A Penske-perfect run earns Nick Tandy his endurance crown at Sebring: Final report

It's a good night to be a Porsche driver, especially Nick Tandy. Porsche Penske Motorsport's 1-2 finish overall at the 12 Hours of Sebring also earned Tandy, now known as "Mr. 24," the Triple Crown of endurance — having completed a collection of victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours at Daytona (winning in January), and today, the 12 Hours of Sebring. Tandy's the 10th individual to ever complete the Triple Crown of endurance racing — joining the ranks of greats like Hurley Haywood, Hans Herrmann, and A.J. Foyt.

But it's not just a big celebration for Tandy's feat, or the 1-2 win at Porsche. The #7 Porsche Penske car had just completed a flawless back-to-back win of Daytona and Sebring.

"You rarely see... something... do a single event without any faults or mistakes or anything like this," Tandy told media in the post-race press conference. "We've just been celebrating with 24 people that have just flawlessly run a car for 36 hours — obviously Daytona and Sebring combined — and it's just a testament to what Porsche and Porsche Penske has put together as a group of people. They allow us to go racing and have the success without a mistake. Because the easiest thing in the world to do in racing is make a mistake, whether you're in there driving, or whether you've been making a strategy call or anything."

Start action GTD

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Earning another win for Porsche was Laurin Heinrich and the #77 AO Racing Porsche (Rexy), (who will likely gain another gold tooth for this one) for the GTD Pro class. The 23-year-old German driver also managed to break an IMSA GTD Pro race-lap record at Sebring, and immediately broke it again within the final minutes of the race, posting a lap time of 2:00.451.

Rexy's win puts the #77 second in the points for the category, second to the #65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang, who won the category at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

In the LMP2 category, while the #8 Turner Motorsport attempted to maintain the lead for the final hour, the #43 Inter Europol Competition was able to slide past for the category win.

And finally — a nail-biting race for the first part of the last green section of the race for the GTD category as the #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus (Jack Hawksworth) and #57 Team Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG (Philip Ellis) put up an impressive fight. A too-close for comfort pass, in the midst of impatient traffic from the GTP class, allowed the #57 to steal the lead from the #12 Lexus, ultimately claiming the overall win.

#57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje

Photo by: IMSA

Before we close the book on this 12 hours of racing, a look at what happened in the final third of the race:

Hour 9: The GTD class-leader, #21 AF Corse, kicks things off with a driver change — Lilou Wadoux replacing Alessandro Pier Guidi — and an issue that stopped the Ferrari at the side of Turn 6. The race remained green briefly until crews are released to retrieve the stopped #21.

The sun, on its way to sunset, has now become a glaring problem for drivers going into Turn 7. In other "7"-related news, there are only seven cars currently on the lead lap.

During the full course yellow, just before the end of the hour, an incident during the hybrid class pit cycle between the #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian and #24 BWM M Team RLL results in minor chaos in the pits. The #60 was released unsafely when it made contact with the #24. Unable to move, the Acura remained in place until pitting was completed. It is eventually wheeled back to its pit box to fix the significant damage that was preventing it from moving. The #24 suffers damage and is pulled behind the wall for repairs. The #60 is issued a drive through penalty for the unsafe release.

#48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO: Max Hesse, Dan Harper, Jesse Krohn

Photo by: IMSA

Hour 10: Five minutes at the start of the 10th hour, racing returns to green, briefly, until the #88 AF Corse LMP2 made contact with the wall in Turn 17. It appears to have just missed the turn or a potential issue with the car sent it straight. But the contact causes significant damage. A "short yellow" is issued, meaning there will be no pit cycles during this caution. Driver Matias Perez Companc is reported to be ok and out of the car.

The #63 Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse GTP, having gone behind the wall during the full course yellow, officially retires due to a compromised floor. AF Corse retires both its #21 Ferrari GTD and #88 LMP2.

Big lead change as Nick Tandy, brings the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche to the front of the field.

Hour 11: Back in action and now 31 laps down, is the #24 BMW with pole-setting driver Dries Vanthoor behind the wheel — returning to the track after the unfortunate pit incident the hour prior with the #60 Acura. Even 31 laps down, it's still ahead of the retired #63 Lamborghini GTP.

The last few minutes of the penultimate hour, and the #021 Triarsi Competizione is having a rough go of it. It went off at Turn 8 and has been slowly make its way around the course to the pit, having recorded over 100-second times in each sector. It retired shortly after.

#023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Onofrio Triarsi, Charles Scardina, Alessio Rovera

Photo by: IMSA

Final Hour: With an hour to go, Porsche nearly rules all the classes. The overall lead belongs to the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche with Felipe Nasr at the wheel. Sébastien Bourdais pilots the #8 LMP2 class-leading Tower Motorsports car -- the only non-Porsche leading its respective class. Laurin Heinrich continues to impress with his ability to handle a car, driving the #77 AO Racing Porsche (Rexy) at the front of the GTD Pro field, and the final Porsche, is the #120 of Wright Motorsports, with Elliott Skeer.

#80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG (GTD) limps through Turn 16 with a flat tire — its shredded remains left behind in the center of a dark portion of the track. Race control issues a full course yellow with 46 minutes left of the race with pit cycles for prototype and GT cars — possibly the last of the night.

The course returns to green with just over a half hour left of the race and immediately the #22 United Autosports USA LMP2 car spins in Turn 1 — just out of harms way, but attempts to get itself out of the barrier to rejoin the field. It proceeds with damage to rear wing, and a caution is avoided for the time being. It's a Porsche 1-2-4 in the GTP class with Porsche Penske Motorsport's #7 (Felipe Nasr) and #6 (Mathieu Jaminet), and #5 Proton Competition (Neel Jani). One lonely Acura, the #93 Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian sits among them in 3rd. LMP2 leader is Maithe Jakobsen in the #04 Crowdstrike car. In the GTs, Laurin Heinrich again takes the lead with #77 AO Racing Porsche for GTD Pro, and the #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus piloted by Jack Hawksworth for GTD.

Heinrich, maintaining his lead of the GTD Pro field breaks the IMSA GTD Pro race-lap record at Sebring, posting a 2:00.500 in the #77 car. With less than five minutes left in the race, he then breaks his own record he had just set — posting a 2:00.451.

Keep an eye out for all the rest of our race coverage of the 2025 12 Hours of Sebring on Motorsport.com's IMSA hub.

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Cla	Drivers	#	Chassis	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	F. Nasr N. Tandy L. Vanthoor Porsche Penske Motorsport	7	Porsche 963	353	12:01'23.265		13
2	M. Jaminet M. Campbell K. Estre Porsche Penske Motorsport	6	Porsche 963	353	+2.239 12:01'25.504	2.239	13
3	R. van der Zande N. Yelloly A. Palou Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian	93	Acura ARX-06	353	+5.017 12:01'28.282	2.778	14
4	J. Aitken E. Bamber F. Vesti Whelen Cadillac Racing	31	Cadillac V-Series.R	353	+12.661 12:01'35.926	7.644	14
5	M. Wittmann S. Van Der Linde R. Frijns BMW M Team RLL	25	BMW M Hybrid V8	353	+19.257 12:01'42.522	6.596	15
6	N. Jani T. Vautier N. Pino Proton Competition	5	Porsche 963	353	+1'02.670 12:02'25.935	43.413	16
7	R. Taylor F. Albuquerque W. Stevens Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing	10	Cadillac V-Series.R	352	+1 Lap 12:01'37.873	1 Lap	16
8	T. van der Helm G. Bruni N. Müller JDC/Miller Motorsports	85	Porsche 963	352	+1 Lap 12:01'58.437	20.564	15
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