Julien Andlauer Takes the Lead in the 12 Hours of Sebring
Julien Andlauer has taken the lead in the 12 Hours of Sebring, driving the #7 Porsche 963 after four hours of intense racing. The French driver holds a 1.9-second advantage over his teammate Matt Campbell, who is piloting the sister car #6 entry. The race has seen a number of challenges with four full course cautions, as the field has completed 110 laps around the 3.74-mile, 17-turn airfield circuit.
Early Race Developments
The race started with Jack Aitken, the pole-sitter in the #31 Whelen Cadillac, securing a clean start. However, there was some contact behind him, particularly between the #93 Acura ARX-06 (driven by Renger van der Zande) and the #7 Porsche (driven by Felipe Nasr), which resulted in multiple incidents as they fought for sixth place.
Era Motorsport’s Naveen Rao received a drive-thru penalty early in the race after being deemed at fault for causing LMP2 rival Jon Field to spin. Aitken began to catch up with the tail end of the field just 15 minutes into the race, while Kevin Estre, driving the #6 Porsche 963, moved up from fourth to second within a few minutes.
Rao’s difficult start continued as he went off the track in Turn 16, kicking up dirt before returning to the circuit with 25 minutes left in the opening hour. The first full course caution was called due to debris in Turn 5, leading to the first round of pit stops for GTP teams. Aitken was the first to pit, followed by van der Zande, Estre, and Blomqvist.
In GTD Pro, class pole-sitter Jack Hawksworth was replaced by Kyle Kirkwood in the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 for Vasser Sullivan. Meanwhile, Nasr pitted again, and his Porsche 963 was inspected for damage. He will restart the race in 11th position.
Aitken led the field on the restart with two minutes left in the opening hour, but van der Zande spun in Turn 16, dropping him to last in class. The GTD battle for the lead intensified as Dudu Barichello overtook Simon Mann in the Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO.
Mid-Race Challenges and Pit Stops
Kaylen Frederick, driving the #5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963, was involved in an incident with Nasr in Turn 10, resulting in a drive-thru penalty. Estre eventually overtook Aitken in Turn 17 to take the overall lead nearly 80 minutes into the race.
The #10 Cadillac V-Series.R underwent a driver change at the 100-minute mark, with Filipe Albuquerque replaced by Ricky Taylor. Estre reached the 50-lap mark just shy of 103 minutes, holding a 1.5-second lead over Blomqvist. In GTD, the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus suffered an overheated gearbox and was forced to retire.
The second full course caution came after 110 minutes when Henrik Hedman’s Corvette Z06 GT3.R was sent into the guardrail following contact with Parker Thompson’s car. This led to a series of pit stops and driver changes, including Estre swapping seats with Laurens Vanthoor, Colin Braun replacing Blomqvist, and Earl Bamber stepping in for Aitken.
Deletraz led the field to the restart at the 130-minute mark, but Vanthoor made a strong move to take second place. Race Control handed Thompson a five-minute stop and hold penalty for his role in the earlier incident. Laurin Heinrich, who had restarted 10th in the class, pushed his #7 Porsche 963 to the overall lead, building an 11-second advantage by the 170-minute mark.
Final Stages of the Race
A third full course caution was triggered when the #62 Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO collided with the #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in Turn 17. This led to another round of pit stops, with Heinrich swapped out for Andlauer, and Campbell taking over from Vanthoor. Scott Dixon also entered the race in the #60 Acura.
Andlauer took the lead ahead of Campbell, with Will Stevens in third after taking over the #10 Cadillac. Jordan Taylor fell to eighth after an extended stop for energy replenishment.
Tristan Vautier remained out while his LMP2 rivals pitted, maintaining his position ahead of Johnny Edgar and Daniel Goldburg. In GTD Pro, Ricardo Agostini led the class, with Max Hesse and Nico Varrone following closely behind.
Fuoco led GTD, with Callum Ilott in second, and Inception Racing’s #70 Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, driven by Brenden Iribe, held third in class as the field approached eight hours remaining.
