Michael Shank Racing clinched their first victory in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Laguna Seca this weekend.

WTSCC

With the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans now less than three months away (11-15 June 2025), Inter Europol Competition showed they will be a force to be reckoned with at the French endurance classic by winning the LMP2 class at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. A significant victory for the Polish outfit who took the LMP2 honours at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary in 2023.

The North American season got off to an inauspicious start for Inter Europol Competition with a retirement in Daytona, but the team showed great resilience on the demanding, irregular surface of the Sebring International Raceway.&nbsp; Tom Dillmann, Bijoy Garg and Jeremy Clarke drove a masterful race in the #43 Oreca 07-Gibson to take the LMP2 prize. 
Team linchpin Dillmann was delighted with the performance. &ldquo;Really great feeling to win such an iconic race,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had pictured that bounce back in my dreams after Daytona and we did it!&nbsp; The race went as planned. We took care of the car for the first 10 hours while staying in the lead group before attacking when it mattered. Thank you to the the whole team and my teammates for the perfect execution.&rdquo;

Fielding a reshuffled lineup for the race, with the arrival of Bronze driver Clarke, the team found the right balance between performance and consistency. American Clarke showed great tenacity on his IMSA d&eacute;but, recovering from an unfortunate spin in qualifying, to put in a solid performance and keep the car in the mix.

<h2>A strong showing in the runup to the 24 Hours of Le Mans</h2>

Inter Europol Competition&rsquo;s win in Florida sends out a loud message to the team&rsquo;s rivals as the legendary French endurance race emerges on the horizon. The Polish outfit will field two LMP2 prototypes in Le Mans &ndash; #34 driven by Nicholas Boulle, Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Luca Ghiotto, and #43 with Jakub Smiechowski, Dillmann and Nick Yelloly &ndash; and are determined to repeat their 2023 showing when they won the LMP2 class in the Centenary race.

The 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans will feature a 17-strong field in LMP2 and promises a closely fought battle for victory. With their experience and grit, Inter Europol Competition will be a serious candidate in the quest for another prestigious triumph.

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Inter Europol Competition sharpens up for Le Mans with stellar Sebring showing

Barely three months ahead of its maiden 24 Hours of Le Mans appearance (11-15 June 2025), the Aston Martin Valkyrie put in an encouraging performance at the 12 Hours of Sebring that stoked the enthusiasm of the newcomer’s many fans.

After making its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/aston-martin-valkyrie-makes-its-first-official-outing-at-the-fia-wec-prologue-in-qatar-59370" target="_blank">official race d&eacute;but at the Qatar 1812 Km</a>, the opening round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, the Valkyrie took up the mammoth challenge of the 12 Hours of Sebring, the second race on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar. The bumpy surface of the Sebring International Raceway and the extreme difficulty of the event, the legendary race has earned a fearsome reputation.

But despite the daunting conditions, the #23&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/aston-martin-thor-team-unveils-valkyrie-livery-59319" target="_blank">Aston Martin Valkyrie</a> driven by Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis and Alex Riberas crossed the finish line in ninth place, three up from its grid position. Adam Carter,&nbsp; Aston Martin Head of Endurance, was delighted with the performance. &ldquo;Sebring is well renowned for being a tough test on any racecar, let alone a new hypercar,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But we were confident in the car&rsquo;s ability to go the distance, and the fact that it did it so well is a huge testament to everybody working on the programme and a good indicator of the inherent potential of the car. We are right at the beginning of this journey with Valkyrie, and of course there will be opportunities for improvement, but we have learned a huge amount and gathered an enormous amount of data that we can now take away and digest.&rdquo;

Aston Martin THOR Racing team exploited every lap to hone the development of the British hypercar. The data gathered at Sebring and in Qatar offer a solid basis on which to fine-tune the Valkyrie&rsquo;s setup and maximise its performance.

De Angelis, one of the #23 car&rsquo;s drivers, said: &ldquo;It is a rollercoaster of emotions to say the least. It&rsquo;s one of the hardest races I&rsquo;ve had [...] and we have clearly made good progress here.&rdquo;&nbsp;Teammate Riberas agreed:&nbsp;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an amazing feeling. We came here with really no expectations because we knew that Sebring was going to be one of the toughest challenges we would face as a team with a new car. We really didn&rsquo;t think we could come here and do what we just did &ndash; to finish the race, and not just that but in the top ten as well. It&rsquo;s unbelievable.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s a great start and this is only the beginning.&rdquo;

The Valkyrie&rsquo;s performance at the 12 Hours of Sebring marked a watershed in Aston Martin&rsquo;s Hypercar programme. Ian James, Aston Martin THOR Team Principal, emphasised its importance: &ldquo;Twelve hours around this place is momentous for us in terms of the programme. Every lap we do we learn something and we are going to come back stronger every time.&rdquo;

Next up for the Aston Martin Valkyrie are the Long Beach Grand Prix (12 April) in IMSA and the 6 Hours of Imola (20 April) in the FIA WEC. These races will offer a further opportunity to rack up experience and collect precious data with a view to the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans. Aston Martin&rsquo;s supporters and endurance fans everywhere can expect the performance of the Valkyrie&nbsp; to continue its upward trajectory.

Promising signs for the Aston Martin Valkyrie at Sebring

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Porsche 963 Hypercar has followed up on its 24 Hours of Daytona success in January by winning the 12 Hours of Sebring, the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. With less than three months to the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans (11-15 June 2025), this triumph strengthens the German manufacturer’s bid to see off Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot and Toyota – its rivals for overall victory in la Sarthe.

This weekend, the #7 Porsche 963 driven by Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor clinched a sparkling success in Florida. The Porsche Penske Motorsport trio claimed victory after a tough 12-hour fight that was neutralised times as temperatures topped 31&deg;C. This performance confirms the consistency and reliability of the German prototype on the back of its win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.

The race reached a dramatic climax in the final half-hour as Nasr withstood attacks from his main rivals following the final Full Course Yellow. With a perfectly executed strategy and flawless tyre and fuel management, Porsche Penske Motorsport took an overall 1-2 with Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet and K&eacute;vin Estre in the #6 sister car finishing just 2.239 seconds behind.

<h2>A performance that sets the tone for the 24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans</h2>

This Sebring victory strengthens Porsche&rsquo;s position as favourite for the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans &ndash; the fourth round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship. The manufacturer that holds the record for outright Le Mans wins (19) faces stiff competition, notable from Ferrari, winner in the last two years, as well as Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Toyota and Peugeot.

This Sebring success was extra-special for 2015 Le Mans-winner Tandy who joined the elite club of winners of the Triple Crown of Endurance (Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans): &ldquo;It feels amazing to win two races in a row [...] And to top it off, both Porsche 963 finished both races on the podium. Given the fierce competition, that&rsquo;s incredible. No mistakes, no penalties, no damage &ndash; today was simply a dream in endurance racing.&rdquo;

For Porsche, this first Sebring win since 2008 illustrates the strength of the manufacturer&rsquo;s ambitious project. Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport, beamed: &ldquo;The Porsche 963 has again upheld its reputation as the most successful LMDh car since the regulations were introduced. This is something we can all be very proud of.&rdquo; Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh, was equally enthusiastic: &quot;Victory at Daytona, and now Sebring: We&rsquo;ve won the 36 Hours of Florida! That was one of our most outstanding races, absolutely flawless. I&rsquo;m ecstatic. All the drivers and the entire team put in an incredibly strong effort: pit stops, strategy, car &ndash; everything went perfectly.&rdquo;

Porsche Penske Motorsport&rsquo;s back-to-back wins in the two Florida classics underlines the consistency and performance of the Porsche 963 in the IMSA championship. In the run-up to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the team is a serious candidate for a return to the top step of the podium. Porsche&rsquo;s last outright Le Mans victory dates back to 2017 when Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley took the honours in the 919 Hybrid.

We look forward to June to see if the German powerhouse can overcome the biggest carmakers on the planet and add a 20th win to its Le Mans track record.

Porsche 963 adds another legendary race to list of triumphs

A new-look Hyperpole will be introduced at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Get ready for a whole new level of excitement! Split over two days (11–12 June), the revised Hyperpole promises suspense, strategy and elimination. It’s an event in itself with on-track battles in every class and a frenetic fight for pole position. Don’t miss a second of the action!

In 2024, the 24 Hours of Le Mans served up an intense, closely fought race with no fewer than nine Hypercars finishing on the same lap. Starting near the front of the grid has never been so important in the quest for victory in the world&rsquo;s toughest endurance race. Qualifying therefore plays a crucial role in setting the tone before the race itself.

<h2>A multi-step&nbsp;Hyperpole process</h2>

The new two-day format, to be held on 11&ndash;12 June, is designed to ramp up the tension as the sessions progress and the field narrows down. On the Wednesday, after an initial Free Practice, the LMP2 and LMGT3 competitors set off for 30 minutes of Qualifying with a clear objective &ndash; to figure among the 12 fastest in each class that will compete in the Hyperpole run-off. A similar session will then take place for the Hypercars, but with 15 places up for grabs.

Two Hyperpole sessions &ndash; H1 and H2 &ndash; will be staged on the Thursday. In H1, the 12 LMP2 and 12 LMGT3 qualifiers will have 20 minutes to clock one of the eight fastest times and proceed to H2. This elimination format is repeated for the Hypercars, with the 15 quickest qualifiers facing off in H1 which will determine the 10 finalists. In H2, the survivors will have just 15 minutes in which to seek the perfect lap and achieve the best possible place on the grid.

<h2>Twice the thrills!</h2>

Splitting Hyperpole into two consecutive sessions is designed to create a thrilling experience for the fans and test the teams&rsquo; nerve and rapidity. With cars eliminated at every&nbsp;step, the slightest error can be costly. The shorter sessions (20 and 15 minutes) guarantee maximum intensity and force the drivers to adapt quickly to track conditions. Adaptability is a key skill for any endurance driver.

This new format is not only of benefit to the top class. LMP2 and LMGT3, more often the realm of amateurs and private teams, are thrust into the spotlight as this revolution challenges the whole grid and rewards performance in every class.

The 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans Hyperpole will conclude with a whole new ceremony. The fastest drivers will be invited on to the podium together with their team manager. A Hyperpole trophy will be presented to reward their performance and their determination to achieve pole position. No doubt that the enthusiastic 24 Hours of Le Mans crowd, ever eager to hail impressive feats, will give them a resounding cheer.

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<h2>Be there!</h2>

With this new strategic, spectacular format, fans will have the chance to witness two nights of thrilling track action before the actual race.&nbsp; The very best drivers and teams will pull out all the stops in their efforts to trim fractions of a second off their best lap time to make the cut.

Dyed-in-the-wool motorsport fans and Le Mans newcomers alike will be equally enthralled by the two days of unforgettable battles on the asphalt.&nbsp; Tickets for the 24 Hours of Le Mans Qualifying and Hyperpole sessions on 11&ndash;12 June 2025, as well as Eddy de Pretto (Wednesday) and Pascal Obispo (Thursday) in concert,&nbsp; are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/tickets" target="_blank">still available</a>. Don&#39;t miss this chance to see a piece of Le Mans history in the making!

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Don’t miss the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans Hyperpole!

For the Ligier JS P2 it is a third success, Extreme Speed Motorsports having won the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring with the car.

	It is also a third for Honda Performance Development, the competition division of Honda. John Pew and Ozz Negri were at the wheel. Both drivers will be making their Le Mans 24 Hours d&eacute;but on 18 June.

	<img class="imgVideo" id="4676" src="/wpphpFichiers/video/5727b7e1e5511-hqdefault.jpg" />

	C&eacute;cile Bonardel / ACO &mdash; Translated from French by Emma Paulay

	Video: YouTube - Honda Racing/HPD 
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24H LE MANS

IMSA - Michael Shank Racing win at Laguna Seca with the Ligier HPD (video)

Related News

Inter Europol Competition sharpens up for Le Mans with stellar Sebring showing

Promising signs for the Aston Martin Valkyrie at Sebring

Porsche 963 adds another legendary race to list of triumphs

Don’t miss the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans Hyperpole!

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