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Gary Watkins

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 
8 Sébastien Buemi
Brendon Hartley
Ryo Hirakawa
Toyota 1'48.216   70
7 Mike Conway
Kamui Kobayashi
José María López
Toyota 1'48.333 0.117 75
2 Earl Bamber
Alex Lynn
R.Westbrook
Cadillac 1'48.890 0.674 53
50 Antonio Fuoco
Miguel Molina
Nicklas Nielsen
Ferrari 1'49.300 1.084 58
5 Dane Cameron
M.Christensen
F.Makowiecki
Porsche 1'49.716 1.500 71
6 Kévin Estre
André Lotterer
Laurens Vanthoor
Porsche 1'49.856 1.640 48
94 Loïc Duval
Gustavo Menezes
Nico Müller
Peugeot 1'50.137 1.921 65
41 Rui Andrade
Robert Kubica
Louis Delétraz
ORECA/Gibson 1'50.827 2.611 61
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
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