SEBRING, Florida (March 22, 2026) – Paul Miller Racing wrapped up the 12 Hours of Sebring with a solid fifth-place finish after 321 laps of close, competitive racing.
Starting from P2, the team showcased key performances across the stints and strong teamwork, extending its lead in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Michelin Endurance Cup.
Neil Verhagen kicked off the race, followed by Max Hesse and Connor De Phillippi in rotation, each contributing key moments behind the wheel.
After four hours, with Max Hesse in the car, the team led the field and collected valuable points for the Michelin Endurance Cup. By the eight-hour mark, Paul Miller Racing was running third, adding more Endurance Cup points to its total.
Max Hesse delivered a standout moment in his final stint with a remarkable overtaking maneuver that moved the BMW from P3 to P2, demonstrating the team’s fighting spirit.
Later in the race, a few on-track events saw the team settle back to fifth. While dropping a few positions might feel like a small disappointment at first, it is worth remembering that Paul Miller Racing continues to lead the championship and once again collected excellent points.
Each race offers lessons, and the team is carrying that experience forward into the next event.
Despite the challenges, Paul Miller Racing now tops the IMSA WeatherTech Championship with 658 points, 30 ahead of second place.
The team also leads the Michelin Endurance Cup with 27 points, ahead of the nearest competitor with 21. From qualifying and the race combined, the team added 292 points to its season total.
Mitchell Simmons, Team Principal, reflected on the weekend: “We gave it all we had this weekend. The crew executed flawlessly but when the other cars wanted to push we just couldn’t match their pace. We tried to save fuel and gain a strategy advantage but just didn’t have the tools this weekend to be competitive. Hopefully we will be closer at Laguna.”
The race victory went to the Manthey Racing Porsche, finishing 13.527 seconds ahead. Paul Miller Racing now turns its focus to Laguna, where the first sprint race of the season takes place May 1–3, a two-hour and four-minute event that will kick off the sprint portion of the championship.
Neil Verhagen
“That’s the 12 Hours of Sebring wrapped up here. Overall a pretty decent weekend. Qualifying on P3 and getting promoted to P2.
“Scoring a good amount of endurance points, which is obviously good for us. First place points after the 4-hour mark, 3 points after the 8-hour mark.
“There were a few tricky moments towards the end that affected our position, but in general, we still have some good momentum from Daytona and look forward to continuing that into the sprint season now.”
Connor De Phillippi
“P5 for us at Sebring! At several points we led for some laps but when the sun went down we didn’t quite have enough to battle for the win.
“The team executed well the entire race and we gathered valuable points for the big picture which for us is the Championship. Thank you to the entire PMR crew as well as my teammates for a hard fought weekend!”
Max Hesse
”A bit of an up-and-down weekend to be honest. I think we had a good time the whole weekend apart from the last one and a half hours. We got full points after the four-hour mark. We had a good qualifying and were in the fight for the podium the whole race.
“Then unfortunately it seems like we didn’t really have the pace the last one and a half hours and had some challenging moments with competitors, but that’s racing in the end.
“So P5 is obviously still good points for the championship, but we would have obviously loved to be back on the podium here in Sebring. Nevertheless, the team did a great job. The car was running fantastic, the team executed a great strategy and there is nothing to complain about really. Heads up for the guys for Laguna.”
