What the winners had to say after the gripping Sebring 12 Hours
Deletraz spotted a gap, Zilisch's fuel save, and Hawksworth's elbows-out approach, read what the drivers had to say after battling the bumps
The 2024 Sebring 12 Hours was another IMSA WeatherTech Championship barnstormer, topped off by an incredible finish across all four classes. Late into the final hour, decisive moves, strategy calls, and defensive awareness secured victories at one of motorsport’s most brutal venues.
With an average winning margin of 0.696s, and 36 cars leading their respective classes at some point, this race more than backed-up the spectacle at Daytona.
Read what the race-winners, and the overall runner-up, had to say in the moments after standing on the podium, spraying the champagne, and writing their names into the sportscar history books.
Oh, and the reason why Connor Zilisch has his thumbs down in the article header is that the 17-year-old wasn’t given champagne to spray on the podium, instead handed a bottle of sparkling cider (non-alcoholic).
Louis Deletraz - GTP Winner, #40 WTRA Acura
Louis, since you did a little bit of the heavy lifting at the very end, talk about what it meant to bring it home.
Louis Deletraz: “The car was really strong in the end. I knew we were in a position to win. Which to be fair was a lot of pressure. I've never really done that. Daytona was my first time and that's my second time finishing an IMSA race.
“I just obviously wanted to win and bring points for the championship. I saw I had the opportunity. Seb was tough, but fair, so thanks to him. Yeah, in the end I saw the gap, I went for it, I had more pace and we won. That's fantastic. I think I'll remember this one for a long time.
Tell us about the move on Sebastien Bourdais for the win, did you think there were other opportunities on other parts of the track as well?
LD: “Every time I got close, there was a yellow pretty much, which is not helping me. I saw I was strong on braking, especially the low speed, T7, T10. He was close, defending well on the inside. I was on the outside, he squeezed me off. I realised quickly I was never going to make it on the outside, which fair enough. It's IMSA racing, it's tough.
“I thought about it, saw a gap in seven. I went for it. Bleed off the brake, try to avoid him crossing back. I think we had more contact on the straight. Again, hard racing, but I think fair. We both made it to the flag.
“If he didn't respect me, we'd both be in the wall. I’m really thankful for that.”
We've seen drivers come here to Sebring and make a name for themselves. Do you feel like you did that tonight?
LD: “I think it's not up to me to say that. I'm very happy and very proud. Again, to do it with the team that gave me an opportunity a year ago, brought me to the team as an endurance driver, gave me a chance to go full-time, gave me my first factory drive. I'm very thankful to be able to achieve that together.”
Sebastien Bourdais - P2 in GTP, #01 Cadillac Racing
Seb, obviously you guys had a pretty strong day throughout, then there at the end, do you want to take us through what went down there from your seat?
Sebastien Bourdais: “It was maybe not as straightforward as we would have liked. We had some electronics issues at some point. You saw the car slowing down. I was really worried this was going to happen again.
“We kind of had an EBS failure time and time again. We tried to do some defaults and every time it came back. We cleared it, then the motor stopped coming out of seven. That's where we lost the three spots to the two Acuras and the BMW.
“Yeah, got going again. We never heard of it anymore. That was kind of weird. I honestly don't really remember when it was but I think it was my second time in the car during my second stint. The rear brakes started to get on fire, the rear tire pressures take off. It didn't look pretty for a minute.
“But the guys did a great job. They debugged the problem and found a solution, we got going and are there in the end. That's all you can ask for.”
Did you think the racing at the end could have been a little cleaner?
SB: “Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Louis seems to think that I was the instigator. I'm a little shocked. Definitely, that was way too many contacts. Both sides of the floor, toward the rear, are significantly damaged.
“I think we can both be pretty lucky it didn't rip a stem of a wheel because we probably could have picked up a puncture four or five times during the last few laps there.
“I'm not really accustomed to that and not a big fan of it. To be honest, I don't think he needed it because he had so much pace anyway. Hats off to them, they had the package at the end to make the difference. We just had to settle for second.”
Connor Zilisch - LMP2 Winner, #18 ERA Motorsports
Connor, talk about getting the call to close out another win, adding to your victory at Daytona in January.
Connor Zilisch: “It's an honor for the team to trust me, give me the chance to go out there and show them what I have at the end. The team was on it with the strategy calls all day. It was really tough to pass and it was kind of just whoever could get track position, get to the lead, was going to end up winning.
“About an hour to go, we were all running in a train. I knew I wasn't going to pass them, so I just started saving fuel, and was going to wait for the last pit stop.
“I was in seventh, we were coming to the green on the restart about 45 minutes to go. I was the fourth car to come out of the seven in line. Thankfully I'd been saving enough fuel, when I came out, we were leading those four cars that came in. We jumped those three guys.
“I didn't pass anybody on track at all the last hour and a half. I passed one car, but then he passed my right back. Honestly, I did no passing. It was all strategy.
“I literally said on the radio when that second caution came out with 30 minutes to go or whatever, There is literally zero chance we're in the lead right now.
“They're like, no, you're the leader. I was like, You've got to be shitting me. There is no way.
“Pretty unreal to get two wins in my first two WeatherTech starts. Just super thankful that they gave me an opportunity to come here and do this. It's been a dream come true. I've definitely had worse days in my life.”
Jack Hawksworth - GTD PRO Winner, #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus
Jack, the battle at the end, I heard some people were not particularly happy with the way it all went down, maybe a bit too physical. What was your take on that?
Jack Hawksworth: “I mean, everything seemed all right after the race. It is what it is, it's hard racing at the end of the race. You're racing for the Twelve Hours of Sebring. At the end of the day we're racing to win. Nothing beyond the line, if that makes sense. I got roughed around a bit, lost positions, other times I won positions.
“This is IMSA racing. It's hard-fought. There's a bit of rubbish racing, right? This is what we do over here. We come out on top. If people want to cry, they can.
“These races are crazy, right? These long races, IMSA races, the way the ruleset is, the way that it comes down to the last two hours, the last hour, 20 minutes. You have to make hay in the last four hours of that race, right? It was restart, restart, restart.
“There's a lot of cars out there. Everybody wants to win. Yeah, you go out there and I feel like the way IMSA run the race, it's fair, hard racing. Look, nobody ran into the back of anybody. No one dumping anyone out there. Just hard race, side to side. This is what racing is. I like it. Worked out well today.”
Philip Ellis - GTD Winner, #57 Winward Racing Mercedes
Philip, the last hour of the race, you were in the lead. Full course yellow after full course yellow, restart after restart with the Cetilar Ferrari right in your wheel tracks. Talk about getting all those restarts right and managing to win by only a matter of tenths.
Philip Ellis: “It was definitely not comfortable. I was actually hoping for the safety car to come out when I saw the Corvette standing in turn three.
“Initially I battled with Elliott [Skeer] a lot as well in the Porsche in the restarts. At that point we were trying to save fuel because we wouldn't have made it to the end on green flag racing.
“It was actually tough to keep the pack behind you and save as much fuel as you can.
“That was a bit of a different ballgame compared to the last two restarts. I had the Ferrari behind me. Initially I thought I could pull a little bit of a gap on him, but probably the last 10 laps or so in the race he was pulling back on me.
“I was a little bit nervous. I really didn't know how much else he had, maybe he could have gotten to me. We certainly saw that we were a bit weaker in certain corners compared to other cars, which makes it a little bit vulnerable when fighting.
“I think it helped with the GTPs coming through as well, opened up a bigger gap for me. I think it was a great fight with Elliott and Antonio [Fuoco].”