Porsche completed a historic sweep at two of North America’s most prestigious road circuits Saturday by winning the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh Florida.
Led by sound pit strategy and an impressive final stint by factory driver Joerg Bergmeister, the No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR crossed the line 5.296 seconds ahead of No. 93 SRT Motorsports driver Jonathan Bomarito in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class to remain undefeated in its debut factory season, run in conjunction with CORE autosport.
Patrick Long and Michael Christensen joined Bergmeister in the victory. Wins in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona with the team’s No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR and Sebring give Porsche North America victories in two of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship’s premier events and the first two races in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.
“We were really fast all day, but we knew if we got in a different strategy the other guys would have to make their last pits and we could use that to our advantage,” Long said. “We got the final yellow which let us separate from the pack and then we could just play smart.”
The GTLM race heated up in the final hour. Jonathan Bomarito’s SRT Viper GTS-R held a two-second lead over Bergmeister and Oliver Gavin in the No. 4 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R when Gavin suddenly spun with 55 minutes remaining.
At the same time the No. 31 Corvette DP of Eric Curran stopped on the track with no power. Anticipating a full-course caution, the No. 912 team called Long onto pit road for the final pit stop and driver change of the event. The yellow flag flew shortly after and when pit stops cycled through, Long’s co-driver Bergmeister found himself in the lead.
“The stint was very exciting,” Bergmeister said. “The team made a very smart move, we came in very early and as soon as the yellow came out I had a nice cushion of cars between me and the Viper. I tried to relax and told myself just don’t mess it up. ”
The late-race spin was followed by fuel pick-up issues for Gavin who wound up finishing sixth alongside co-drivers Tommy Milner and Robin Liddell. That sixth-place result and the win by the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR led to a tie in the Patrón Endurance Cup points at Sebring, giving the No. 912 team the Round 2 win.
Bomarito and his No. 93 SRT Viper GTS-R co-drivers Kuno Wittmer and Robert Bell settled for second while the No. 55 BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 GTE of Bill Auberlen, Andy Priaulx and Joey rounded out the podium. Krohn Racing was the last car on the GTLM lead lap, with Tracy Krohn, Nic Jonsson and Andrea Bertolini finishing fourth in the No. 57 Ferrari F458 Italia.
In its first event of the season the No. 17 Porsche 911 RSR of Team Falken Tire finished fifth driven by Wolf Henzler, Bryan Sellers and Marco Holzer.
