The 12 Hours of Sebring: why is this competition special for Sebastian and Juan Pablo Montoya?

From 9:10 a.m. (Colombian time) this Saturday, March 19, the 12 Hours of Sebring will begin, an American automobile competition held at the Sebring race, Florida, which consists of an endurance race of sport prototypes and grand touring cars.

In 2022 this race will have a particular Colombian participation with the presence of Juan Pablo Montoya and his son Sebastián Montoya, who will share a team with Swedish rider Henrik Hedman in the DragonSpeed team.

This sporting event has been held at the Sebring International Raceway in Florida since 1952, being one of the most important competitions of its kind in the Americas, along with the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 10 hours of the Petit Le Mans on Road Atlanta (Georgia).

For the first time, Sebastian and Juan Pablo will compete together in the 12 Hours of Sebring, which translates into a dream fulfilled for both coffee athletes.

Together with Hedman, father and son will be on board the LMP2 #81 of the DragonSpeed team, to face the 12 Hours of Sebring, a competition in which Juan Pablo was able to participate with the DPi #60 class, along with American rider Dane Cameron and French rider Olivier Pla, members of the Meyer Shank Racing and Curb-Agajanian teams, respectively.

Juan Pablo hopes to improve the third place achieved in 2021 when his team reached the finish line with 2,614 milliseconds apart from the list of French winners made up of Sébastien Bourdais, Loïc Duval and Tristan Vautier, who finished their 349 laps with a time of 12 hours, one minute and 1,418 thousandths of seconds.

This is how Sebastian Montoya, a 16-year-old driver, referred to the experience of competing with his 46-year-old father:

This race corresponds to the second valid race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and will be the 70th edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring that historically has the European teams Porsche, Ferrari and Audi leading in victories with 18, 12 and 11 victories, respectively.

The Montoya will not be the only Colombian drivers in competition. Bogota rider Gabby Chaves will also be on the grid of the competition and will compete for the third time this event. In this edition he will be driving Andretti Autosport's LMP3 Ligier JS P320 #36. His teammates will be Jarett Andretti and Josh Burdon.

Formerly, the 12 Hours of Sebring were part of the World Endurance Championship calendar (from 1953 to 1972 and in 1981) and the IMSA GT Championship (in 1973 and from 1975 to 1998).

From 1999 to 2013, it was the main race of the American Le Mans Series. In addition, it was scored for the European Le Mans Series in 2001, and in 2011 it was valid for the Le Mans Intercontinental Cup. In 2012 he scored again for the World Endurance Championship. From 2014 onwards, the race is the valid date of the United SportsCar Championship.

In dialogue with the Bogotá newspaper El Tiempo, Juan Pablo gave his impressions of the experience of sharing this competition with his son in the United States. This is how he referred to the challenge they have as teammates:

The experienced Bogotá motorist and recent champion of the 24 Hours of Le Mans does not want to put pressure on Sebastian with the results. Although at his young age he has had the opportunity to be in races suitable for his experience, this time he will have an even greater challenge, for which we only have to wait for an optimal adaptation process:

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