International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in September 2020. It was the eighth consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SCC, and 69th 12 Hours of Sebring.[2] The 12 Hours of Sebring was the second of twelve sports car endurance races of 2021 by IMSA, and the second of four races of the Michelin Endurance Cup (MEC).[3] It was held at the 17-turn, 3.741-mile (6.021 km) Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida on March 20, 2021.[4]
After being postponed to November the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the race returned to its traditional March date for 2021. Originally, the 1000 Miles of Sebring, the FIA World Endurance Championship event run in conjunction with the 12 Hours in 2019, was slated to return, but was later cancelled due to international travel restrictions still imposed by the pandemic.[5]
The race would see the debut of the new for 2021 GTD qualifying format, with two sessions for the category.[7] The first session would mandate any bronze/silver driver to qualify their car and determine the starting lineup for the race. The second session would see each team allow to change tires and drivers, and championship points would be awarded.[8]
There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, all three one on Thursday. The first session on Thursday morning lasted one hour. The second session on Thursday afternoon ran for 75 minutes while the final session on Thursday evening ran for 90 minutes.[21]
In the second session, Nasr's No. 31 WER Cadillac set the fastest overall lap of 1 minute, 47.323 seconds. Duval was 0.181 seconds behind in second, with the No. 55 Mazda of Jarvis in third. Kevin Magnussen fourth in CGR's No. 01 Cadillac and Albuquerque's WTR Acura was fifth.[25][26] Jensen led in LMP2 with a 1:50.224 lap in PR1's car, 0.456 seconds ahead of Tristan Nunez in WIN Autosport's second-placed No. 11 entry.[27] The quickest LMP3 lap was set by Dylan Murry in Riley Motorsports' No. 91 Ligier, and Pigot was second in the sister No. 74 Riley Motorsport Ligier.[28] Campbell's 1:56.891 lap led the GTLM class in WeatherTech Racing's Porsche, 0.573 seconds faster than Connor De Phillippi's No. 25 BMW; Nick Tandy's No. 4 Corvette was third.[27] GTD saw Mikaël Grenier's SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG record the fastest class lap: 2:01.111, 0.208 seconds faster than Foley's No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW.[26]
Pipo Derani led the last practice session in the No. 31 WER car with a lap of 1 minute, 46.898 seconds. van der Zande's No. 01 CGR car was second-fastest. The No. 10 Acura of Ricky Taylor set the third-quickest lap. Kobayashi's No. 48 Ally Cadillac, along with Bourdais' No. 5 JDC car were fourth and fifth.[29] Jensen's No. 52 PR1 car led LMP2 with a 1:50.270 lap, faster than Boyd's No. 22 United Autosports vehicle.[30][29] Riley Motorsports occupied first and second in LMP3 with Bleekemolen faster than his teammate Pigot by 0.525 seconds.[29] In GTLM, Jaminet was fastest again in the class with a lap of 1 minute, 56.563 seconds. García was second-fastest in the No. 3 Corvette, and his teammate Sims took third in the sister No. 4 car. Vanthoor set the fastest time in GTD, followed by Aaron Telitz's No. 14 VSR Lexus.[31][29]
Qualifying
Qualifying was broken into four sessions. The first was for cars in GTD class. Tim Zimmermann set the fastest time driving the #19 car for GRT Grasser Racing Team.[32] However, the team were sent to the back of the GTD grid after the team's Lamborghini was found to have a wifi hotspot onboard.[33] As a result, Jan Heylen was promoted to pole position.[34]Zacharie Robichon suffered an ABS failure on his #9 Porsche and touched the tire barrier at turn 13.[35] Robichon went off at the same part of the track on his second lap and didn't set a competitive time.[34][35]
The second session was for cars in the GTLM and GTD classes. Antonio García qualified on pole in GTLM driving the #3 car for Corvette Racing, beating teammate Tommy Milner in the sister #4 Corvette Racing entry by less than 0.050 seconds.[36]Jack Hawksworth set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session and earned 35 championship points.[35]
The third session was for cars in the LMP3 class. Rasmus Lindh qualified on pole for the class driving the #38 car for Performance Tech Motorsports, beating Oliver Askew in the Forty7 Motorsports entry by less than one-tenth of a second.[35]
The final session of qualifying was for cars in the DPi and LMP2 classes. Pipo Derani took overall pole for the event driving the #31 car for Whelen Engineering Racing, besting Ricky Taylor in the WTR-Konica Minolta Acura entry.[36]Steven Thomas qualified on pole in LMP2 driving the WIN Autosport Oreca.[34]Jimmie Johnson, driving the #48 Ally Cadillac Racing entry, spun at turn 16 in the closing moments of the session and attempted to get one more lap in. However, Johnson crashed at turn 17 and the #48 Cadillac suffered extensive damage. Due to the damage from the accident, Ally Cadillac Racing would use a spare tub for the race.[37] For causing a red flag, Johnson had his best two laps from the session deleted.[38]
Qualifying results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
1 The No. 48 Ally Cadillac Racing entry had its two fastest laps deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.
2 The No. 19 GRT Grasser Racing Team entry entry initially qualified on pole position for the GTD class. However, the car was found to have a wifi hotspot onboard. By IMSA rules, the entry was moved to the rear of the GTD field on the starting grid.[33]
Race
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Start and early hours
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Afternoon
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Sunset to finish
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Post-race
The result kept Filipe Albuquerque, Alexander Rossi, and Ricky Taylor atop the DPi Drivers' Championship with 688 points. Bourdais, Duval, and Vautier advanced from sixth to second while Johnson, Kobayashi, and Pagenaud dropped from second to fifth. Bomarito, Jarvis, and Tincknell jumped from third to second.[44] Since it was the season's first points paying race, Huffaker, Jensen, and Keating led the LMP2 Drivers' Championship with 382 points.[44] Since it was the season's first points paying race, Bennett, Braun, and Kurtz led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship with 378 points.[44] As a result of winning the race, MacNeil advanced from sixth to second in the GTLM Drivers' Championship. Milner, Sims, and Tandy dropped from second to fourth.[44] As a result of winning the race, Long, Hindman, and Heylen advanced from fourth to first in the GTD Drivers' Championship. Grenier and Habul dropped from second to fifth while Kern, Robichon, and Vanthoor advanced from eleventh to fourth.[44] Cadillac and Porsche took the lead in their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Chevrolet continued to top the GTLM Manufacturers' Championship.[44] WTR-Konica Minolta Acura and Corvette Racing continued to top their respective Teams' Championships while Wright Motorsports took the lead of the GTD Teams' Championship. PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports and CORE Autosport became the leaders of their respective class Teams' Championships with ten rounds remaining in the season.[44]
^The no. 48 Ally Cadillac Racing entry was moved to the rear of the DPi classification for violating drive time rules after Simon Pagenaud was found to have driven more than the maximum 4 hours within a 6 hour time period.[45]
^The no. 22 United Autosports entry was moved to the rear of the LMP2 classification for exceeding maximum skid block wear regulations.[46]