Michelin Tires Equal Success In Sebring 12-Hour Race

SEBRING, Fla. (March 20, 2021) – Michelin marked the 2021 Spring equinox with great success, delivering both speed and endurance at the historic, fast, and extremely bumpy 3.74-mile former airfield circuity in today’s 69th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the second race of the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.

“What is key for Michelin is the satisfaction of our customers. A few days after having received all four 2021 J.D. Power Awards for Original Equipment Tire Customer Satisfaction, we have been pleased to do our best to satisfy the racers and teams this weekend with nine new qualifying and race lap records,” said Tony Ménard, director of motorsport, Michelin North America.

“We are also pleased to join with Porsche in the outstanding launch of the new 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup North America. It is our honor to be chosen by Porsche to be part of the global competition debut of its new car, series and our latest tire.

“The 18 automaker brands competing in IMSA share our desire to connect racing performance , technology and brands with production vehicles and we thank them for their collaboration and support in IMSA and their frequent choice of Michelin for key production models,” Ménard said.

The study, based on responses from more than 28,000 vehicle owners, examined satisfaction in four areas: tire wear, tire ride, tire appearance, and tire traction/handling. With these latest honors, Michelin has now won 97 J.D. Power Awards, by far the most of any tiremaker.

The week at Sebring featured a wide range of conditions, with ambient temperatures anywhere from the mid-50s to high-80s, and track temperatures on the mixed concrete/asphalt surface from as low as 62 degrees to as high as 107.

Michelin congratulates all race winners both in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and in the additional IMSA MICHELIN Pilot Challenge, Porsche Carrera Cup North America and Prototype Challenge races.

A full list of class winners from the weekend is linked here via MichelinRacingUSA.com.

JDC-Miller, Cadillac Win Sebring Overall

A heavy volume of attrition and action affected most of the DPi class contenders during the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. But when the checkered flag flew, JDC-Miller Motorsports rebounded from a mid-race off-course incident to the overall victory and set a new IMSA DPi distance record in the process (349 laps, 1,305.26 miles beat old mark by one lap).

The team’s No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R survived contact from another car, and later fought to the finish with rear wing damage. Sebastien Bourdais and Loic Duval scored their second overall Sebring wins, and Tristan Vautier scored his first in the all-French driver lineup.

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports enjoyed a largely untroubled drive to win in LMP2, while CORE autosport also fought back from in-race contact to capture the LMP3 class victory.

Porsche’s Banner Sebring Weekend

Porsche enjoyed a dynamic weekend at Sebring, with two GT class race wins, the debut of a successful new championship and a pole position.

The WeatherTech Racing Porsche team capitalized following a collision between the leading Corvette and BMW cars in the GT Le Mans class. The trio of Cooper MacNeil, Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell combined to score Porsche’s fourth consecutive class victory at Sebring.

Porsche also enjoyed a 1-2 finish in the highly competitive GT Daytona class. PFAFF Motorsports’ trio of Laurens Vanthoor, Zacharie Robichon and Lars Kern took the top honors.

Wright Motorsports set a pole position for Friday’s IMSA MICHELIN Pilot Challenge race, then finished second in both that race and the GTD race Saturday night.

Successful Porsche Carrera Cup North America Debut

Porsche and Michelin combined for a successful debut weekend of the new Porsche Carrera Cup North America championship.

It featured the global debuts of the new 992 generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car and MICHELIN® Pilot® Sport Cup N3 tire, with the new tire developed specifically for the new Cup car.

A pair of 20-year-old drivers from Kelly-Moss Road & Race swept the two races. Sebastian Priaulx won the series’ inaugural race overall on Thursday with Kay van Berlo scoring the second race win on Friday.

Michelin Post-Race Notes

• If you didn’t know you could buy Michelin competition slick tires, the same commercial slicks used in multiple IMSA race series are available for purchase through Michelin Race Tire Distributors. See how “the secret is out” in this week’s NBC Sports Michelin Tire Tech Tip Minute.
• The nine new lap records set over the Sebring SportsCar Week included DPi, LMP3 and GTLM qualifying and DPi, LMP2, LMP3, GTLM, GS and TCR race lap records.
• Friday’s IMSA MICHELIN Pilot Challenge Alan Jay 120 featured a dramatic finish. Rebel Rock Racing’s Robin Liddell battled some smoke on the left rear of the car, a dwindling fuel tank and a charging Wright Motorsports’ Jan Heylen to score the GS class win with Frank DePew in the team’s Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R. Roadshagger Racing won in TCR with Gavin Ernstone and Jon Morley driving an Audi RS3 LMS TCR.
• The pair of Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires were thrilling additions to the weekend. Thursday’s race featured a three-wide photo finish at the line; winner Selin Rollan took the top spot by just 0.001 of a second, the second-closest finish in series’ history.

Next Up:

After more than a one-month break, the next round of the 2021 IMSA season occurs at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, May 14-16. The IMSA WeatherTech Championship, MICHELIN Pilot Challenge and Prototype Challenge series are action along with the Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires.