
The64th Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida was anendurancesports car racing event held atSebring International Raceway nearSebring, Florida, from 16 to 19 March 2016. The event was the second round of the2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship, as well as the second round of theNorth American Endurance Cup. It was the final time that the originalDaytona Prototypes participated in the race, as, for 2017, they were replaced with the newDPi cars.
The race was won byTequila Patrón ESM'sHonda HPD-Ligier JS P2 driven byScott Sharp,Johannes van Overbeek,Ed Brown, andPipo Derani after completing a pass for the lead in the final moments of the race.[1][2] It was the first overall12 Hours of Sebring win for both ESM andHonda.[3][4] The Prototype Challenge class was won by the No. 54CORE Autosport entry driven byColin Braun,Mark Wilkins, and Jon Bennett. GT Le Mans was won by the No. 4Chevrolet Corvette C7.R fromCorvette Racing, driven byOliver Gavin,Tommy Milner, andMarcel Fässler. The GT Daytona class was won by the No. 63Ferrari 488 GT3 fromScuderia Corsa, driven byChristina Nielsen,Alessandro Balzan, andJeff Segal. The race saw a stoppage of roughly two hours and 15 minutes due to heavy rain and lightning just before the halfway-point of the event.[5][6]

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2015.[7] It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the 64th 12 Hours of Sebring.[7] The 12 Hours of Sebring was the second of twelve scheduled automobileendurance races of 2016 by IMSA, and the second in the four round North American Endurance Cup (NAEC).[7] It was held at the 17-turn, 3.741-mile (6.021 km)Sebring International Raceway inSebring, Florida on March 19, 2016.[7]
Before the race,Ed Brown,Pipo Derani,Johannes van Overbeek, andScott Sharp were leading the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 36 points.[8] With 36 points,Misha Goikhberg,Kenton Koch,Chris Miller, andStephen Simpson led the PC Drivers' Championship.[8] GTLM was led byMarcel Fässler,Oliver Gavin, andTommy Milner with a three-point advantage overAntonio García,Jan Magnussen, andMike Rockenfeller.[8] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led byAndy Lally,John Potter,René Rast, and Marco Seefried with 36 points.[8]Honda,Chevrolet, andAudi were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, whileTequila Patrón ESM,JDC-Miller MotorSports,Corvette Racing,Magnus Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.[8]
There were four practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, three on Thursday and one on Friday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Thursday morning and afternoon. The third held later that evening ran for 90 minutes; the fourth on Friday morning lasted an hour.[9]
The first practice session took place at 10:00 amET on Thursday and ended withDane Cameron topping the charts forAction Express Racing, with a lap time of 1:52.447.[10]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 31 | Action Express Racing | Dane Cameron | 1:52.447 | _ |
| 2 | P | 5 | Action Express Racing | Scott Pruett | 1:53.226 | +0.779 |
| 3 | P | 2 | Tequila Patrón ESM | Johannes van Overbeek | 1:53.312 | +0.865 |
| Source:[11] | ||||||
The second practice session took place at 2:25 pmET on Thursday and ended withChristian Fittipaldi topping the charts forAction Express Racing, with a lap time of 1:53.850.[12]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 5 | Action Express Racing | Christian Fittipaldi | 1:53.850 | _ |
| 2 | P | 31 | Action Express Racing | Scott Pruett | 1:54.283 | +0.433 |
| 3 | P | 24 | Alegra Motorsports | Daniel Morad | 1:54.334 | +0.484 |
| Source:[13] | ||||||
The night practice session took place at 7:30 pmET on Thursday and ended withFilipe Albuquerque topping the charts forAction Express Racing, with a lap time of 1:52.832.[14]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 5 | Action Express Racing | Filipe Albuquerque | 1:52.832 | _ |
| 2 | P | 55 | Mazda Motorsports | Jonathan Bomarito | 1:53.882 | +1.050 |
| 3 | P | 10 | Wayne Taylor Racing | Jordan Taylor | 1:54.088 | +1.256 |
| Source:[15] | ||||||
The fourth and final practice session took place at 10:15 amET on Friday and ended withDane Cameron topping the charts forAction Express Racing, with a lap time of 1:52.135.[16]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 31 | Action Express Racing | Dane Cameron | 1:52.135 | _ |
| 2 | P | 5 | Action Express Racing | Filipe Albuquerque | 1:52.228 | +0.093 |
| 3 | P | 60 | Michael Shank Racing withCurb/Agajanian | Olivier Pla | 1:53.067 | +0.932 |
| Source:[17] | ||||||
In Friday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying, each category had separate 15-minute sessions. Regulations stipulated that teams nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class' starting order. IMSA arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM and GTD cars.[18][9]
Pole positions in each class are indicated inbold and by ‡. All Prototype and Prototype Challenge cars were grouped together on the starting grid, regardless of qualifying position.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 60 | 1:51.217 | _ | 1 ‡ | ||
| 2 | P | 2 | 1:51.391 | +0.174 | 2 | ||
| 3 | P | 31 | 1:51.943 | +0.726 | 3 | ||
| 4 | P | 5 | 1:52.205 | +0.988 | 4 | ||
| 5 | P | 55 | 1:52.951 | +1.734 | 5 | ||
| 6 | P | 90 | 1:53.185 | +1.968 | 6 | ||
| 7 | P | 70 | 1:53.513 | +2.296 | 7 | ||
| 8 | P | 10 | 1:53.576 | +2.359 | 8 | ||
| 9 | P | 81 | 1:54.171 | +2.954 | 9 | ||
| 10 | P | 24 | 1:54.193 | +2.976 | 10 | ||
| 11 | P | 0 | 1:54.274 | +3.057 | 11 | ||
| 12 | PC | 54 | 1:54.910 | +3.693 | 12‡ | ||
| 13 | PC | 52 | 1:55.843 | +4.626 | 13 | ||
| 14 | PC | 20 | 1:56.661 | +5.444 | 14 | ||
| 15 | PC | 38 | 1:57.189 | +5.972 | 15 | ||
| 16 | PC | 8 | 1:57.241 | +6.024 | 16 | ||
| 17 | P | 50 | 1:57.422 | +6.205 | 17 | ||
| 18 | PC | 85 | 1:57.630 | +6.413 | 18 | ||
| 19 | PC | 88 | 1:58.218 | +7.001 | 19 | ||
| 20 | GTLM | 25 | 1:58.402 | +7.185 | 20‡ | ||
| 21 | GTLM | 100 | 1:58.592 | +7.375 | 21 | ||
| 22 | GTLM | 68 | 1:58.637 | +7.420 | 22 | ||
| 23 | GTLM | 67 | 1:58.708 | +7.491 | 23 | ||
| 24 | GTLM | 3 | 1:58.856 | +7.639 | 24 | ||
| 25 | GTLM | 4 | 1:58.878 | +7.661 | 25 | ||
| 26 | GTLM | 911 | 1:59.009 | +7.792 | 26 | ||
| 27 | GTLM | 62 | 1:59.020 | +7.803 | 27 | ||
| 28 | GTLM | 66 | 1:59.053 | +7.836 | 28 | ||
| 29 | GTLM | 912 | 1:59.170 | +7.953 | 29 | ||
| 30 | GTD | 63 | 2:02.350 | +11.133 | 30‡ | ||
| 31 | GTD | 33 | 2:02.386 | +11.169 | 31 | ||
| 32 | GTD | 96 | 2:02.660 | +11.443 | 32 | ||
| 33 | GTD | 23 | 2:03.037 | +11.820 | 33 | ||
| 34 | GTD | 22 | 2:03.241 | +12.024 | 34 | ||
| 35 | GTD | 73 | 2:03.284 | +12.067 | 35 | ||
| 36 | GTD | 51 | 2:03.340 | +12.123 | 36 | ||
| 37 | GTD | 16 | 2:03.455 | +12.238 | 37 | ||
| 38 | GTD | 97 | 2:03.625 | +12.408 | 38 | ||
| 39 | GTD | 21 | 2:03.822 | +12.605 | 39 | ||
| 40 | GTD | 9 | 2:03.856 | +12.639 | 40 | ||
| 41 | GTD | 11 | 2:03.861 | +12.644 | 41 | ||
| 42 | GTD | 27 | 2:03.933 | +12.716 | 42 | ||
| 43 | GTD | 98 | 2:04.204 | +12.987 | 43 | ||
| 44 | GTD | 48 | 2:04.260 | +13.043 | 44 | ||
| 45 | GTD | 28 | 2:04.302 | +13.085 | 45 | ||
| 46 | GTD | 44 | 2:04.857 | +13.640 | 46 | ||
| 47 | GTD | 540 | 2:07.095 | +15.878 | 47 | ||
| 48 | GTD | 45 | 2:07.338 | +16.121 | 48 | ||
| 49 | GTD | 6 | No Time Established | 49 | |||
| Source:[19] | |||||||
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Class winners are denoted inbold. P stands for Prototype, PC (Prototype Challenge), GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans) and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).
| IMSA SportsCar Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous race: 24 Hours of Daytona | 2016 season | Next race: 2016 Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase |