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33-756: They have competed in many series, including the Le Mans Series , French Formula Three Championship , British Formula 3 Championship and the Superleague Formula . Highlights for the team include winning the World Series by Nissan Light Class in 2001 and the LMP2 class in the 2006 Le Mans Series season . In 2008 and 2009, the team competed in the Le Mans Series championship with drivers Fernando Rees , Michael Vergers and Juan Barazi . They have also been regulars at

66-433: A circuit of Sebring's age. The race is known as preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans , as the track's technical layout and extremely bumpy surface, combined with south-central Florida's perennial hot weather, is a major test of a car's reliability. Teams planning to compete at Le Mans regard Sebring as an ideal preparation run for the prestigious French race. In recent years, six overall victories have been achieved by

99-639: A twenty-nine car field was announced, with eleven in the LMP2 class, ten in the LM GTE class, and five in the new GTC class, which used GT3 technical rules. The calendar featured five races with a duration of 3 hours. In 2014, the LMPC class was dropped and all races were expanded to 4 hours. The 2015 season saw the introduction of the new LMP3 prototype class with cars built from Ligier , Ginetta , ADESS & Norma . Each of these cars chassis are powered by 5.0L Nissan V8 naturally aspirated engines ( VK50VE ) In 2016,

132-608: Is a road racing course styled after those used in European Grand Prix motor racing . The first race was a six-hour race on New Year's Eve 1950. The winning car is currently on display at the Edge Motor Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The next race was held 14 months later as the first 12 Hours of Sebring. The race is famous for its "once around the clock" action, starting during the day and finishing at night. From 1953 to 1972

165-529: The 1000km Monza , 1000km Nürburgring , 1000 km Silverstone and the Spa 1000 km . Many competitors participated, making the racing very exciting. 2005 saw the series expand to a five race format with the addition of the Istanbul Racing Circuit . In 2007 , the Le Mans Series held its first and single overseas race in the continent of South America with Mil Milhas Brasil as the sixth round. In 2010,

198-465: The 24 Hours of Le Mans for each class winner. To aid in the development of the ELMS, the 2001 season shared some races between both ALMS and ELMS. The 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans , normally ALMS races, were considered optional races for ELMS teams. At the same time, the ELMS races at Donington Park and Jarama were considered optional for ALMS teams. This allowed for the possibility of boosting

231-515: The 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the former American Le Mans Series (ALMS) based in the United States and Canada that was running with ACO and IMSA between 1999 and 2013. ELMS team champions and runners-up receive an automatic entry to the following year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. Originally titled

264-624: The 24 Hours of Le Mans race. In 2009 they ran the Olympique Lyonnais car in Superleague Formula . In 2010 they are running the cars of GD Bordeaux and Galatasaray S.K. The Barazi-Epsilon FR2.0-10 is the spec Formula Renault 2.0 car since 2010, it replaced the Tatuus FR2000 which was raced since 2000. The car is used in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC . A Renault Sport tuned Renault F4R powers

297-560: The 4 Hours of Silverstone race would be dropped from the calendar due to a date not being able to be found. The 4 Hours of Barcelona would also be replaced by a second 4 Hours of Le Castellet race at Circuit Paul Ricard . New ACO Generation II LMP3 ruleset regulation built cars were also eligible for the LMP3 Class in the category featuring manufactured chassis's such as the Ginetta G61-LT-P3 , Ligier JS P320 , Duqueine D-08 , and

330-536: The ADESS-03 Evo all of which use a VK56DE 5.6L Nissan V8 naturally aspirated engine. In the 2021 season of the ELMS a LMP2 Pro-Am Cup Trophy was introduced aimed at teams who have bronze rated contracted drivers. In the 2023 season of the ELMS, it marks as the last season of the LMGTE class as it will be replaced with a GT3-Specification class to be known as LMGT3 starting in the year 2024 season with Goodyear being

363-510: The Audi R8 , one fewer than the record seven wins of the Porsche 935 . Tom Kristensen has won the race more times than anyone else, with six victories—in 1999 – 2000 , 2005 – 2006 , 2009 and in 2012 . 2020 saw the race be rescheduled to mid-November due to delays caused by the pandemic . It was the only season where Sebring was run twice in a season. In July, as part of restarting

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396-664: The Formula Le Mans Cup was integrated into the Le Mans Series, running alongside Le Mans Prototype cars and GT cars. As the FIA World Endurance Championship was reestablished in 2012, the ELMS had a reduced car count including officially dropping the LMP1 Prototype class from the category and its calendar was reduced to three rounds in Paul Ricard, Donington Park and Road Atlanta (Petit Le Mans). For 2013,

429-617: The Le Mans Endurance Series before becoming simply the Le Mans Series in 2006, the series was renamed once more in 2012, reusing a name previously utilized by IMSA in 2001 . When he was allowed to bring the rules and racing formulae of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to North America with the creation of the Petit Le Mans in 1998, Don Panoz attempted to build a series inspired by the Petit Le Mans. The aged IMSA GT Championship

462-563: The Nürburgring and Silverstone Circuit , as well as a round in Australia. These races would serve as a precursor to what would become the separate European Le Mans Series in 2001. The European Le Mans Series was launched for 2001 with five races, including a premier 1000 km race at Estoril , which would be the European equivalent of the 1000 mile Petit Le Mans and earn automatic entries to

495-699: The 12 Hour was a round of the FIA's premier sports car series which was contested under various names including the World Sportscar Championship and the International Championship for Makes. In the 1950s, in addition to Le Mans, Sebring was on the calendar at the same time now-legendary races such as the Mille Miglia , Targa Florio , Carrera Panamericana and the RAC Tourist Trophy were on

528-830: The 2001 season. The ACO was not completely satisfied with the fact that IMSA did not fully comply with the ACO's regulations in order to help attract privateer teams, as well as the failure of the FIA Sportscar Championship to succeed in Europe. Seeing the success of the American Le Mans Series, the ACO decided that a series run by themselves would be a better alternative for Europe. The ACO would instead attempt to attract factory backed teams with longer endurance races than ALMS and FIA SCC ran. The series would also be European based instead of international, thus it could be closer to

561-627: The GTC class was dropped from the series and moved to a new support series, the GT3 Le Mans Cup . This tournament was held on the same weekends as the European Le Mans Series 4-hour events, as well as on the same week as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with shorter races than the ELMS. In 2017, it was established by ACO that the lower teams from LMP3 would drop to the year's Michelin Le Mans Cup , while

594-467: The LMES championship would go on to earn automatic entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans , similar to the American Le Mans Series. The series was initially previewed in an open race run under the LMES banner in 2003 at the 1000km of Le Mans , a one-off event before the season started in 2004. For the 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series , the series participated in four events, including resurrecting classic races like

627-659: The Warehouse Straight near the Webster Turns, killing four spectators and then crashing into a warehouse next to the track. Subsequent to these events, the facilities were upgraded and the circuit layout was changed, including eliminating the Webster Turns and creating the Green Park Chicane further down the track to move the straight further away from the airport warehouses. The circuit was made safer, and there have only been 4 fatalities since then—a remarkable record for

660-720: The World Sportscar Championship calendar, such was the prestige of the Sebring race. It was also the most important American race for the European teams and drivers and was the center of European racing activity in the United States; it was the only time during the 1950s that the big European manufacturer teams and drivers came to the United States in force, bringing with them considerable international media attention—the United States Formula One Grand Prix

693-473: The best LMP3 teams from this competition would be promoted to ELMS. During this year's season new ACO LMP2 Prototype Class regulations were introduced with licensed manufacturers such as Dallara , Onroak Automotive (Ligier), Oreca and the joint-venture Riley Tech / Multimatic with Gibson Technology being the exclusive engine supplier. In 2020, with the season heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic ,

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726-414: The car. The Formula Premium is a junior formula racecar designed for racing schools and junior racing classes. The car was designed in 2012 for the 2013 Formula Premium series. The car features a 1,6L Renault engine, also seen in the Formula Renault 1.6 . European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS ) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by

759-434: The draw from international teams to either series. The series was unable to earn much attention from European sportscar teams, especially since the final FIA Sportscar Championship and FIA GT Championship series used similar cars, but different rules which would require teams to modify their cars or buy new cars to comply with ELMS rules. For the ELMS events that included ALMS teams, very few teams actually bothered to make

792-539: The end. Gurney pushed his car over the finish line, beaten only by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby . However, his actions were ultimately determined to be against the rules and he did not receive credit for his finish. In 2005, the Chevrolet Corvette C6.R and Aston Martin DBR9 made their race debut in the hotly contested GT1 class, with Aston Martin winning its class for the first time in 49 years at Sebring ahead of

825-496: The exclusive tyre supplier. 12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway , on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida , US. In the past, this race has been a round of the now defunct World Sportscar Championship , IMSA GT Championship and American Le Mans Series . In 2012,

858-567: The factories of many sportscar teams to help attract them to the series. In 2003, the ACO announced their intentions to create their own European-based series, named the Le Mans Endurance Series, which would be similar to the original European Le Mans Series, but feature only 1000 km races instead of the shorter, 2 hour 45 minute races used by the ELMS, and fewer races in a season than the ALMS and FIA SCC to help keep costs down. Winners of

891-552: The race was the opening event of the FIA World Endurance Championship in a one off race before being returned back to the American Le Mans Series for 2013. Starting in 2014, the event became the second round of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship . The race is considered to be one of the three legs of the informal Triple Crown of endurance racing along with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Daytona . The track opened in 1950 on an airfield and

924-525: The season, a three-hour race was held in July with spectators. IMSA allowed spectators for this race. Races up until 1969 began with the traditional Le Mans start procedure, which was abolished at the end of the 1969 season following Jacky Ickx protesting at Le Mans 1969; 1970 was the first 12 Hours of Sebring started with a rolling start. The 1966 race had Dan Gurney leading at the last lap, when his engine of his Shelby American Ford GT40 Mk II seized near

957-463: The trip across the Atlantic to participate in races that appeared to have very few serious competitors. Thus the entry lists for each race fell from 25 at the beginning of the season to a mere 14 at season's end, with some classes only having one or two competitors. With a lack of involvement from teams, and less interest from the media due to the lack of teams, the European Le Mans Series folded following

990-463: The two Corvettes. Corvette had dominated the class the past three years with its previous generation C5R. The all-new Audi R10 TDI won the 2006 edition of the race, the car's first ever run in competition. The much-hyped Porsche RS Spyder campaigned by Penske Racing dropped to take 2nd place in its LMP2 class, behind the Intersport Lola car. The GT1 Corvette C6R team got their revenge against

1023-479: Was a turning point in Sebring history, as the facilities and the safety of the circuit were heavily criticized. Five people were killed during the race, more than in the race's prior 15-year history combined. Bob McLean crashed while approaching the hairpin ; his car rolled several times, struck a utility pole and then exploded, landing in a ditch and killing McLean. In another incident Mario Andretti in his Ferrari 365 P2 tangled with Don Wester's Porsche 906 on

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1056-432: Was not run until 1959. Top drivers who competed on the European circuit in the 1950s such as Juan Manuel Fangio , Alberto Ascari , Nino Farina , Stirling Moss and Mike Hawthorn all raced at Sebring, and the 1957 Sebring 12 Hours was the only American race the 5-time world champion Fangio ever won. In its early years, the Sebring circuit combined former airport runways with narrow two-lane service roads. The 1966 event

1089-405: Was taken over and became the new American Le Mans Series, and met with much success in 1999 . Europe had lacked a major sports prototype series since the demise of the World Sportscar Championship in 1992. Following the success of the ALMS, Panoz attempting to bring sports prototype racing back to Europe. This led to the 2000 American Le Mans Series season , which included two races in Europe as

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