The 75 Most Successful Drivers in the History of the 12 Hours of Sebring To Be Announced in Advance of the Historic 75th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
SEBRING, Fla. – Mario Andretti (Photo by Rainer Schlegelmilch) headlines a list of 75 drivers selected to the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring all-time greatest driver list, which will be released in groups of 15 drivers now through January.
The list of the most successful drivers in the history of the grueling Sebring race was debated and voted on by a 10-person panel of sports car racing experts, and its number of drivers selected coincides with the 75th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring March 20, 2027. The first 12-hour race at Sebring International Raceway was March 15, 1952. Since then, only once has the race not been held – in 1974 due to the worldwide energy crisis.
The 75 selected drivers have been divided evenly into randomly drawn lists of 15. The first 15 drivers announced from the list of 75 are:
• Bob Akin
• Mario Andretti
• Joao Barbosa
• Geoff Brabham
• Derek Daly
• Phil Hill
• Bruce Jennings
• Sascha Maassen
• John Morton
• Jim Pace
• Hans Stuck
• Nick Tandy
• Richard Thompson
• Fermin Velez
• Andy Wallace
Bob Akin – Bob Akin made 10 starts in the 12 Hours of Sebring between 1978 and 1987. The native New Yorker started all 10 of those Sebring events in a Porsche, twice winning overall – his first in 1979 with co-drivers Rob McFarlin and Roy Woods, and the second in 1986 alongside Hans Stuck and Jo Gartner. It was during this second win that Akin, Stuck and Gartner set a record winning average speed at Sebring that stood for 23 years.
Mario Andretti – Mario Andretti made the most of his six starts in the 12 Hours of Sebring by winning three overall titles and scoring a class victory in a fourth start. His overall wins came in 1967, 1970 and 1972, with his 1970 title in the famed No. 21 Ferrari 512S, considered by many to be the most famous Sebring race in history. Though he started the race from pole in the No. 19 team car, late in the race Andretti retired the car with gearbox issues. Later, the Ferrari team made the difficult decision to replace Ignazio Giunti with Andretti for the final sprint to the finish, and while many dramatics followed, essentially Andretti passed and edged Peter Revson by 23.8 seconds for victory, which at the time the closest margin of victory in the history of the race.
Joao Barbosa – Portuguese driver Joao Barbosa ran his first of 14 races at Sebring in 2000, scoring his first class victory in the 2012 combined race with the World Endurance Championship (WEC) where he was in the first P2 car with Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut to cross the finish line in an ALMS entered car – fourth overall. He won the overall 12-Hour title in 2015 in the No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP with Christian Fittipaldi and Sebastien Bourdais, where the team finished as the only car on the lead lap and led 248 of the 340 laps of the race. It was seven years later in 2022 that Barbosa would again find the top step on the podium by winning an LMP3 title with Sean Creech Motorsport in a tight battle with two LMP3 entries finishing on the lead lap after nearly 1,238 miles of competition.
Geoff Brabham – In a span of four years – 1989-1992 – Australian Geoff Brabham made four starts in a Nissan GTP car and took overall victories twice – 1989 and 1991. In 1989 he was paired with Chip Robinson and Arie Luyendyk, and it was Brabham who put the Nissan on pole and led the first 69 laps of the race. His victory in 1991 was with Derek Daly and his brother Gary Brabham. Although he is synonymous with the No. 83 car, his second-place overall finish in 1990 came in the No. 84 Nissan with co-drivers Chip Robinson and Derek Daly, while the No. 83 Nissan took overall honors. His only other Sebring start also resulted in a second-place finish in 1992.
Derek Daly – Ireland’s Derek Daly may own the strongest winning percentage of any driver with multiple starts in the history of the 12 Hours of Sebring. Having won two of three starts in the race and claiming an overall second-place finish in the third, Daly’s average finish at Sebring of 1.33 will be hard to surpass. His first win came in his first attempt in 1990, driving with Bob Earl in the No. 83 Nissan GTP. That same year he spent time in the No. 84 team car and was also credited with a runner up finish. He won again the following year with Geoff Brabham and Gary Brabham again in the No. 83 Nissan NPT-90 and in 1992 finished second overall to the No. 99 Toyota Eagle Mk III driver by Juan Fangio II and Andy Wallace.
Phil Hill – The great Phil Hill, born in nearby Miami, Florida and raised in California, experienced the early years of the 12 Hours of Sebring, racing 13 times from 1953 through 1966. He captured overall titles in 1958, 1959 and 1961, and class victories in 1955, 1962 and 1963. All those accomplishments came in Ferraris except in 1963 when he joined Lew Spencer and Ken Miles in a Shelby Cobra to win the GTO class. While Hill’s place on this list is due to his accomplishments at Sebring alone, he also was the first driver in history to complete the Triple Crown of Endurance Racing by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Bruce Jennings – Bruce Jennings was an 18-time competitor in the 12 Hours of Sebring, winning one time in class – 1962. What he lacked in overall wins, he made up for in determination, being arguably one of the most competitive and successful privateer racers for much of his career. Jennings’ first-ever race at Sebring in 1962 resulted in a class victory and third-place overall finish. Although he would not win overall or take a class victory again in 18 total starts, he was no stranger to victory lane, claiming five additional podium finishes at Sebring. His last race at Sebring was 1981.
Sascha Maassen – Sascha Maassen won five times in the 12 Hours of Sebring, including an incredible four consecutive years from 2001-2004 while driving for Alex Job Racing. His final Sebring victory came in 2010. While still in a Porsche, this victory came in the LMP2 driving for Muscle Milk Team Cytosport. Along the way, he also won pole twice at Sebring during his streak of victories for Alex Job Racing. Each of his 13 races at Sebring were in Porsches, including three with Penske, two with Paul Miller and his final start with Competition Motorsports.
John Morton – What John Morton lacked in total wins at Sebring he made of for in tenacity. His loan overall victory at the legendary circuit came 30 years after his debut as a teammate to none other than Ken Miles. In 1964 Miles vouched for the unlicensed Morton as a co-driver in the No. 1 Shelby American Corp. Cobra (the duo failed to finish the race and retired after 81 laps), and in 1994 he partnered with the world-class team of Johnny O’Connell and Steve Millen to take the overall victory in the No. 75 Nissan 300 ZX. The three drivers partnered together multiple times at Sebring and won class victories in 1993 and 1995.
Jim Pace – Jim Pace was a regular visitor to victory lane throughout the 1990s at Sebring International Raceway. His first trip came with a class victory – and seventh place overall finish – in the 1991 12 Hours of Sebring driving the Miller Genuine Draft Buick Kudzu with Charles Morgan. Three additional podium finishes came in 1994, 1995 and 1997. But the highlight of his Sebring career was undoubtedly his 1996 pairing with Wayne Taylor and Eric Van de Poele in the No. 4 Riley & Scott Oldsmobile Mk III for Doyle Racing that the trio carried to an overall victory.
Hans Stuck – Hans Stuck is a three-time winner at the legendary Sebring circuit, with his first win coming in 1975 driving for the factory BMW team, the first win in the United States for the celebrated German manufacturer. His second Sebring win came in 1986, driving the famed Coke Porsche 962 with Bob Akin and Jo Gartner, and his third and final overall win came in 1988 in the Bayside Porsche 962 with Klaus Ludwig. Often referred to as the “Rainmaster” for his ability to race on wet tracks, he put that skill to the test in the 1993 Sebring 12 Hours recording a class win driving a Porsche in a heavy rain. His second class victory came in 1996 – giving him a total of five total Sebring victories (three overall and two class) – at America’s oldest endurance race.
Nick Tandy – For much of his career it seemed Nick Tandy was content with winning races and GT titles in a factory Porsche. In fact, the Englishman did just that somewhat regularly from his first race in 2014, winning class titles with the Porsche GT Team in a Porsche 911 RSR in 2018, 2019 and 2020. In 2023 he joined the Porsche Penske team in the brand new Porsche 963 prototype which gave him an opportunity to finally add an overall victory to his list of amazing driving accomplishments. That achievement was finally realized in 2025 as the long-time Porsche factory driver teamed with Felipe Nasr and Laurens Vanthoor to edge their Penske team car by just 2.2 seconds to take the overall win. Tandy now has one overall victory, three class wins and five podium finishes in 12 starts at Sebring.
Richard Thompson – Richard Thompson was nicknamed the “Flying Dentist,” given his profession as a dentist and his passion for auto racing. His first race was the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1952. What may have been a spur-of-the-moment decision, he drove his 1950 MG-TD from his Washington D.C. home to Sebring, finished eighth in the race, and then drove the car home. He entered the 12 Hours 14 times, driving in a wide variety of car manufacturers including Corvette, Maserati, Ferrari, MG, Shelby Cobra, Ford GT and others. He also drove for legendary car owners including Briggs Cunningham and Roger Penske. His best overall finish was in his first attempt – eighth – and he won his class twice – 1952 and 1957.
Fermin Velez – Spaniard Fermin Velez made only six appearances at Sebring, winning overall titles twice in a Ferrari 333SP, the first in 1995 teaming with Andy Evans and Eric Van de Poele, and the second time the following year, again driving for Team Scandia in the Ferrari 333SP with Andy Evans, but this time joined by Yannick Delmas and Stefan Johansson. His final start at Sebring was two years later with Team Scandia, driving with Van de Poele and Wayne Taylor, but the group could only manage a second-place finish in the top class, and a sixth-place finish overall.
Andy Wallace – Englishman Andy Wallace didn’t win every 12 Hours of Sebring he entered, but he normally wasn’t far down the running order in any of the 19 events in which he competed. In fact, almost more impressive than his two overall victories and two additional class wins was the fact he was only outside the top 10 finishing order in four of his starts. Teaming with Juan Fangio II, Wallace won overall in 1992 and 1993 driving the Toyota Eagle Mk III both years. His first class victory came in 1994, where the Chevrolet Spice SC89 team of Wallace, Derek Bell and James Weaver finished second overall. His other class win followed four years later, which was again a second-place overall finish, driving the Ford Panoz GTR-1 with David Brabham.
The Next 15
The second 15 drivers on the 75th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring “Class of 75” list will be released on October 13. The third 15 will be announced on November 10, the fourth 15 on December 15 and the final 15 on January 12.
Tickets
All tickets, hospitality, car corral parking and reserved RV parking locations are in a renewal period through September 16. You can add your name to waiting lists for fan hospitality locations, car corrals and trackside RV parking at www.SebringRaceway.com. All General Admission tickets and parking passes will be on sale beginning October 1, and at that time, car corral and reserved RV parking locations will be assigned to those on waiting lists in the order they were added. Beginning October 1, Highlands County Resident tickets will be on sale with proof of residency, and they must be purchased in person at the raceway ticket office. Student and Military tickets must be purchased at the ticket office during race week.