Louis Delétraz offers the 12 Hours of Sebring to Acura

The 12 Hours of Sebring once again offered a scenario like onlyIMSA knows how to provide it with total uncertainty until the last minutes. Neutralized by a Full Course Yellow, the race was restarted one hour from the end with Sébastien Bourdais (Cadillac n°01) in first position ahead of Felipe Nasr (Porsche n°7) and Louis Delétraz (Acura n°40).

Final duel between Bourdais and Delétraz

While the Frenchman was digging into the lead of the race, the Swiss took the advantage over the Brazilian for second place. As he was closing in on the leader, the race was interrupted for the umpteenth time by a Full Course Yellow to evacuate the No. 55 Proton Competition Ford Mustang immobilized at the side of the track.

The wild animals were released 40 minutes from time... only to be neutralized again five minutes later due to debris on the track, while Delétraz was stuck in Bourdais' exhausts.

The green light was given to the drivers with just under 25 minutes remaining on the clock. Julien Andlauer (Proton Competition n°5) overtook Nasr for third place and tried his luck on Delétraz, but the Frenchman was forced to go onto the grass to avoid the collision and fell back to 4th place.

At the start of the last quarter of an hour, Delétraz appeared pressing in the Cadillac's mirrors, half a second behind Bourdais. The two men put on a superb battle in traffic and the Swiss managed to find the opening five minutes from time to offer victory to the No. 40 Acura. Bourdais had to settle for second place. Felipe Nasr crossed the line in third position at the wheel of the #7 Porsche.

RACE-WINNING MOVES!

Louis Delétraz passed Bourdais with under six minutes to go to take victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring!@IMSA | @WTRAndretti pic.twitter.com/vTwNq6P0T5

- NBC Sports (@NBCSports) March 17, 2024

Behind the Brazilian, Connor de Phillippi placed the first BMW at the foot of the podium, ahead of the second Acura of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport. The second BMW finished 6th, ahead of the Lamborghini SC63 in which Romain Grosjean was committed, and who achieved his goal of completing this 12-hour event without problem. In contention for the podium, Andlauer finally took the checkerboard in 8th position after going off the track in the final moments.

This 72nd edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring was marked by the spectacular accident of Pipo Derani. The Brazilian, at the wheel of a No. 31 Cadillac which had dominated from the start, was taking off at the head of the race when he found himself involved in a collision with the Ferrari 296 GT3 n°21 of AF Corse driven by Miguel Molina at around 4:30 from the end. The leader lost control of his prototype which ended up on its roof after hitting the tire wall. More fear than harm for Derani who escaped unscathed.

Pipo Derani UPSIDE DOWN!

The race leader in the 12 Hours of Sebring got into the tire barrier and flipped. He walked away under his own power.

📺: USA Network and Peacock pic.twitter.com/1y768uJvEr

- NBC Sports (@NBCSports) March 16, 2024

A racing event which completely relaunched the debates. Filipe Albuquerque's Acura n°10, Brendon Hartley and Ricky Taylor took the lead for a time, but a mechanical problem set the trio back considerably. The No. 6 Porsche of Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet and Frédéric Makowiecki also took the lead, but tumbled after a spin and a puncture.

If Louis Delétraz was able to finish for the No. 40 Acura of Wayne Taylor with Andretti Autosport, it was also thanks to a flamboyant Colton Herta a little earlier in the race. The American pushed like hell to move up the GTP peloton and take the lead with two hours to go, putting his crew in a good position for the final sprint. Jordan Taylor, then Déletraz, took over brilliantly.

LM P2 / GT: chaotic battles at Sebring

The other categories also offered great battles until the end. Era Motorsport won in LM P2 with its trio formed by Connor Zilisch, Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel, ahead of TDS Racing (Mikkel Jensen, Steven Thomas, Hunter McElrea) and the United Autosports n°22 (Paul di Resta, Dan Goldburg, Bijoy Garg).

Jack Hawksworth (Lexus no. 14 Vasser Sullivan), Daniel Serra (Ferrari no. 62 Risi Competizione) and Daniel Juncadella (Corvette no. 3) competed at loggerheads until the end, so much so that the Spaniard did not didn't see the checkered flag, the Z06 GT3.R from the Detroit (Michigan) firm crashing into the wall in the final minutes. After a complicated 24 Hours of Daytona, Lexus found a smile again by winning at the old Florida airfield. Iron Lynx completed the podium with Mirko Bortolotti, Jordan Pepper and Frenchman Franck Perera.

It was also close in GTD with a final duel between the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari driven at the end of the race by Antonio Fuoco and the Mercedes #57 of Winward Racing driven by Philip Ellis. It was ultimately the latter who took the checkered flag first, even though this car had lost the benefit of its pole position due to the presence of prohibited sensors on the car during qualifying.

Next meeting for IMSA, April 19 and 20 in Long Beach. This weekend will be reserved for GTP and GTD and will be the first Sprint round of the season.

Classification for the 12 Hours of Sebring: