At the waving of the checkered flag at the FIA WEC Prologue at Sebring it is Toyota that looks down on everyone. The Gazoo Racing Team, in fact, has finished the collective tests topping the combined leaderboard with the time of 1:48.208registered by GR010 #7 of Jose Maria Lopez-Mike Conway-Kamui Kobayashi. The sister car of reigning champions Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa set, however, the best performance of the second day in 1:48.216. The Japanese manufacturer, supported by the Cologne office, made use of its experience in the field of endurance, taking the lead in the standings and, at the same time, grinding km after km, up to a total of 587 laps.
Also in the two sessions on Sunday the role of second force was covered by Cadillac-Chip Ganassi Racingentered for the whole season with the V-Series R driven by Richard Westbrook, Alex Lynn ed Earl Bamber, on the track for a total of 218 passes. The crew’s best time dates back to the first day (1:48.429) while in the Sunday sessions Westbrook put in a team best time of 1:48.890. Behind the General Motors LMDh is the Porsche Penske #5 of Michael Christensen, Dane Cameron and Frédéric Makowiecki, in fifth place overall (seven tenths off the lead) and on track for a total of 226 laps, joined by 207 in the 963 #6 led by Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and André Lotterer, sixth in the two-day combined with a personal best time of 1:49.295.
Ferrari AF Corse faced a very difficult day having to pit the Ferrari 499P #51 damaged in an accident by James Calado, who went off the track in the very fast and bumpy turn one, just as the Englishman was starting Sunday’s first flying lap. The impact seriously damaged the front end, therefore the Hypercar driven by Calado-Pier Guidi-Giovinazzi was no longer on the track and the change of frame is being evaluated. On the other side of the pits shy smiles were glimpsed thanks to the fourth time set by Nicklas Nielsen in the afternoon session. The 26-year-old Dane stopped the clock at 1:49.300, placing Ferrari AF Corse directly behind Porsche in the sum of the times of all rounds. Combining the laps covered by Nielsen-Molina-Fuoco and Calado-Pier Guidi-Giovinazzi, absent in the last two races, Ferrari brought home a total of 337 laps.
Behind Ferrari came Peugeot, in seventh place and ninth place in the Sunday afternoon test. During the morning hours, however, Nico Müller lapped in 1:49.302 at the wheel of the #94 9X8 while the #93 finished in 1:49.568 with Mikkel Jensen, times that allowed Peugeot to get back on track. However, Sebring won’t be an easy appointment for the French prototype, mostly designed for low-download tracks. The downforce generated by the road surface does not match the nature of the track, full of bumps for the entire 6 km.
Rounding out the Hypercar standings are Vanwall and Glickenhaus, the only two non-hybrid cars in the premier class. Following a quiet start, Vanwall placed his Vandervell 680 in tenth and penultimate position with the time of 1.50.038 set by Tom Dillmann, teamed up with Jacques Villeneuve and Esteban Guerrieri, on track for a total of 147 laps. Passing to Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, the #708 did not go beyond the time of 1:51.173 signed by Ryan Briscoe in Sunday’s first round. Together with Olivier Pla and Romain Dumas, Briscoe finished the prologue with 160 laps to go, against the 268 imposed by the 1000-mile race distance.
Moving on to LMP2, we point out the record time of United Autosports #22, competing with Albuqurque-Hanson-Lubin. The champion line-up in 2020 closed the test in front of the Oreca #41 of Team WRT of Kubica-Andrade-Delétraz, which climbed to second place in the afternoon. Third position for the Prema #63 driven by Pin-Bortolotti-Kvyat followed by the two Jota Sport LMP2sin fourth place with the #48 of Ye-Stevens-Beckmann and in fifth place with the #28 reigning champion of Fittipaldi-Hansson-Rasmussen.
The test recap ends with the LMGTE Am, category led by the Porsche Project 1-AO driven by Matteo Cairoli, Gunnar Jeanette and PJ Hyett. The 911 RSR #56 finished the prologue in front of the twin sisters prepared by Iron Dames, in second place with Gatting-Frey-Bovy, and GR Racing, a team classified third with the Barker-Pera-Wainwright trio. The first Ferrari is in fourth position overall and bears the signature of Richard Mille-AF Corse, entered in the FIA WEC with Wadoux-Perez Companc-Rovera. Following are the Porsches of Iron Lynx, Dempsey-Proton and Proton Competition, closely marked by the other two Ferraris of Kessel and AF Corse. The only Corvette in the race closes the top10 just two tenths behind rival manufacturers while Aston Martin hides in the lower part of the standings, where the Vantage by ORT and D’Station can be seen, both prepared by TF Sport.
After the Prologue, it’s time to think about the race that will mark the beginning of the eleventh season of the FIA WEC. The endurance world championship is at the gates of a new era. Appointment on Friday 17 March on Sky Sport 253 with the complete live broadcast of the 1000 Miglia di Sebring, starting at 5 pm Italian time.
