SEBRING, Fla. — IMSA generated plenty of news Thursday at Sebring International Raceway, announcing the 2026 IMSA Hall of Fame class and revealing the 2027 schedules for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.
And, oh by the way, cars took to the iconic 3.74-mile airport circuit in preparation for the 74th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring for three practice sessions covering nearly five hours.
The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 picked up right where it left off a few weeks ago at the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona – at the front of the field.
Felipe Nasr, who shared in the Daytona victory with Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich, posted the overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) fastest time in the 55-car field following the first two practice sessions of the day. The 1 minute, 47.043-second lap came in the second practice session. That’s an average speed of 125.780 miles per hour around the bumpy 17-turn Sebring circuit.
Nasr credited a recent private test by Porsche Penske Motorsport for the marque’s strong opening-day form at Sebring.
“I feel like we learned a lot in that test and feel like the car is in a good window,” said Nasr, who was part of the winning lineup at Sebring in the No. 7 Porsche in 2025, adding another trophy to the one he captured in 2019 when he was driving for Cadillac Whelen (Action Express Racing). “I won’t say we’re fully happy with the car, but we definitely have the race weekend to learn. I feel like we’re in a good baseline to start and take it from there.”
For most of that second session, PPM ran 1-2, courtesy of a 1:47.461 lap turned by Kevin Estre in the No. 6 Porsche 963 after Laurens Vanthoor led a Porsche 1-2 in the first session in the No. 6 with a best effort of 1:47.985. Both PPM entries are running special liveries commemorating Mobil 1’s 30-year association with Porsche that evokes memories of the 911 GT1 that Porsche fielded at Sebring in the late 1990s.
Acura and Cadillac GTP teams made simulated qualifying runs late in the second session, vaulting Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 up to P2 at 1:47.302 (125.477 mph). Jack Aitken, who closed out the 2025 season with two race wins, moved up to third fastest in the closing minutes of the 90-minute second session, stopping the clocks at 1:47.427 (125.331 mph) aboard the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.
Aitken and his co-drivers Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti finished second to Nasr and the No. 7 Porsche at the Rolex 24.
“After coming close in Daytona, I can’t wait to head back to Sebring, where we were very strong last year,” Aitken said in the run up to this weekend’s race. “We’ve got a really good run going, so riding that momentum into one of my favorite events should be fun.”
Inter Europol Competition led Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) with Tom Dillmann posting a lap of 1:50.056 (122.337 mph) in the night practice. AO Racing rebounded from PJ Hyett’s Turn 17 crash in the morning session, repairing its primary No. 99 ORECA LMP2 07 ‘Spike’ chassis for Dane Cameron post a best lap of at 1:50.639 (121.692 mph).
The No. 99 will lose its fastest qualifying lap for causing the only red flag of the first two sessions.
The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 that has dominated the last two years of Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) competition was the only entry to set the fastest lap for their class in the first practice session of the day, while also posting the fastest GT lap of the day (1:59.363, 112.798 mph).
The No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes put up the second-fastest GTD lap of the day, also in the first practice session, with a lap of 1:59.798 (112.388 mph).
Jack Hawksworth had the top GTD PRO time of the day, achieved in the night session at 1:59.895 (112.297 mph) in his No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3. The Englishman is set to make his 100th IMSA start with Lexus this weekend.
Earlier in the daylight, AO Racing achieved the top time in GTD PRO with a 2:00.070 (112.134 mph) flyer with IMSA rookie Harry King behind the wheel of the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). The No. 77 is presented this weekend in a pink dinosaur livery known as ‘Roxy.’
“My first day in Roxy, and you could say that we’re getting along quite well,” said King, who has excelled in Porsche single-make series around the world. “We had a tough time at Daytona, but that motivated the team to check out every possible detail, and the outcome is looking quite positive. I know it’s only free practice, but it’s nice to see something to show for all the hard work and dedication from the team.”
Competitors experienced what are expected to be the coolest conditions of the Sebring meeting on Thursday, with temperatures in the low 70s and strong winds from the north.
“The track is very difficult today – there is a lot of wind,” said Tristan Vautier, part of the driver lineup in the No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 in the LMP2 class. “When you have a headwind you have a lot of grip, and when you have the wind at your back it makes the car very twitchy. You’ve got to be really heads-up. We’re hoping for a smooth race.”
