Les 12 Heures de Sebring font partie intégrante de l'American Le Mans Series depuis 1999 où la BMW V12 LMR s'était imposée. Depuis Audi a marqué de son empreinte la classique floridienne avec pas moins de dix succès. Seuls Penske Racing, Peugeot et ORECA ont ait chuter le constructeur allemand. Pour ces dernières 12 Heures de Sebring sous l'ère ALMS, 42 autos sont attendues en Floride, ce qui laisse augurer d'une belle édition. Il est clair qu'Audi aura l'avantage mais on ne sait jamais ce que peut réserver cette course si imprévisible. Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, Rebellion Racing et Dyson Racing seront prêts à profiter du moindre faux pas des voitures allemandes. On pensait ne voir aucune P2 en piste, mais elles seront finalement cinq. L'arrivée de ESM a permis à Scott Tucker et Level 5 de revenir, et Greaves Motorsport aura à coeur de briller en Floride. Avec sept PC, la catégorie s'annonce une nouvelle fois disputée et CORE autosport aura du travail face à la concurrence.
Une fois de plus, la catégorie GT vaudra le déplacement avec Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette, BMW, Aston Martin et Viper. Les Ferrari ont bien évolué durant l'hiver et les F458 Italia feront à coup sûr partie des favorites de l'épreuve, face aux Porsche 911 GT3-RSR arrivées à bout d'évolution. Les BMW Z4 GTE débuteront en compétition mais on peut faire confiance aux troupes de Bobby Rahal pour bien figurer. Les deux Corvette C6.R seront aussi de redoutables adversaires, les GT de Détroit n'ayant plus rien à prouver, tout comme les pilotes. Les Viper ont elles aussi bien progressé et on connaît la fiabilité des Aston Martin. Pour résumer, tout reste ouvert en GT ! Il faudra aussi suivre de près les GTC où là aussi la bagarre pour la victoire devrait durer dix heures minimium sur les douze au programme.
by Laurent Mercier(Endurance-Info)
• The first tussle between Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, Dyson Racing and Rebellion Racing in P1. The three teams will vie for the 2013 class championship.
• Extreme Speed Motorsports' debut in P2 with a pair of Honda Performance Development ARX-03b prototypes. Level 5 Motorsports is the defending class and race champion, and is back at Sebring. Greaves Motorsport visits from Europe to challenge the American teams.
• A battle-royale in GT. Twelve entries from six manufacturers dot the class entry including the racing debut of BMW Team RLL's two BMW Z4 GTE sports cars. SRT Motorsports marks Viper's Sebring return with two SRT Viper GTS-Rs - the first Viper factory entry at the 12 Hours since 2000.
• The first ALMS race for Tristan Nunez, the highly touted rookie for Performance Tech Motorsports in Prototype Challenge. Nunez won the 2012 Cooper Tires Prototype Lights L1 championship, was part of the Team USA Scholarship program, and won the Walter Hayes Trophy grand finale in November.
For the 61st time in its history, a group of the world's best sports car manufacturers and teams are gearing up to tackle one of the toughest challenges in all of endurance racing. The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida features a 42-car entry with a number of attention-grabbing storylines for the opening round of the 2013 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón:
• A hybrid-powered race car will race at Sebring for the first time. Audi brings two of its factory R18 e-tron quattro prototypes that feature reigning Le Mans 24 Hours winners Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer in one car, and Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish - with 12 Sebring victories between them - in the other.
• The revolutionary DeltaWing will compete in P1 class. With half the weight, half the fuel and half the horsepower of a traditional prototype, the radical race car competes for the first time at the 12 Hours. The DeltaWing finished fifth overall at Petit Le Mans as an unclassified entry to close the 2012 season.
• The first tussle between Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, Dyson Racing and Rebellion Racing in P1. The three teams will vie for the 2013 class championship.
• Extreme Speed Motorsports' debut in P2 with a pair of Honda Performance Development ARX-03b prototypes. Level 5 Motorsports is the defending class and race champion, and is back at Sebring. Greaves Motorsport visits from Europe to challenge the American teams.
• A battle-royale in GT. Twelve entries from six manufacturers dot the class entry including the racing debut of BMW Team RLL's two BMW Z4 GTE sports cars. SRT Motorsports marks Viper's Sebring return with two SRT Viper GTS-Rs - the first Viper factory entry at the 12 Hours since 2000.
• The first ALMS race for Tristan Nunez, the highly touted rookie for Performance Tech Motorsports in Prototype Challenge. Nunez won the 2012 Cooper Tires Prototype Lights L1 championship, was part of the Team USA Scholarship program, and won the Walter Hayes Trophy grand finale in November.
• Two high-profile entries into GT Challenge with Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars - Flying Lizard Motorsports and Dempsey Del Piero Racing. Flying Lizard moves into the class with a championship-winning history in the ALMS' GT class. Dempsey Del Piero Racing - featuring team co-owner Patrick Dempsey - makes its debut at Sebring with a two-car lineup.
The 61st Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida is set for 10:45 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 16 from Sebring International Raceway. SPEED's live coverage begins at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Source : ALMS
| P1 (7 voitures) + DeltaWing | |||
| Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi R18 e-tron quattro | Fässler-Tréluyer-Jarvis | |
| Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi R18 e-tron quattro | Kristensen-McNish-di Grassi | |
| Rebellion Racing | Lola-Toyota | Heidfeld-Jani-Prost | |
| Rebellion Racing | Lola-Toyota | Beche-Belicchi-Cheng | |
| Muscle Milk Pickett Racing | HPD ARX-03c | Luhr-Graf-Dumas | |
| Dyson Racing | Lola-Mazda | Smith-Leitzinger-Dyson | |
| Dyson Racing | Lola-Mazda | ||
| DeltaWing Cars | DeltaWing LM12 | ||
| LM P2 (5 voitures) | |||
| Greaves Motorsport | Zytek Z11SN-Nissan | Zugel-Lux-Kimber Smith | |
| Extreme Speed Motorsports | HPD ARX-03b | Sharp-van Overbeek | |
| Extreme Speed Motorsports | HPD ARX-03b | Cosmo-Brown | |
| Level 5 Motorsports | HPD ARX-03b | Tucker-Franchitti-Briscoe | |
| Level 5 Motorsports | HPD ARX-03b | Pagenaud-Hunter Reay-Tucker | |
| GT (12 voitures) | |||
| Corvette Racing | Corvette C6 ZR1 | Garcia-Taylor-Magnussen | |
| Corvette Racing | Corvette C6 ZR1 | Westbrook-Gavin-Milner | |
| Risi Competizione | Ferrari F458 Italia | Bruni-Beretta-Malucelli | |
| Team West Alex Job | Ferrari F458 Italia | Bell-Sweedler | |
| Paul Miller Racing | Porsche 911 GT3-RSR | Miller-Holzer | |
| Team Falken Tire | Porsche 911 GT3-RSR | Tandy-Henzler-Sellers | |
| BMW Team RLL | BMW Z4 GTE | Auberlen-Martin-J.Müller | |
| BMW Team RLL | BMW Z4 GTE | D.Müller-Hand-Edwards | |
| Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin Vantage GTE | Senna-Turner-Mücke | |
| Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin Vantage GTE | Dalla Lana-Lamy-Johnson | |
| SRT Motorsports | SRT Viper GTS-R | ||
| SRT Motorsports | SRT Viper GTS-R | ||
| PC (7 voitures) | |||
| CORE autosport | ORECA-FLM09 | Bennett-Braun-Wilkins | |
| DragonSpeed | ORECA-FLM09 | Kaffer-Schultis-Simon | |
| BAR1 Motorsports | ORECA-FLM09 | Marcelli-Cumming-Johansson | |
| BAR1 Motorsports | ORECA-FLM09 | Drissi-Mitchell-Ducote | |
| PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport | ORECA-FLM09 | Cheng-Guash-Ostella | |
| RSR Racing | ORECA-FLM09 | Junqueira-Popow | |
| Performance Tech Motorsports | ORECA-FLM09 | Nunez-Sears-Heinemeier Hansson | |
| GTC (10 voitures) | |||
| Flying Lizard Motorsport | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | Pumpelly | |
| Flying Lizard Motorsport | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | ||
| Dempsey Del Piero Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | Dempsey-Lally-Foester | |
| Dempsey Del Piero Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | Avenatti-Davis-Faieta | |
| TRG | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | Faulkner-Keating-Stanton | |
| Alex Job Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | MacNeil-Bleekemolen-von Moltke | |
| NGT Motorsport | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | Cisneros-Edwards | |
| NGT Motorsport | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | Gomez | |
| JDX Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | Hedlund-Fogarty-Heylen | |
| Competition Motorsport | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | Calvert Jones-Maassen-Aschenbach | |
