With Porsche Motorsport celebrating its 75th anniversary throughout 2026, it’s a time for everyone involved in the German brand’s story to reflect. And legendary Porsche racer Hans-Joachim Stuck, who, somewhat fittingly, turned 75 on January 1st, has been doing just that ahead of this year’s Sebring 12 Hours.
Stuck is not only a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a DTM champion, and a Group C icon, he’s also among the most successful drivers of all time at the Sebring International Raceway. Tied for the fourth most wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring, with three wins in two different cars, he has a true fondness for the Floridian circuit and will be watching along this weekend when the IMSA teams do battle in the 74th edition of the race.
“It always was an adventure to me, because you always expect the unexpected, that’s always the case at Sebring. So many very good memories,” he says.
“It is not only a fantastic location. All the American fans there in Sebring were very, very nice, very nice people that didn’t bother you or disturb your organisation. To be at Sebring was really very, very comfortable. It was always a fantastic event. [Always] looking forward to going there. Definitely, apart from Le Mans, it’s the best long-distance race I’ve competed in, absolutely.
“When I was a child, and my dad was teaching me how to race, he said, ‘Hey, there are a few big races, and you have to win one of them. There’s Le Mans, the Monaco Grand Prix, Sebring and Indianapolis.’ I’m proud to say I won two of them.”
Stuck found massive success with the iconic Porsche 962 in the 1980s, competing in the World Sportscar Championship, Supercup, and IMSA GT Championship, and has a deep connection to it as a result. To Stuck, driving the 962 made him feel at ease; remarkable, really, when you consider how rough and ready the experience of driving a flat-six around craggy Sebring in the 80s would have been!
“With the Porsche, [we] always had a very special setup for Sebring,” he continues. “The driver’s safety was also number one. So it could be safe, with no wheels falling off, or like in other cars I drove in my career, wings were falling off, and things like this.
“When you’re sitting in a Porsche, it was kind of insurance, and you could really concentrate on the high-speed racing. That was fantastic for a driver, you know. Otherwise, you’re anxious about losing this or that, and I didn’t have to think about these things.”
The 962 did encounter issues at Sebring during the 1986 12 Hours (above and below), the biggest being a lost wheel in the final stages of the race. However, Stuck, along with teammates Jo Gartner and Bob Akin, were a full eight laps in the lead at that point. Gartner still managed to steer the Porsche home to victory after the team comfortably led the second half of the race.
“That was really incredible,” Stuck laughs. “Normally, you never have the idea that you’re losing a wheel on a Porsche. But this one came off. I don’t know why. And these days, losing a wheel and winning a race doesn’t happen very often.”
Beyond winning races at Sebring, Stuck’s memories off-track with his fellow drivers contribute to his love for racing there. He still recounts, in vivid detail, all sorts of antics, including a struggle to stay upright inside a portable toilet that was being pushed into the paddock by the back of his teammate Dieter Quester’s rental car (he knew what he was doing!). Stuck holds deep admiration, in particular, for his former teammate, the late, great Bob Akin, too.
The Coca-Cola-backed Bob Akin Motor Racing Porsche remains one of the most iconic IMSA GTP sights of the 1980s, in no small part because of its success at Sebring, which included an overall win in 1986.
Stuck remembers the feeling of hitting 131 miles per hour on his pole-position-winning lap a year prior, in 1985, aboard that iconic car.
“Bob Akin was a very nice guy, but he was also pretty demanding, which is good, you know, for a boss,” he notes. “And he said: ‘Look, Hans, it would be nice if we could get pole position for the race, because Coca-Cola has good advertising’.
“I was sitting before the qualifying and thinking of the places where I can even go a little bit faster, take a little bit more risk. As you know, in those days, you didn’t have, like today in Formula One, these paved runoff areas; it was grass. So any chance you took, you know, it could have been the last chance, in theory.
“So there was a good mixture of going very close to 100%, and taking the risk in qualifying, and making sure the car is still alive the next day.”
Unfortunately, a particularly tough memory is also on Stuck’s mind at the moment: the passing of Bob Wollek. At Sebring in 2001, the French racing legend was killed in a cycling accident at 57-years-old. He was due to take part in the race the following day alongside Johnny Mowlem and Michael Petersen, who would withdraw due to the tragedy.
Stuck and Wollek were teammates on several occasions, notably including their class win together with Thierry Boutsen in LM GT1 at Le Mans in 1996.
“A very, very sad story about my former co-driver and also friend Bob Wollek. Who you all know of, who got killed,” Stuck says.
“I felt, for a long, long time, a little bit guilty because, when we had finished the practice, Bob said, ‘Are we driving home now?’ I said: ‘No, no, Bob, sorry, I don’t want to go home right now. I want to play a little bit of golf with some friends.’ And he said: ‘Okay, then I’ll go and do some biking.’ And then, he got hit by this mobile home. It was a very bad memory of my Sebring races.”
“Brilliant-Bob” Wollek raced most of his career with Porsche, and now, 25 years after his death, he continues to be recognised as the best Porsche driver in history. Winning seven Porsche Cup honours, four 24 Hours of Daytona wins, and having no less than 30 Le Mans entries, Wollek, like Stuck, is an ambassador of Porsche’s success in their 75-year racing history.
Porsche’s history of success at Sebring extends into the current ‘Platinum era.’ Over the years, it has racked up a record 19 overall wins and thanks to the tireless work of everyone at Porsche Penske Motorsport, heads into this year’s edition as the reigning winner with the 963 LMDh and a favourite to emerge victorious again.
To Stuck, the progress in reliability, technology, and safety that the 963 represents in comparison to the cars of his era, is stark. Yet, unsurprisingly, he wouldn’t shy away from a chance to sample one, should the opportunity ever arise!
“I would love to drive one of these cars,” he says. “It must be fantastic to be able to rely on all these fantastic [technologies]. But, I think that when drivers of the current era try a car, like in the 962, they are positively shocked by what we did.”
The 12 Hours of Sebring will take place this Saturday, the 21st of March, at 10:00 EST.
Images courtesy of Porsche & Jack Webster
