BMW takes first place in the standings at the 12 Hours of Sebring

The BMW M Hybrid #24 from the RLL team will start from the first position at the 73rd edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring, the second round of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Dries Vanthoor, who is competing at this circuit for the first time, set a time of 1:47.091 in a qualifying session that was interrupted by a red flag.

Successful Strategy After the Interruption

The GTP session was halted when Jack Aitken, driving the Cadillac Whelen #31, stopped at Turn 1 at the start. BMW took advantage of this situation to switch to their second scheduled set of tires, which turned out to be a successful decision.

"Our plan was to use two sets of tires, with or without a red flag. The interruption complicated things a bit because we had less time to warm up the tires," Vanthoor told Motorsport.com. "In the end, it worked out well. The ambient temperature was high enough, so the tires reached their optimal point on the second lap."

The battle for the top spot was extremely close, with Tom Blomqvist qualifying second in the Acura #60 Meyer Shank Racing, just 0.025 seconds behind Vanthoor's time. Felipe Nasr rounded out the top three in the Porsche 963 #7, 0.431 seconds off the benchmark time.

Ferrari Leads the GTD Field

In the GT categories, Ferrari posted the best times. Alessandro Pier Guidi placed the Ferrari #21 of AF Corse at the top of the GTD class with a time of 1:59.131, while Albert Costa did the same in GTD Pro with the Ferrari #81 of Dragonspeed, recording a 1:59.225.

In the LMP2 category, Steven Thomas secured the top spot for the TDS Racing team with a time of 1:51.804 in the Oreca #11. Thomas narrowly edged out PJ Hyett in the AO Racing "Spike" #99. After the session, Thomas thanked his wife for the "permission" to compete this weekend and acknowledged the help of his teammates Hunter McElrea and Mikkel Jensen, who guided him during his laps.

Top 3 by Category

The qualifying times were as follows:

Category	Team	Time
GTP	BMW #24 (Eng/Vanthoor/Magnussen)	1:47.091
GTP	Acura #60 (Blomqvist/Braun/Dixon)	1:47.116 (+0.025)
GTP	Porsche #7 (Nasr/Tandy/L.Vanthoor)	1:47.522 (+0.431)
LMP2	ORECA #11 (Thomas/Jensen/McElrea)	1:51.804
LMP2	ORECA #99 (Hyett/Cameron/Edgar)	1:51.919 (+0.115)
LMP2	ORECA #2 (Boulle/Correa/Hanley)	1:52.444 (+0.640)
GTD	Ferrari #21 (Mann/Wadoux/Pier Guidi)	1:59.131
GTD	Mercedes #32 (Lucas/Koch/Götz)	1:59.513 (+0.382)
GTD	Lexus #12 (Hawksworth/Thompson/Montecalvo)	1:59.518 (+0.387)
GTD Pro	Ferrari #81 (Costa/Rigon/Altoè)	1:59.225
GTD Pro	Porsche #77 (Heinrich/Bachler/Picariello)	1:59.397 (+0.172)
GTD Pro	BMW #1 (Snow/Verhagen/De Phillippi)	1:59.666 (+0.441)

BMW Celebrates Anniversary at Sebring

BMW's pole position coincides with the 50th anniversary of their first victory at Sebring. In 1975, BMW achieved a win that changed the brand's presence in American motorsport. To commemorate this milestone, the BMW M Hybrid #24 features a special livery that pays homage to that victory.

New Participants on the Track

This edition features the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH making its North American debut, qualifying in 12th place with a time of 1:49.400. The THOR team includes drivers Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis, and Alex Riberas.

Meanwhile, Lamborghini aims for better results after an early retirement at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Their SC63 #63, driven by Mirko Bortolotti, Romain Grosjean, and Daniil Kvyat, qualified in 11th place with a time of 1:49.304.

Race Details

The green flag for the 12 Hours of Sebring will wave on Saturday, March 15, at 10:10 AM (local Florida time). Fans in the United States can watch the race on NBC and Peacock, while international viewers will have access to the broadcast on IMSA's official YouTube channel.

In Latin America, coverage will be available without geographical restrictions on IMSA's YouTube channel. The start times according to time zones are:

• United States (ET): 10:10 AM to 10:10 PM
• Mexico (CDMX): 9:10 AM to 9:10 PM
• Colombia/Peru/Ecuador: 10:10 AM to 10:10 PM
• Chile/Argentina/Brazil: 12:10 PM to 12:10 AM (Sunday)
• Spain: 4:10 PM to 4:10 AM (Sunday)