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Winward Mercedes-AMG Goes Back-to-Back at Sebring in GTD
March 15, 2025
By Holly Cain
IMSA Wire Service
Race Results
SEBRING, Fla. – The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Rolex 24 At Daytona GT class season-opener featured a classic battle among American manufacturers Ford and Chevrolet.
Its follow-up, Saturday’s 73rd running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring added Germany’s finest from Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-AMG into the mix, with a pinch of Italian flair from Ferrari to create an exciting and eclectic mix.
The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) stayed among the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class leaders all day, ultimately taking the point for good during a series of pit stops in the final hour. German driver Laurin Heinrich held off the pair of super-fast Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVOs that also spent the majority of the day up front in class, winning by 4.907 seconds.
The Porsche better known as “Rexy” secured its first traditional IMSA endurance race win, and second IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup win in its team history. After Heinrich and Michael Christensen won last September’s six-hour TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks in Indianapolis, Heinrich, Austrian Klaus Bachler and Belgian Alessio Picariello secured the win in one of the three longest IMSA races tonight at Sebring.
“Unbelievable result, I’m so proud of the team,” Bachler said. “They did an amazing job. And honestly, Laurin in the end in the last two hours, was incredible.
“Somehow during the last three hours, I thought maybe we had a chance to go for the victory, but you never know. Honestly, I’m so proud of the team and also for sure my teammate Alessio.
“We finally won something together really big, the Twelve Hours of Sebring in GTD PRO! I won it two years ago, but I’m so happy that we managed this today again. And I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”
The victory was Heinrich’s fourth in the series. It was the second IMSA victory for Bachler and the first career win for Picariello.
The jubilation was honest after such a hard-fought long-day; the outcome came down to the final minutes. The Sebring race may be half as long as its Daytona 24- hour endurance counterpart, but it was certainly twice as chippy this weekend.
Remarkably, less than two seconds separated the leader from the field in both GT classes heading into the final hour on the demanding 3.74-mile Sebring InternationalRaceway road course. But by the checkered flag, both class race winners pulled away to victories of more than four seconds.
The No. 48 Paul Miller BMW, driven by German Max Hesse, Brit Dan Harper and Finn Jesse Krohn finished runner-up in the GTD PRO Class by a slight 4.907 seconds followed by the team’s No. 1 BMW co-driven by the American trio of Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi.
Ellis Delivers Winward Sebring Double with Late-Race Dramatics
Meanwhile in Grand Touring Daytona (GTD), Swiss driver Phillip Ellis pulled off perhaps the most dramatic move of the race to victory in the closing laps, his No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 passing Brit Jack Hawksworth in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 with less than 15 minutes remaining in the race.
The GTD class provided one of the more dramatic race outcomes with Ellis invoking a NASCAR-style “bump-and-run,” bumper tap on the leading No. 12 Lexus. The contact in Turn 5 was enough to allow him to maneuver around and pull away from what was a tight chase all day.
Ellis described the maneuver:
“I mean, it was just a good battle I think with the Ferrari and the Lexus for probably the last two hours. Was very tough, but that’s what this racing is, especially in IMSA,” he said.
“I think the drivers like it, I think the spectators like it. I think that’s what we should keep doing, as well.
“Obviously there was some rubbing here and there. That’s part of good racing. Nothing was over the limit. Just used whatever I had to use.”
Even then, the podium order was not fully decided until the very final seconds. The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus ended second with the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in third.
It marked the ninth IMSA victory for Ellis and Ward, and fifth for Dontje. Most have come in Michelin Endurance Cup races. Ellis laughed off any controversy over his pass.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t be happy if I lost first place either,” he said. “I understand that he’s not super happy with it.
“To be honest, I just gave him back what he gave me a couple laps before in Turn 7. He we all know Jack. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a great guy. But that’s how he races, as well. You reap what you sow.”
Unofficially the No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports team holds a 17-point advantage on the Sebring-winning GTD PRO class-winning AO Racing team. Meanwhile the No. 57 Winward Racing team takes a 41-point lead on the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team in the GTD class.
GTD competitors head next to the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 11-12, while GTD PRO is off until the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, May 9-11.
