'Rexy’ pulls through in an eventful 12 hours of Sebring: “Ticking that off the list was one of the big goals”

A twisty road where mistakes are directly punished by brutal gravel traps and patches of grass on the side of the road, a true old-school racetrack in Florida. It is the Sebring International Raceway that set the scene for an absolute classic in endurance racing, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Defending champions in the GTD Pro-class, the no. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT.R, had to set things right in the second round of the IMSA championship after a disappointing result at the season opener, the 24 hours of Daytona.

Rexy in the closing stages of the 12 hours of Sebring, retrieved from IMSA on X.

Sebring recap

Starting in second place, Laurin Heinrich was first to take the wheel of the dinosaur livery Porsche nicknamed ‘Rexy’. Maintaining second place throughout his first stint at the Florida circuit. The German proceeded to hand the no. 77 over to teammate Alessio Picariello just one hour into the race. Multiple incidents had occurred in the opening part of the race, keeping the pack close together under full course yellows. Picariello held up the majority of the GTD Pro cars, fending off Verhagen’s no. 1 BMW for most of his stint, eventually at a third full course yellow restart the BMW took the lead of Belgian Porsche driver.

After the fifth caution, about four hours into the race, things started to work against the green Porsche. With Heinrich back in the driving seat, the no. 77 had dropped to fifth place with two BMW’s and the no. 4 Corvette of Catsburg ahead. The no. 64 Mustang of Rockenfeller had just come out on top in a fierce battle with the no. 1 BMW and was leading the race. As Picariello jumped in for another stint, the Belgian had gained positions in the pit stop phase and now found himself in a second place but threatened from behind by the second GTD Pro BMW car.

Night falls in Florida

Towards the final hour, the BMW and Porsche drivers remained setting nearly identical lap times. The sun set and the humid circumstances from early in the race quickly faded away as the track temperature dropped. The no. 88 LMP-2 car was caught out by the cold tarmac and caused a new caution period. In complete darkness, it would be Klaus Bachler fending off Snow for third place in the no. 77 Porsche. Quickly after their battle came to a halt, Heinrich replaced his Austrian teammate and took Rexy onto a dash to the finish line.

The final hour saw Heinrich take the lead once more, the battle with the #48 BMW remained close however, as Hesse matched Rexy’s times for quite a while. Ultimately however, the GTD-Pro track record would be broken by the German Porsche driver in 2.00.451, which allowed the breather long sought after in the endurance event. As the finish line approached, Heinrich managed to stretch the gap to over four seconds to Hesse in second place in the GTD-Pro class.

Alessio Picariello (left), Klaus Bachler (middle), and Laurin Heinrich (right) after claiming victory at the 12 hours of Sebring in the no. 77 Porsche 'Rexy', retrieved from Porsche Motorsport on X.

Happiness all around

As Laurin Heinrich got out of his race-winning machine, he immediately complimented the team effort throughout the event. The German highlighted how the setup of the car was great all around but got especially fast as the sun set and track temperatures dropped, allowing him to take the pedal to the mettle in the closing stages of the race. The 23-year-old also complimented his teammates, Alessio Picariello and Klaus Heinrich, for their stunning pace in their respective stints. Lastly, he touched upon the personal goals in his racing career: "It means so much to me, because last year we could win the championship, but we won only three races, and we didn't win any of the big endurance classics like Daytona, Sebring or Petit [Le Mans], so now ticking that off the list was one of the big goals coming into the season for me."