SEBRING, Fla. – Officials from Sebring Int’l Raceway have confirmed that the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts will run as scheduled on March 20.
The 69th annual 12-hour event is scheduled to take the green flag at 10:30 a.m. that day.
The FIA World Endurance Championship announced Friday its decision to host its opening round in Europe given the global pandemic. The race was originally scheduled for Sebring Int’l Raceway on March 19, but will now take place on April 4 at Portugal’s Algarve Int’l Circuit.
However, all IMSA series – including the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the Michelin Pilot Challenge and the Porsche Carrera Cup North America – remain on the Sebring schedule. A full track schedule will be released soon, and spectator gates will open on Wednesday, March 17.
The 2021 edition of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts will be ExxonMobil’s 27th year as the primary sponsor of the 12-hour event, and it will be Mobil 1’s 20th anniversary as title sponsor.
With the race moving back to its traditional March date, Sebring Int’l Raceway is set to stage its second Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring race in the span of four months.
In November, after many years of trying, Mazda captured its first Sebring title with drivers Jonathon Bomarito, Harry Tincknell and Indianapolis 500 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay combining for the win. For the first time, an IMSA championship battle also was settled at Sebring with Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves taking top honors.
A field of nearly 50 cars in five classes is expected for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March, and large fields are also expected for the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race, and the Porsche Carrera Cup North America, which will run two races at Sebring.
“We are grateful to the amazing Sebring fans who attended the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in November for conducting themselves in an orderly and responsible fashion so that we can take the next step in returning Sebring and all of motorsports to normal operations,” said Wayne Estes, Sebring’s president and general manager. “For most fans and competitors in November it was as if not much had changed at Sebring, and the few inconveniences the pandemic has caused did not eliminate the opportunity to have a typical Sebring good time.
“Certainly, the on-track piece of the weekend has improved, with new teams and driver combinations debuting in 2021. If anything, the competition may be better than ever. The new Porsche Carrera Cup North America series will bring two sprint races to the weekend and the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 and IMSA Prototype Challenge races are always exciting.”