In a highly competitive 2021 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Cadillac had the top result in another IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship endurance race Saturday at Sebring International Raceway.
The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais, Tristan Vautier and Loic Duval claimed JDC Miller MotorSports’ first victory in the 69th edition of the sports car endurance classic and the No. 5’s first win since Long Beach in 2019. Bourdais hung on for the victory despite a damaged rear wing in the closing laps.
It was the third Sebring victory for Cadillac, which has won three of the past five.
Bidding for a second consecutive Sebring victory, the No. 55 Mazda of Harry Tincknell, Oliver Jarvis and Jonathan Bomarito finished second.
Though Kamui Kobayashi finished third unofficially in the No. 48 Cadillac, the car he shares with Jimmie Johnson and Simon Pagenaud was relegated to finish last in DPi in the official rundown. IMSA ruled that the team broke the drive time regulations by keeping Pagenaud behind the wheel for 50 seconds too long.
That moved the No. 60 Acura of Meyer Shank Racing with Dane Cameron, Olivier Pla and Juan Pablo Montoya into the third and final podium spot.
All seven DPi entries took turns leading during the 349-lap race. The No. 5 Cadillac was the last to reach the front on Lap 319 and led 28 of the final 31 laps.
RESULTS: Click here for the final overall finishing order and here for the class breakdown.
POINTS: Click here for 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship standings through two races
In LMP2: The No. 52 of PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports of Mikkel Jensen, Scott Huffaker and Ben Keating scored its fourth Sebring victory and second consecutive for the second time.
In LMP3: The No. 54 of Core Autosport delivered its first victory of the season in the new LMP3 class with Colin Braun, Jon Bennett and George Kurtz. Braun and Bennett each became three-time Twelve Hours of Sebring winners.
In GTLM: WeatherTech Racing, a privateer team competing in a factory-driven class, scored its first victory in GTLM with Cooper MacNeil, Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell behind the wheel of the No. 79 Porsche 911 RSR 19. The car led only the final six laps, taking advantage of a crash between the No. 3 Corvette and No. 25 BMW while racing for the lead.
It’s the fourth consecutive GTLM victory for Porsche.
In GTD: The Pfaff Motorsports Porsche scored its first Twelve Hours of Sebring victory and its third win in GTD. Laurens Vanthoor, a 2019 GTLM champion with Porsche, took the checkered flag with Zacharie Robichon and Lars Kern. All three were first-time Sebring winners.
STATS PACKAGE FOR MOBIL 1 TWELVE HOURS OF SEBRING:
Fastest laps by driver after race (over the weekend)
Fastest laps by driver and class after race
Race distance and speed average
NEXT: The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will resume with the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio, May 14-16.