12 Hours of Sebring - H+6: Porsche dominates at the halfway point

Porsche begins the second half of the 12 Hours of Sebring with its two official cars in the first two rows, ahead of Acura and Cadillac.

Published 21/03/2026 à 21:11

Comment on this article! ⁰

12 Hours of Sebring – H+6: Porsche dominates at the halfway point

The main lesson from these first six hours of testing at Sebring is that the Porsche The 963s are proving to be particularly effective weapons on the former Florida military base! Despite an early penalty for Felipe Nasr, the Brazilian is leading at the halfway point in the No. 7 Penske Porsche, ahead of its sister car, the No. 6 driven by Kévin Estre. The French driver set the pace from the start, overtaking Renger van der Zande's No. 93 Acura in the opening laps for second place, behind Jack Aitken's No. 31 Cadillac, which had secured pole position.

An hour and a half after the start, Estre was leading, but PPM's main weakness might lie in its strategy and pit stops. The three Cadillacs had indeed taken the top three positions after two hours of racing, under the Safety Car. However, they were unable to reach the restart in that order, as the No. 31 was hit by the No. 6 Porsche. Strategy and the various safety car periods allowed the No. 7 to subsequently take the lead, and the car driven by Felipe Nasr, Laurin Heinrich, and Julien Andlauer, winners of the 24 Hours of Daytona in January, continues to lead the field.

Third with the No. 93 Acura, Renger van der Zande appeared quite dejected speaking to reporters.IMSA Radio commentary explained that the Porsches have such a significant advantage that they can currently afford to drive "calmly." However, the arrival of nightfall in the second half of the race, and the use of fresh tires for everyone at the end, could change everything. Only the #25 BMW is currently absent from the GTP class, following contact with the... Classic Ferrari for sale No. 70, spun out after 4 hours and 20 minutes of racing.

The GT categories have seen the biggest incidents of the race so far, with a crash after three hours of racing eliminating the No. 61 Ferrari and the Mercedes Benz No. 57. It is now Nick Tandy who leads the way with the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche, this time in the pink colors of "Roxy", the green Porsche named "Rexy" having suffered serious damage to... its teeth, which adorn the front bumper!

In LMP2, Dane Cameron and Charles Milesi are battling for the lead thanks to pit stops, Cameron in "Spike the Dragon" for AO Racing and Milesi in the #11 TDS Racing car. Charlie Eastwood leads for Corvette in GTD.