Factory drivers Patrick Long (USA), Michael Christensen (Denmark) and Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) have won the 62nd Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring GT Le Mans (GTLM) class in the No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR.
The victory gives the new Porsche works program wins in both of North America’s premier two sports car racing events; the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January and today’s 12 Hours of Sebring. The No. 912 held off a field of factory efforts from the class pole position. However, the race came down to a final 20-minute sprint after a late race caution flag packed the field for a last push to the checkered flag in the second event of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship season. Bergmeister, behind the wheel for the final stint, out-distanced the field to give new Porsche’s 911 RSR victories at the three legendary racetracks of Sebring International Raceway, Daytona International Speedway and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The victory is Bergmeister’s fourth at Sebring and Long’s second. It was a first for Christensen who also scored his first career pole position as a Porsche factory driver this weekend.
The story for the No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR was set early in the race. The car raced by Richard Lietz (Austria), Nick Tandy (Great Britain) and Patrick Pilet (France) was involved in a second-hour incident that damaged the nose of the Rolex 24 At Daytona-winning entry. Repairs dropped the car six laps back at the time and to last in the GTLM class. Once back on track the team fought to the close of the 12 hours finishing ninth, four laps behind their race-winning teammates.
Team Falken Tire debuted the first customer Porsche 911 RSR competing in the world with a strong performance. Factory drivers Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Marco Holzer (Germany), joined with Bryan Sellers (USA), ran to fifth in class from their starting position of ninth.
In the GTD class, the Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America outdistanced a strong field of competitors – overcoming a hard hit early in the race – to score the class win courtesy of drivers John Potter (USA), Andy Lally (USA), and Marco Seefried (Germany).
This was the first win for the new Porsche 911 GT America, the race car created for the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
The Alex Job Racing Porsche with Porsche Junior Alex Riberas (Spain) as a driver contended for the win right to the end. He finished third.
