IMSA: MOBIL 1 TWELVE HOURS OF SEBRING

March 15, 2025

Jeremy Clarke

Tom Dillman

Bijoy Garg

Press Conference

NATE SIEBENS: We are joined by our LMP2 winners here at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the No. 43 car. Tom Dillman, Bijoy Garg, and Jeremy Clarke.

Tom, you've already got an IMSA win, but how much bigger is this one for you to win?

TOM DILLMAN: It's so cool to win 12 hours of Sebring, legendary race. I would say before the season, when you're racing IMSA, you have the chance to compete and the chance to go for the win in some amazing events, like Daytona, Sebring, and Petit.

Yeah, to have won one of them, it means a lot.

I think Jeremy, the first time in IMSA, first time in Sebring, on Thursday he did an amazing job. Bijoy, as well, of course (laughter).

No, we had a plan. We wanted a quick car in the night. We had to fulfill little bit during the afternoon. The car balance was not good in that moment. It paid off with a good car in the night. We kept it clean all day to have a chance to fight at the end for me.

It worked out. Mega job from everyone.

NATE SIEBENS: Bijoy, you have a Petit win, now a Sebring win. You're checking them off the list. Tell us about that.

BIJOY GARG: Yeah, obviously would have liked Daytona as well. There's always next year for that.

And yeah, I think it really speaks to the development at least I've done as a driver. Like Petit was a cool win, but for sure when you go from P3 to P2, the level is always raised.

I don't want to say last year was difficult, but this was definitely, definitely a lot of learning for me. I'm glad I can apply it this year.

So yeah, it was a good race I thought. Obviously we won. I thought stuff was executed well. I thought obviously we had to suffer a little bit in the day just with the car because it wasn't set up for those conditions.

Yeah, once it started going dark, I think the car really came to life. At the end, yeah, we were quick enough to win, and that's what matters.

NATE SIEBENS: Jeremy, they both mentioned the setup on the car during the day. Talk about how much you had your hands full during your stint, what it means to you to win this one.

JEREMY CLARKE: Yeah, I think the start of the race, the temperatures were already getting up pretty high. I kind of felt the same thing they felt. Later in the afternoon, it was not quite perfect, but my goal this whole weekend, being my first IMSA race, first time at Sebring, was just bring the car home, no damage. That was my number one goal.

I played it very conservatively, made sure I understood what the car was going to be like in those conditions, then kind of just built confidence over time.

It ended up keeping me in the car for the first three hours and some odd change. I think it was really good team strategy. I think that kind of really helped us get in the position of winning this race.

NATE SIEBENS: Do you feel like being in the car for that length of time helped you especially as the stint went on with more confidence? Were you getting ready to get out of there.

JEREMY CLARKE: Yeah, I definitely built a lot more confidence. I think my lap times towards double stint tires were faster than the start of the race on new tires. I definitely built up a lot of confidence throughout that stint.

I was ready to get out of the car. I think I was able to kind of maintain focus. I felt like I was able to keep those lap times coming, keep the pace for as long as the team needed me.

NATE SIEBENS: Questions.

Q. Jeremy, you were kind of a late addition to the lineup. Given the success today, are you looking to come back and do more with the team?

JEREMY CLARKE: Yeah, I think I'm committed to do the rest of the endurance races this year. So yeah, planning on doing that with the team.

Q. Talk me through the end of your race. There was a lot happen at the end. What was the mindset in the car? At what point did you realize the win is on here?

TOM DILLMAN: The team prior to the yellow was catching very quickly the cross strikes, so I knew we had good pace. But to be fast enough to overtake is another story with this kind of high downforce car.

I knew we had a shot, but in IMSA you can really go from hero to zero in an instant in those last few minutes. I kept pressuring him because I know that if you have the pressure behind, you have to risk a lot in traffic.

That's what happened. Happened to me a month ago. I was on the other side. I was leading in Asian Le Mans, and I had a mistake in traffic. I know what can happen. It happened and I could take the lead, and from then on I think I had enough pace to control the race.

You still need to go through GT traffic, which is not easy. They are all packed, they are all racing for position. They are not letting you by easy. Once I was through the GT traffic, I knew it was under control and brought it home.

Q. You stayed out for an additional lap when others went to pit lane. Why was that? The fuel number?

TOM DILLMAN: We wanted to beat the wave-bye, which we did, and it worked out. Nice recovery after early DNF in Daytona. To bounce back with the win is the best we could have done. We are now back in the contention for the title. Yeah, awesome.

NATE SIEBENS: Congratulations. We'll let you go celebrate.