The 2020 12 Hours of Sebring (formally known as the 68th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts) was an endurance sports car race held at Sebring International Raceway near Sebring, Florida from 11–14 November 2020, after being postponed from its original date on 14–15 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The race was the final round of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as well as the final round of the Michelin Endurance Cup. Action Express Racing entered as the defending overall winners of the 12-hour event.

Background

The 2020 12 Hours of Sebring event was supposed to run in conjunction with the 2020 1000 Miles of Sebring, held on the Friday before the 12 Hours of Sebring. The two events usually are run in conjunction with each other as an agreement between the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), the governing body of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the FIA, to be a joint weekend, known colloquially as “Super Sebring.” The first joint weekend between the two events was run a year prior in 2019, to massive success, providing some of the largest attendance figures ever recorded in the history of the 12 Hours of Sebring. Initially announced on a one-year deal, the success of the 2019 Super Sebring would lead to confirmation that the 1000 Miles of Sebring and 12 Hours of Sebring would run together again for the following year, however due to travel restrictions brought about by COVID-19 the 1000 Miles of Sebring would not return until 2022.

Then International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2019. It was the seventh consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SCC, and the 68th 12 Hours of Sebring. The event was originally scheduled to be held at the 17-turn, 3.741-mile (6.021 km) Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida on March 15, 2020, however due to travel restrictions brought about by COVID-19, the race was postponed to November 14, 2020. As a result, the 12 Hours of Sebring became the eleventh and final round of the 2020 season and the fourth event of the Michelin Endurance Cup (MEC). Additionally, the event clashed with the FIA World Endurance Championship round at Bahrain and the GT World Challenge Europe round at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Before the race, Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 242 points, ahead of Ryan Briscoe and Renger van der Zande with 240 points, and Pipo Derani with 233 points. With 161 points, Patrick Kelly led the LMP2 Drivers' Championship, ahead of Simon Trummer with 126 points. Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 325 points, ahead of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner with 290 points. In GTD, Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry led the Drivers' Championship, 7 points ahead of Ryan Hardwick and Patrick Long in second, and Aaron Telitz in third with 248 points. Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Acura were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Acura Team Penske, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries A total of 31 cars took part in the event split across four classes. 8 cars were entered in DPi, 4 in LMP2, 6 in GTLM, and 13 in GTD. In DPi, Gabby Chaves subbed for Filipe Albuquerque in the Whelen Engineering Racing entry due to a clash with the FIA World Endurance Championship round at Bahrain. Scott Andrews joined Stephen Simpson and Matheus Leist in the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports entry. In LMP2, Tower Motorsport By Starworks, Performance Tech Motorsports, and Inter Europol Competition returned after skipping the previous event at Laguna Seca. Guy Cosmo and Patrick Byrne joined Don Yount in the Performance Tech Motorsports entry. In GTLM, Neel Jani subbed for Mathieu Jaminet in the #912 Porsche GT Team entry due to a clash with the GT World Challenge Europe round at Circuit Paul Ricard. Earl Bamber subbed for Matt Campbell in the #911 Porsche GT Team entry due to a clash with the GT World Challenge Europe round at Circuit Paul Ricard. In GTD, Marc Miller subbed for Ben Keating in the Riley Motorsports entry due to a clash with the FIA World Endurance Championship round at Bahrain. Joey Hand subbed for Álvaro Parente in the #57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian. Nick Yelloly subbed for Bill Auberlen in the Turner Motorsport entry due to quarantine. GRT Grasser Racing Team made their first appearance since the TireRack.com Grand Prix at Road Atlanta. Pierre Kaffer joined Andrew Davis and Robert Ferriol in the Team Hardpoint entry.

Practice There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, all three were on Thursday. The first session held Thursday morning lasted one hour. The second session held Thursday afternoon lasted 75 minutes. The final session held Thursday evening lasted 90 minutes.

Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 10:05 am ET on Thursday and ended with Hélio Castroneves topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:49.360. Simon Trummer was fastest in LMP2 with a time of 1:52.040. Frédéric Makowiecki set the fastest time in GTLM with a time of 1:58.717. The GTD class was topped by the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth with a lap time of 2:02.961. ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi7Acura Team PenskeHélio Castroneves1:49.360_2DPi5JDC-Mustang Sampling RacingSébastien Bourdais1:49.395 +0.0353DPi85JDC-Miller MotorSportsMatheus Leist1:49.828 +0.468Sources:

Practice 2 The second practice session took place at 2:35 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Renger van der Zande topping the charts for Konica Minolta Cadillac, with a lap time of 1:47.478. Mikkel Jensen set the fastest time in LMP2. The GTLM class was topped by the #912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Laurens Vanthoor with a time of 1:57.975. Frédéric Makowiecki was second in the #911 Porsche GT Team car and Jordan Taylor rounded out the top 3. The GTD class was topped by the #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Steijn Schothorst with a time of 2:02.352. ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi10Konica Minolta CadillacRenger van der Zande1:47.478_2DPi5JDC-Mustang Sampling RacingSébastien Bourdais1:47.645 +0.1673DPi31Whelen Engineering RacingPipo Derani1:48.241 +0.763Sources:

Practice 3 The third and final practice session took place at 6:15 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:48.358. Mikkel Jensen was fastest in LMP2 with a time of 1:50.127. The GTLM class was topped by the #911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Nick Tandy with a time of 1:58.170. Laurens Vanthoor was second in the #912 Porsche GT Team car and Connor De Phillippi rounded out the top 3. The GTD class was topped by the #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Franck Perera with a time of 2:02.510. ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi7Acura Team PenskeRicky Taylor1:48.358_2DPi31Whelen Engineering RacingPipo Derani1:48.535 +0.1773DPi77Mazda MotorsportsOliver Pla1:48.617 +0.259Sources:

Qualifying Friday's morning qualifying was broken into three sessions, with one session for the DPi and LMP2, GTLM, and GTD classes, which lasted for 15 minutes each, and a ten minute interval between the sessions. The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars, with the Pro-Am (LMP2/GTD) classes requiring a Bronze/Silver Rated Driver to qualify the car. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid to put DPis ahead of the LMP2, GTLM, and GTD cars.

The first was for cars in GTD class. Jan Heylen qualified on pole for the class driving the #16 car for Wright Motorsports.

The second session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Antonio García qualified on pole driving the #3 car for Corvette Racing, beating Connor De Phillippi in the #25 BMW Team RLL entry by over six tenths of a second.

The final session of qualifying was for the DPi class. Ricky Taylor qualified on pole driving the #7 car for Acura Team Penske, beating Renger van der Zande in the #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R car by over two tenths of a second. Patrick Kelly set the fastest time in LMP2 driving the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1 DPi7 Acura Team Penske Ricky Taylor 1:46.874 _ 12DPi10 Konica Minolta Cadillac Renger van der Zande1:47.125 +0.25123DPi6 Acura Team Penske Dane Cameron1:47.140 +0.26634DPi5 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Sébastien Bourdais1:47.209 +0.33545DPi55 Mazda Motorsports Harry Tincknell1:47.245 +0.37156DPi31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani1:47.327 +0.45367DPi77 Mazda Motorsports Oliver Jarvis1:47.474 +0.60078DPi85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Matheus Leist1:47.696 +0.82289 LMP2 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Patrick Kelly 1:51.373 +4.499910LMP251 Inter Europol Competition Naveen Rao1:53.147 +6.2731011LMP238 Performance Tech Motorsports Don Yount1:54.045 +7.1711112LMP28 Tower Motorsports by Starworks John Farano1:54.194 +7.3201213 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García 1:55.456 +8.582 1314GTLM25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi1:56.116 +9.2421415GTLM24 BMW Team RLL Jesse Krohn1:56.316 +9.4421516GTLM4 Corvette Racing Tommy Milner1:56.446 +9.5721617GTLM911 Porsche GT Team Nick Tandy1:56.840 +9.9661718GTLM912 Porsche GT Team Neel Jani1:57.774 +10.9001819 GTD 16 Wright Motorsports Jan Heylen 2:00.844 +13.9701920GTD30 Team Hardpoint Andrew Davis2:01.546 +14.6722021GTD14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Aaron Telitz2:01.605 +14.7312122GTD11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Richard Heistand2:01.652 +14.7782223GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Cooper MacNeil2:01.802 +14.9282324GTD12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Frankie Montecalvo2:01.839 +14.9652425GTD96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley2:02.210 +15.3362526GTD86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Shinya Michimi2:02.286 +15.4122627GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow2:02.435 +15.5612728GTD74 Riley Motorsports Gar Robinson2:02.689 +15.8152829GTD23 Heart of Racing Team Ian James2:02.705 +15.8312930GTD57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian Misha Goikhberg2:03.153 +16.2793031GTD44 GRT Magnus John Potter2:04.363 +17.48931Source:

The No. 8 Tower Motorsport by Starworks entry was moved to the back of the LMP2 field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires). The No. 911 Porsche GT Team entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires). The No. 912 Porsche GT Team entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).

Race

Start and early hours

Afternoon

Sunset to finish

Post-race