With this victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Franco-Swiss duo who are already double winners at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, have once more written their names in the history books of endurance racing. 

In 2012, Benoît Tréluyer became the first French multiple winner at Le Mans since Yannick Dalmas who won four times during the 90s (1992-94-95-99). As for Marcel Fässler he is the first Swiss citizen to have triumphed in La Sarthe, with two consecutive victories (2011-2012) shared with Benoît Tréluyer. Together, they have joined the elite club of drivers who have won at both Le Mans and Sebring. They join no less than (in alphabetical order) Laurent Aiello, Michele Alboreto, Mauro Baldi, Timo Bernhard, Lucien Bianchi, Frank Biela, Geoff Brabham, Dindo Capello, Yannick Dalmas, Romain Dumas, AJ Foyt, Olivier Gendebien, Marc Gené, Dan Gurney, Mike Hawthorn, Hurley Haywood, Johnny Herbert, Hans Herrmann, Phil Hill, Al Holbert, Jacky Ickx, Stefan Johansson, Tom Kristensen, Gérard Larrousse, JJ Lehto, Klaus Ludwig, Bruce McLaren, Allan McNish, Jochen Mass, Jackie Oliver Emanuele Pirro, Ludovico Scarfiotti, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Andy Wallace, Marco Werner and Alexander Wurz.

Benoît Tréluyer: “We won the last race of the LMP1 sports cars at Sebring – we’re very proud of this. I think that the fans witnessed a thrilling race in which we had to give one hundred percent to beat our sister car. For us the American dream has come true today. Thank you to Marcel and Oliver Jarvis for a great week here at Sebring.”

Marcel Fässler: “Celebrating Audi’s last race here at Sebring with a victory is simply fantastic. It was an incredibly close race in which both cars would have deserved to win. In the end, we were the slightly more fortunate ones. The pole position yesterday, victory today, great team-mates – things couldn’t be any better today.”

For the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2013, and Fässler had Tréluyer had the British team mate Oliver Jarvis, temporarily replacing the German André Lotterer, with whom the French and Swiss drivers shared their two 24 hours victories in 2011 and 2012. At its last appearance with an LM P1 prototype at Sebring, Audi scored their eleventh victory, a landmark they reached last year at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Jean-Philippe Doret – ACO

(Quotes from Audi Motorsport press information)

Photo : SEBRING (FLORIDA USA), SEBRING INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, 12 HOURS OF SEBRING, STARTT, 16 MARS 2013. The Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Fässler-Jarvis-Tréluyer (n°1) ahead of sister car of Lucas di Grassi-Tom Kristensen-Allan McNish (n°2). They finished in the same order, followed by the Lola-Toyota of Neel Jani-Nicolas Prost-Nick Heidfeld (n°12)..