Bourdais, Duval and Vautier winners of the 12 Hours of Sebring

Their No. 5 Cadillac DPi-VR appeared, throughout the week, behind. And just a few minutes after leaving, Loïc duval was hit by a sinking Jimmie Johnson. For a long time one lap from the lead, the French trio of JDC-Miller Motorsports did not seem able to play for victory during this 69th edition. But that was without counting on the tenacity of his tricolors.

Burn it down @JDCMotorSports burn it down. #IMSA / @sebringraceway / @Cadillac pic.twitter.com/jLsLqASTuL

— IMSA (@IMSA) March 21, 2021

Loïc Duval, Tristan Vautier and Sébastien Bourdais we managed to get back into the leaders' lap by the strength of our wrists at the end of the tenth hour. The Sarthois even inherited the reins of the event with just over an hour to go following the collision between Scott Dixon (Cadillac DPi-VR n°01) and a BMW M8 GTE.

After notably resisting Harry Tincknell (Mazda RT24-P n°55) at the restart of the eighth and final restart, Seb Bourdais went to offer his employer his second victory in IMSA (the first since July 2018), passing under the checkerboard with a margin of 1”4 over his British rival.

© Courtesy of IMSA

« After the last restart, I lost an element at the back, he whispered upon arrival at NBCSN. I thought I was going to crash in the last corner, and I don't even know how I managed to drive it. »

The Sarthois and his acolytes achieved a historic success, the second for an entirely French crew in the event after the one won just ten years ago by the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP from the Oreca team with Olivier Panis, Nicolas lapierre and… Loïc Duval. This is the latter's second victory at the Florida airport, just like for Sébastien Bourdais, winner in 2015 with Action Express Racing. For Tristan Vautier, on the other hand, it is a first.

Less luck for Olivier Pla. Very lively at the wheel of the No. 05 Acura ARX-60 from Meyer Shank Racing, the Toulouse driver paid dearly for a final messy handover. The crew he formed with Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron finally finished 4th, just behind the No. 48 Cadillac DPi-VR fielded by Action Express Racing for simon pagenaud, Kamui Kobayashi and Jimmie Johnson.

Cocorico also in GTLM, with the victory of Mathieu Jaminet on the Porsche 911 RSR-19 from WeatherTech Racing on which he is registered with Matt Campbell and Cooper MacNeil. If the latter is a gentleman driver, the mastery of Proton Competition and its teammates made the difference... but also the misadventures of Corvette Racing and BMW Team RLL, far from being the authors of perfect performances, even if we we find the two C8.Rs on the category podium.

© Courtesy of IMSA

In LM P2, LM P3 and GTD, victory respectively went to the #07 Oreca 52 of PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports (Mikkel Jensen-Ben Keating-Scott Huffaker), to the Ligier JS P320 of Core Autosport (J. Bennett- G. Kurtz-C. Braun) and the No. 911 Porsche 3 GT9 R of Pfaff Motorsports (Z. Robichon-L. Vanthoor-L. Kern).