The Sebring road circuit is the oldest United States and the 12 Hours of Sebring this year celebrate its 60th race with the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship by the FIA ​​on the 17th of March. A training base for B-17 Flying Fortresses during World War II, the outline of the track has evolved over the years to the current 3.70 miles (5.95km). The surface alternates between concrete and tarmac, which is the hallmark of Sebring.

The Sebring circuit has officially existed since 1952 and for thirty years, it remained virtually unchanged - the only change being the Green Park chicane created in 1967 - to 5.2 miles (8.37 km). It used two runways of the airbase and it was common to see planes take off during the race, the regional airport nearby retaining part of the infrastructure of the airbase.

In 1983, the track was reduced to 4.75 miles (7.64 km) to bypass a piece of track that was always used (the circuit is still ongoing!) When the circuit was not open before recovering to 4.86 miles (7.82 kilometers) between 1984 and 1986 when the long straight of Ulmann (see article) has been moved to enlarge the paddock.

Major work will be undertaken in the late 80's to make the permanent circuit. One of the two runways had been destroyed and replaced by a paved portion and the interior layout (the infield) of the first bend to the curve Collier (see article) has been completely redesigned. The last change was in 1998 when the pin 7 of the turn has been planed.

Today, the portion of the last corner to the end of the pit straight, and the portion between the corners 15 and 16, are always concrete, while the rest of the circuit is covered with tarmac. However, despite the resurfacing, the track is very bumpy which makes engineers say that if the car holds 12 Hours at Sebring, it will take 24 Hours at Le Mans! We understand why many teams line up in the classic endurance ...

Cécile Bonardel