Twelve Hours of Sebring results: Wayne Taylor, Michael Andretti score first victory for Acura partnership
Just over a year since partnering up in sports cars, co-owners Wayne Taylor and Michael Andretti picked a prestigious place for their first victory with a new second car.
Louis Deletraz, Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta teamed up to win the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory for WTR Andretti's No. 40 ARX-06 and the first for Acura at Sebring International Raceway.
After the merger of powerhouses between Wayne Taylor Racing (a multitime IMSA champion and Rolex 24 at Daytona winner) and Andretti Global (an IndyCar champion and Indy 500 winner), the team went winless last season with its flagship No. 10 Acura and then tripled in staff by adding a second Grand Touring Prototype entry for 2024.
TWELVE HOURS OF SEBRING RESULTS: Click here for overall l By class
The victory ended an 11-race winless streak for WTR dating to August 2022 at Road America while also snapping a four-race win streak at Sebring for Cadillac. It's the second victory at Sebring for Taylor.
"We've come close many, many times (to winning), and this event the last five years we've been second or third," Taylor told NBC Sports' Kevin Lee. "Today, it was like a roller coaster. With the first time we've been able to run a two-car program, and that's really what it takes nowadays to compete and to be competitive in this series."
"It's been awesome," Andretti said. "It's been a great partnership."
Herta and Deletraz earned their first overall victories and first at Sebring. Taylor scored his 34th career victory in his 168th start and his third at Sebring.
In other categories:
LMP2 — Connor Zilisch remained unbeaten in IMSA as the 17-year-old closed out Era Motorsport's second consecutive victory (after the No. 18 ORECA opened the season by winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
"Honestly, it's not even believable at this point," Zilisch told NBC Sports' Matt Yocum. "To come here and finish the race against the best of the best in the world, and I'm a silver (rated driver) racing against a bunch of guys that have made IndyCar starts and made F1 starts, and it's just unreal, man. This is my second race in this car, and I'm 2 for 2 , which I don't think is going to stay for much longer, and I'm going to appreciate my win percentage while I can, but it's unbelievable."
Zilisch was teamed again with Ryan Dalziel, who earned his 15th career victory and second at Sebring, and Dwight Merriman, who picked up his fifth career win and first at Sebring.
GTD Pro — Vasser Sullivan rebounded from a miserable season opener to score its first Twelve Hours of Sebring victory with Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat and Kyle Kirkwood teaming up in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 (which won last season's championship).
"It's just amazing," Hawksworth said after his 12th career victory. "To win this race, it's such a special race, and this team's been amazing. We obviously had some issues at Daytona, which was wrong place, wrong time. And then today, boy, did we bounce back."
It's the 14th career win for Vasser Sullivan but first since Watkins Glen in June 2023. Barnicoat earned his sixth career victory, and Kirkwood, who drives for Andretti Global in IndyCar, picked up his third win in IMSA.
GTD — Winward Racing remained unbeaten in the category this year, backing up its Rolex 24 at Daytona victory with its first win in the Twelve Hours of Sebring. Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje and Russell Ward teamed up on the No. 57 Mercedes AMG GT3 for the team's sixth career win.
"It's just incredible," Ward told NBC Sports' Dillon Welch. "This is such a difficult race to win, and this championship is so difficult. My heart was about to explode, but I'm just so ecstatic to be part of this."
Click here for updates from earlier in the race.
TWELVE HOURS OF SEBRING RESULTS
Fastest laps by driver
Fastest laps by driver after race (over the weekend)
Fastest laps by driver and class after race
Fastest lap sequence
Leader sequence
Lap chart
Race analysis by lap
Stint analysis
Time cards
Pit stop time cards
Best sector times
Flag analysis
Race distance and average speed
