WEC Prologue: Toyota ends Sebring test on top from Cadillac

The Japanese manufacturer was fastest in three of the testing periods totalling 12 and half hours of track time, with Jose Maria Lopez’s 1m48.208s aboard the #7 entry from the opening period on Saturday morning standing as the best of the weekend.

That was narrowly faster than the 1m48.216s set by Brendon Hartley in the #8 Le Mans Hypercar on Sunday afternoon.

Hartley’s best in the final session eclipsed Mike Conway’s fastest time of the closing session, a 1m48.333s, by just over a tenth.

The 1m48.429s with which Earl Bamber topped the times on Saturday afternoon put the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R third in the combined times. Richard Westbrook led the chase of the Toyotas aboard the Caddy LMDh in the final session with a 1m48.890s.

Porsche took fourth spot courtesy of Michael Christensen’s 1m48.957s set on Sunday morning. That put him three tenths up the second of the Porsche 963 LMDh, in which Kevin Estre posted a 1m49.285s in the same session.

The best-placed Ferrari 499P LMH jumped to sixth in the combined order in the final half hour of the Prologue. Nicklas Nielsen posted a 1m49.300s, an improvement of almost exactly a tenth over team-mate Antonio Fuoco’s previous best, to move ahead of the #93 Peugeot LMH.

Nico Muller, who set a 1m49.302s on Sunday morning, was pushed down to seventh by just two thousandths of a second.

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

The Swiss driver’s time was a further tenth and a half up on the 1m49.568s that Mikkel Jensen managed in the same session in the second 9X8.

A 1m49.573s from Antonio Giovinazzi put the other Ferrari, which did not run in the final session after James Calado’s accident on Sunday morning, in ninth position overall in the Prologue.

Vanwall eclipsed Glickenhaus in the battle of the garagistes, Tom Dillmann’s 1m50.038s for German-based marque more than a second up on Ryan Briscoe’s 1m51.173s for the American entrant.

#22 United Autosports USA Oreca 07 - Gibson LMP2: Filipe Albuquerque (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

United sets LMP2 pace

United Autosports came out on top in LMP2 after heading three sessions with its #22 ORECA-Gibson 07.

Filipe Albuquerque’s 1m50.577s from Sunday morning stood as the best P2 of the weekend and was more than two tenths up on WRT driver Robert Kubica’s 1m50.827s set in the closing session.

Doriane Pin took third position in class for the Prema team on her first competitive outing in a P2 car, posting her 1m50.860s in session three. Yifei Ye and Pierto Fittipaldi both posted 1m51.000s on Sunday morning in their respective Jota ORECAs, the Chinese driver taking fourth spot courtesy of setting his time first.

#56 Project 1 - AO Porsche 911 RSR - 19: PJ Hyett, Gunnar Jeannette, Matteo Cairoli (Photo by: Porsche Motorsport)

Porsche blocked out the top positions in GTE Am, with Matteo Cairoli leading the way on 1m59.170s for the Project 1 team.

Second fastest of the Porsche 911 RSR flotilla was Michelle Gatting in the Iron Dames entry run by Iron Lynx. Ben Barker got close to her best of 1m59.201s when he claimed the top spot in session four aboard the GR Racing Porsche with a 1m59.253s.

The Prologue preceded race week for the opening round of the 2023 WEC, the Sebring 1000 Miles.

Practice begins on Wednesday prior to the race on Friday, which precedes the Sebring 12 Hours round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Cla	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Time	Delay	Laps
1	8	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota	1'48.216		70
2	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi José María López	Toyota	1'48.333	0.117	75
3	2	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn R.Westbrook	Cadillac	1'48.890	0.674	53
4	50	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari	1'49.300	1.084	58
5	5	Dane Cameron M.Christensen F.Makowiecki	Porsche	1'49.716	1.500	71
6	6	Kévin Estre André Lotterer Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche	1'49.856	1.640	48
7	94	Loïc Duval Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller	Peugeot	1'50.137	1.921	65
8	41	Rui Andrade Robert Kubica Louis Delétraz	ORECA/Gibson	1'50.827	2.611	61
9	93	Paul Di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Éric Vergne	Peugeot	1'51.217	3.001	4
10	48	David Beckmann Yifei Ye Will Stevens	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.324	3.108	71
11	22	Frederick Lubin Phil Hanson F.Albuquerque	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.414	3.198	67
12	36	M.Vaxivière Julien Canal Charles Milesi	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.513	3.297	59
13	10	Ryan Cullen Matthias Kaiser Gabriel Aubry	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.609	3.393	62
14	31	Sean Gelael F.Habsburg Robin Frijns	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.699	3.483	70
15	4	Tom Dillmann E.Guerrieri J.Villeneuve	Vanwall/Gibson	1'51.781	3.565	20
16	9	Filip-Ioan Ugran Bent Viscaal A.Caldarelli	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.939	3.723	61
17	63	Doriane Pin Mirko Bortolotti Daniil Kvyat	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.965	3.749	59
18	23	Josh Pierson Tom Blomqvist Oliver Jarvis	ORECA/Gibson	1'52.012	3.796	71
19	28	David H.Hansson P.Fittipaldi Oliver Rasmussen	ORECA/Gibson	1'52.149	3.933	71
20	34	J.Smiechowski Fabio Scherer Albert Costa	ORECA/Gibson	1'52.228	4.012	44
21	35	André Negrão Memo Rojas Olli Caldwell	ORECA/Gibson	1'52.457	4.241	54
22	708	Romain Dumas Ryan Briscoe Olivier Pla	Glickenhaus/Pipo	1'52.533	4.317	18
23	86	Mike Wainwright Riccardo Pera Ben Barker	Porsche	1'59.253	11.037	55
24	83	L.P.-Companc Lilou Wadoux Alessio Rovera	Ferrari	1'59.263	11.047	64
25	56	PJ Hyett Gunnar Jeannette Matteo Cairoli	Porsche	1'59.478	11.262	40
26	60	C.Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni A.Picariello	Porsche	1'59.516	11.300	60
27	85	Sarah Bovy Michelle Gatting Rahel Frey	Porsche	1'59.558	11.342	60
28	54	Thomas Flohr F.Castellacci Davide Rigon	Ferrari	1'59.599	11.383	62
29	33	Ben Keating Nicolás Varrone Nicky Catsburg	Chevrolet	1'59.632	11.416	44
30	88	Ryan Hardwick Z.Robichon Harry Tincknell	Porsche	1'59.694	11.478	58
31	57	Takeshi Kimura Scott Huffaker Daniel Serra	Ferrari	1'59.749	11.533	66
32	21	S.Costantini Simon Mann Ulysse De Pauw	Ferrari	1'59.993	11.777	54
33	77	Christian Ried M.O.Pedersen Julien Andlauer	Porsche	2'00.396	12.180	50
34	25	Ahmad Al Harthy Michael Dinan Charlie Eastwood	Aston Martin	2'00.460	12.244	59
35	98	Paul Dalla Lana Axcil Jefferies Nicki Thiim Thomas Merrill	Aston Martin	2'00.471	12.255	58
36	777	Satoshi Hoshino Casper Stevenson Tomonobu Fujii	Aston Martin	2'00.511	12.295	58
37	51	A.P.Guidi James Calado A.Giovinazzi	Ferrari	-	-	58