12 Hours of Sebring
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The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race held at Sebring Raceway, a former Air Force base in Sebring, Florida. The track opened in 1950 and is a road racing course styled after those used in European Grand Prix motor racing. The race is now considered one of the premier endurance races in the United States and is famous for its "once around the clock" action, starting during the day and finishing at night.
The first race on New Year's Eve of 1950 was won by Frits Koster and Ralph Deshon in a Crosley Hot Shot. [1] (http://www.ggw.org/~cac/Sebring/Sebring.html) The race has a rich history, as legendary drivers such as Moss, Fangio, Ickx, and Andretti and manufacturers such as Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, and Ford have all been victorious.
The race is now the season opening event in the American Le Mans Series and is known as an excellent preparation for the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans. The track's extremely rough surface, combined with South Florida's perrenial hot weather, is a true test of a car's reliability. Overall victory has been achieved by the all-conquering Audi R8 an unprecedented six times in a row.
In 2005, the Chevrolet_Corvette C6R and Aston Martin DB9R made their race debut in the hotly contested GT1 class, with Aston Martin winning for the first time 49 years at Sebring ahead of the two Corvettes. Corvette had dominated the class the past three years with its previous generation C5R.
de:12-Stunden-Rennen von Sebring