Audi R18 e-tron quattro sweeps at Sebring

The heat was on in Florida at the Sebring International Raceway this weekend as the 12 Hours of Sebring saw records set in several categories.

The star of the race was the Audi Sport team in their No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro GT, which became the first hybrid car to win at Sebring and in the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron. Driven by Marcel Fassler, Benoit Treluyer and Oliver Jarvis, the R18 e-tron quattro crossed the line, beating sister car No. 2, which placed second. The winning driver was Treluyer, who took the final two stints of the endurance track. Third place went to Rebellion Racing in their No. 12 Lola-Toyota driven by Neel Jani, Nick Heidfeld and Nico Prost.

In the GT class, Corvette Racing set a new placeholder, with the No. 4 Corvette C6 ZR1 driven by Oliver Gavin and Richard Westbrook, taking the win for the first time since 2009, marking Corvette's return to prominence in the GT. The Corvette narrowly beat the Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia.

A new Sebring record in the Level 5 Motorsports category was set by Ryan Briscoe, Marino Franchitti, and owner/driver Scott Tucker in the No. 551 Honda Performance Development ARX-03b, who crossed the line in first place to tie a previous record and marking Tucker's fourth consecutive class win. The team's No. 552 car came in second, driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay, Simon Pagenaud, and double-duty driver Tucker. Greaves Motorsports with Tom-Kimber Smith, Christian Zugel and Eric Lux finished third.

The PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports No. 52 ORECA FLM09 made the team's first-ever win in the Prototype Challenge presented by Continental Tire, passing second place winner BAR1 Motorsports.

The GT Challenge was won for the second straight year by Alex Job Racing in their No. 22 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, driven by Jeroen Bleekemolen, Cooper MacNeil, and Dion von Moltke who dominated the race early and vied closely with No. 66, which lost its position during refueling, so second went to the No. 45 Porsche from Flying Lizard Motorsports.

This year's 12 Hours of Sebring saw an average speed from the Audi R8 e-tron quattro of 113.416 miles per hour, a 12 hour, 11.638 second total race time, a victory margin of 7.679 seconds and 21 lead changes throughout.