SEBRING, Fla. — A second list of 15 drivers is being announced from the 75 drivers selected to the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring all-time greatest drivers, following the first list of 15 announced on Sept. 15.
The list of the most successful drivers in the history of the legendary Sebring race was selected by a 10-person panel of sports car racing experts, and its number of drivers selected coincides with the 75th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring March 20, 2027.
The first running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was March 15, 1952. Since then, only once has the race not been held – in 1974 due to the worldwide energy crisis.
The 75 selected drivers have been divided evenly into randomly selected lists of 15. The 15 drivers being announced this month from the list of 75 are: Michele Alboreto, Sebastien Bourdais, Rinaldo Capello, Briggs Cunningham, Hans Hermann, Al Holbert, Nicholas Lapierre, J.J. Lehto, Jan Magnussen, Stirling Moss, John Paul Jr., Brian Redman, Jo Siffert, Wayne Taylor and Bob Wollek.
Michele Alboreto – Always-fast Italian driver Michele Alboreto won his final race at Sebring in 2001 in the No. 1 Audi R8 with Rinaldo Capello and Laurent Aiello driving for Team Joest in a rare caution-free race – it has only occurred three times in history (1985, 1994, 2001). In his first appearance at the track he was the fastest qualifier in 1995 driving the Team Scandia Ferrari 333SP No. 33 before finishing fourth in the race. The following year he finished second overall in the Ferrari, and he ran the race for Team Joest in a Audi R8 three times – 1999, 2000, 2001 – starting with a third-place finish, then second, and finally the overall win in 2001.
Sebastien Bourdais – Although from Le Mans, France, it’s fitting Sebastien Bourdais makes his home just more than 100 miles from Sebring in St. Petersburg, Fla., given he has controlled the Central Florida circuit like his home track. With three wins, 11 podium finishes and 985 laps led, Bourdais is more than comfortable here. He made his start in 2001, but success came in 2006 driving the No. 50 Panoz Esperante GTLM Ford fielded by Multimatic with David Brabham and Scott Maxwell winning the GT3 class. He won overall in 2015 in the Action Express Corvette DP with Joao Barbos and Christian Fittipaldi, and in a bit of a surprise, won overall again in 2021 in the JDC-Miller Motorsports Mustang Sampling Cadillac with Tristan Vautier and Loic Duval – all Frenchmen.
Rinaldo Capello – Rinaldo “Dindo” Capello has the second most overall victories the history of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. His five overall wins in only nine starts are an amazing accomplishment, particularly considering his worst finish is fourth. He has one second-place finish, two third-place finishes and three fourth-place finishes – all overall. Capello’s first start at Sebring came in 1999 with Team Joest in an Audi R8, where he finished third, and his final run came in an Audi R18 in 2012, where he finished on top, with co-drivers Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish.
Briggs Cunningham – One of the few drivers listed on the “Class of 75” that participated in the first 12 Hours of Sebring in 1952, Briggs Cunningham drove in 14 races at Sebring and won three times in class – 1953, 1962 and 1964. Perhaps better known as a car owner, Cunningham’s cars won three consecutive races overall from 1953-1955. He drove and fielded a variety of makes including Ferrari, Crosley, his own Cunningham C4R, Cunningham C6R Offenhauser, OSCA, Jaguar, Corvette, Maserati and Porsche.
Hans Hermann – In 10 starts at Sebring between 1956 and 1970, it was feast or famine for German Hans Herrmann. In half of those races he finished first overall, first or second in class, and the remaining five races he failed to finish at all. In his first start in 1956, he drove a factory Porsche 550 Spyder to a class victory and sixth-place overall finish. In 1960, driving a Porsche RS60 for privateer Joakim “Jo” Bonnier, a Swedish driver and car owner, he won his first of two overall 12 Hours by nine laps driving with Olivier Gendebien, the next coming in 1968 with Jo Siffert in a factory Porsche 907. He finished first in class in 1966 and second in class in 1967.
Al Holbert – Always behind the wheel of a Porsche, Al Holbert was also almost always near the front of the field unless something out of his control kept him from the front. His first overall victory came in 1976 in a Porsche Carrera RSR driving with Michael Keyser two laps clear of second place finisher. His second overall victory at Sebring came with Hurley Haywood and Bruse Leven in a Porsche 935 in 1981. He also secured podium finishes in 1983 (third), 1985 (second), 1986 (third) and 1987 (second). Many fans still regard the legendary Lowenbrau livery in a Porsche 962 that Holbert drove in these later years as an all-time favorite.
Nicholas Lapierre – Frenchman Nicholas Lapierre has made the most of only three starts at Sebring International Raceway, winning twice and finishing fourth a third time, albeit on the lead lap. His first trip to Sebring in 2011 as a teammate to countrymen Loic Duval and Olivier Panis driving a French made Peugeot 908 HDI FAP proved successful, as did his trip seven years later in 2018 driving a Nissan DPi for Tequila Patron ESM with Pipo Derani and Johannes van Overbeek. His only other start in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was in 2016 where he finished fourth overall in Nissan.
J.J. Lehto – Finnish driver Jyrki Juhani Järvilehto, or thankfully JJ Lehto as we know him, has one of the best winning percentages of any driver in the history of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. He started only seven races and visited victory lane six times – twice as the overall winner, he finished second overall twice, finished third overall once, and third in class once. His first overall victory came in his first attempt in 1999 driving with Tom Kristensen (Kristensen’s first of six Sebring victories) and Jorg Mueller. Lehto also won the pole that year driving a BMW V12 LMR. His other overall victory was his last Sebring start in 2005, driving with Kristensen and Marco Werner in an Audi R8.
Jan Magnussen – Jan Magnussen made 21 consecutive starts in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring from 1999 to 2019, and along the way he visited victory lane nine times all while driving a Corvette. Among those visits were five GT class victories for the Dane with the first coming in 2006 while teamed with Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta, followed by a win in 2008 with Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell, 2009 with Antonio Garcia and O’Connell, 2015 with Garcia and Ryan Briscoe and finally 2017 with Garcia and Mike Rockenfeller. He also scored second-place class finishes in 2007 and 2012, and third-place finishes in 2005 and 2019.
Stirling Moss – By 1954 when the world’s greatest auto manufacturers began to race at Sebring, so too did the world’s top international drivers, and Stirling Moss was among them. Englishman Moss captured that race in what was considered an upset given the car he drove with Bill Lloyd – an underpowered OSCA entered by Briggs Cunningham and carried to victory by its drivers. Though Moss had a less-than-spectacular nine race record at Sebring, his overall win in 1954 coupled with a sixth place finish in 1955 and a class victory and second-place overall placing in 1956 while driving a Maserati were the highlights of his performance at the Florida circuit.
John Paul Jr. – John Paul Jr. was not destined to become a race car driver, but his father put him in a car after high school and proved that he could become a champion. In his second race at Sebring, in 1982, driving with his father as a co-driver and team owner, the pair drove their family owned Porsche 935 to an overall victory after leading the final 100 laps of the race. The following year Paul Jr. was the fastest qualifier but finished well back in the pack. He finished second overall in1993 driving with Gianpiero Morettti and Derek Bell in a Nissan GTP-ZXT and had three additional top-five finishes to close his career in 1997, 1999 and 2000.
Brian Redman – In 1975, BMW celebrated its first U.S. victory at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and it also marked Brian Redman’s first overall win in the famed Florida endurance race – with Allan Moffat, Sam Posey and Hans Stuck. Given the milestone accomplishment, he is often mentioned alongside BMW, and although he opened the 1976 season at Daytona with BMW’s second U.S. win, he followed it at Sebring with his second 12-Hour victory in a Porsche 935 alongside Charles Mendez and Bob Garretson. Redman collected podium finishes in 1979 with a second-place overall finish again in a Porsche 935, 1987 with a third-place overall finish in a Porsche 962, and somewhat surprisingly, in 1991 a third-place class finish in a Mazda RX-7 four rotor engine.
Jo “Seppi” Siffert – Jo Siffert’s six starts in the 12 Hours of Sebring were headlined by his overall win in the 1968 race with Hans Hermann in a Porsche 907 factory effort, and a factory effort the year before that led to a second-place class finish and fourth-place overall finish also driving with Hermann. The talented Swiss driver drove the famed Gulf Porsches on sports car circuits before his career was cut short, and during his time at Sebring also was credited with a third-place finish in 1966, a second-place class finish in 1970 and a third place class finish in his final race here in 1971.
Wayne Taylor – Know to new fans of sports car racing as an outstanding car owner, Wayne Taylor first spent many years as a championship driver, making 11 starts in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. His greatest success at Sebring came in 1996 driving for Doyle Racing, where he drove a Riley & Scott Oldsmobile Mk III to an overall victory with teammates Eric Van de Poele and Jim Pace. The South African native also finished second in class in both 1994 and 1998, and was sixth overall in both 1999 and 2000. As a car owner, Wayne Taylor Racing has won the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring twice – 2017 and 2024 – both overall.
Bob Wollek – Widely known as a world-class race car driver, Bob Wollek also was an accomplished athlete in other sports, namely as a member of the French National Ski Team in his younger years. His motorsports career was highly decorated, and although he only recorded one overall victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in 1985 driving with A.J. Foyt in the famous Swap Shop Porsche 962, pacing the field by a full four laps at the finish, he was always a threat at the Florida circuit. He finished second in class in 1998, third overall in 1984 (with Foyt) and in 1991. Wollek lost his life the day before the 2001 race here when riding a road bike to his accommodations west of the track on Hwy. 98, he was struck from behind by a van and passed at a local hospital.
The third list of 15 drivers on the 75th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring “Class of 75” will be released Nov. 10.
