for the race are not uncommon to hear in Florida weeks before the race, advertising to both race fans and spring breakers.

Recent results

In 2005, the Chevrolet Corvette C6.R and Aston Martin DBR9 made their race debut in the hotly contested GT1 class, with Aston Martin winning its class 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 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.

2007 saw Audi again winning in the R10 TDI despite requiring more frequent refueling due to changes in American Le Mans series rules intended to even the field between gasoline and diesel powered engines. In addition to an overall win, Audi also set a track record in 2007 with Marco Werner behind the wheel in qualifying.

Overall Winners

† - These races were stopped for a period of time due to heavy rain and/or accidents. The race clock was not stopped for these periods and counted towards the 12 Hours.

‡ - Race record for most distance covered

References

External links

* [http://www.sebringraceway.com/ Official Homepage]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • 2008 12 Hours of Sebring — The 2008 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida was the 56th running of this event and the opening round of the 2008 American Le Mans Series season. It took place at Sebring International Raceway, Florida on March 15, 2008.… …   Wikipedia

  • 2000 12 Hours of Sebring — The 2000 Exxon Superflo 12 Hours of Sebring was the 48th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring as well as the opening round of the 2000 American Le Mans Series season. It took place at Sebring International Raceway, Florida, on March 18, 2000.Race… …   Wikipedia

  • 1999 12 Hours of Sebring — The 1999 Exxon Superflo 12 Hours of Sebring was the 47th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring. It also served as the first event in the new American Le Mans Series, which had replaced the IMSA GT Championship as the International Motor Sports… …   Wikipedia

  • 2006 12 Hours of Sebring — The 2006 12 Hours of Sebring was the 54th running of this event, and took place on March 18, 2006. The race was sponsored by Mobil 1 and was the opening race of the 2006 American Le Mans Series season run by IMSA.This race marked the first time… …   Wikipedia

  • 2002 12 Hours of Sebring — The 2002 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring was the 50th running of this event, and the opening round of the 2002 American Le Mans Series season. It took place at Sebring International Raceway, Florida, on March 16, 2002.Official ResultsClass winners in …   Wikipedia

  • 2003 12 Hours of Sebring — The 2003 12 Hours of Sebring was the 51st running of this event, and took place on March 15, 2003. This was also the opening race of the 2003 American Le Mans Series season.Official ResultsClass winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of… …   Wikipedia

  • 2001 12 Hours of Sebring — The 2001 Exxon Superflo 12 Hours of Sebring was the 49th running of this event. It was both the second round of the 2001 American Le Mans Series season and the opening round of the new European Le Mans Series. It took place at Sebring… …   Wikipedia

  • 2005 12 Hours of Sebring — The 2005 12 Hours of Sebring was the 53rd running of this event, and took place on March 19, 2005. The race was sponsored by Mobil 1 and was the opening race of the 2005 American Le Mans Series season run by IMSA.Official ResultsClass winners in… …   Wikipedia

  • 2004 12 Hours of Sebring — The 2004 12 Hours of Sebring was the 52nd running of this event, and took place on March 20, 2004. This was also the opening race of the 2004 American Le Mans Series season.Official ResultsClass winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of… …   Wikipedia

  • 2007 12 Hours of Sebring — The 2007 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring was the 55th running of this event and the opening round of the 2007 American Le Mans Series season. It took place on March 17, 2007.Official resultsClass winners are in bold. Cars failing to complete 75% of… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”