Cadillac takes glory at Sebring 12 Hours

The once-round-the-clock classic is considered one of the three ‘majors’ of endurance sports car racing beside the Daytona and Le Mans 24 Hours, and this victory adds weight to the already illustrious long-distance records of Bourdais and Duval. But it was close. Their JDC-Miller Motorsport Cadillac prevailed by just 1.435 seconds over last season’s Sebring winner, the Multimatic-run Mazda DPi of Brits Harry Tincknell and Oliver Jarvis, plus American Jonathan Bomarito, who just missed out on delivering the Japanese manufacturer a second successive victory in its final season racing in the US IMSA series.

How Sebring stacks up

Sebring might be half the length of its big brothers at Daytona and Le Mans, but it’s a race that’s arguably tougher, certainly on machinery if not on the drivers.

“It’s as tough as anywhere on the car,” says Jarvis, who wasn’t in the winning Mazda last season but previously won the 12 Hours with Audi back in 2013. “Being 12 hours, for a driver, it’s more mentally draining to get up at 4am and switch on for a 24-hour race. Purely because of the duration for a driver I’d probably say a 24 hours is harder. Even Daytona, which isn’t that physical. Having said that, after 12 hours at Sebring I’m as bruised and battered as I am anywhere.”

“I agree, on the car it’s one of the hardest,” says Tincknell, who led Mazda’s winning crew in the Covid-19-delayed 12 Hours last year. “And I certainly feel like a 70-year-old man the morning after. It’s pretty brutal. Even though it’s half the distance of Le Mans and Daytona it’s similar in what it asks of you. One of the big things around there is the darkness because there’s no external lighting, whereas at Le Mans there are floodlights. When it’s dark at Sebring, it’s really dark. And the infield is tight and twisty, so catch the traffic in the wrong point and you might have to take risks. It’s demanding.”

Heartbreak for Ganassi

Their aches and pains will be a little harder to bear this week after coming so close to delivering Mazda another victory. Instead, the JDC-Miller crew took the glory from a race in which at one point they fell two laps off the lead. But anchored by the vast experience of Bourdais and Duval, the Cadillac plugged away, rose up the order and was perfectly placed to inherit the lead when the dominant force of the race was tripped over with 71 minutes left on the clock.

Chip Ganassi Racing has returned to IMSA this year as if it’s never been away, as IndyCar legend Scott Dixon, former Haas F1 ace Kevin Magnussen and Dutchman Renger van der Zande looked on course to claim a famous victory. But with just 71 minutes on the clock, Dixon was heading for a stop when he was clipped by the GTLM BMW M8 of Connor De Phillippi – and with that victory slipped through his grasp. Two laps were lost in the pits, before the Ganassi Caddy returned to finish a disappointed sixth.

Bourdais shows his class

But there was more to JDC-Miller’s victory than a lucky inheritance. Bourdais still had his work cut out to keep his lead, even if he reported a better turn of pace in the cooler temperatures under darkness. The four-time Champ Car title winner and ex-Toro Rosso F1 driver had to grapple with challenging handling when his Caddy lost its top rear wing element with 15 minutes left, and the Mazda closed in. But all that experience counts in such moments and Bourdais kept his cool to bring his car home for his second win at Sebring, to add to his two victories at Daytona. A class winner at Le Mans, all he needs now is an overall win on home soil to complete a perfect set.

Tincknell was proud of his crew’s performance, despite missing out on the consecutive win. “We had no radio for the final two stints, which left me with some tough decisions alone,” he said. “But we got through it and although we didn’t have the fastest car on this occasion, we sure made the most of it!”

He also did enough to fend off ex-Sauber F1 racer Kamui Kobayashi, who was looming large in third place driving the Cadillac he shared with NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson and Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud.

Porsche wins GTLM

There was another surprise winner in the GTLM class as the WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Cooper MacNeil, Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell claimed the honours after the leading Corvettes and BMWs hit trouble. The victory marks Porsche’s third class win in a row at Sebring. This one was delivered not by a works team following the factory’s withdrawal from IMSA (for now), but via an independent customer squad insteas. That’s always good to see, and always still possible in endurance racing. Long may it continue.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.