Race report
WEC Sebring
WEC Sebring: Toyota dominates, Ferrari scores debut podium
Toyota scored a dominant 1-2 in the Sebring 1000 Miles, easily seeing off the challenge of Ferrari’s debut in the World Endurance Championship.
Charles Bradley
Edited: Mar 18, 2023, 10:18 PM
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The #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez beat the sister #8 entry of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa at Sebring International Raceway’s WEC opener.
The #8 car led for the opening half of the race but the #7 took command after a particularly rapid out-lap from Lopez in the fifth hour, as Hirakawa took longer to get up to speed. Earlier, Hartley had just managed to hold his position at the front, even when he had to make two pitstops in rapid succession in the fourth hour, including one to top up on fuel under a full-course yellow.
The cars were just half a second apart with 90 minutes remaining as Kobayashi and Buemi took over, but Buemi reported that his car became undrivable in traffic and fell away by over 10s as the race entered its final hour.
That gap more than doubled after a slow final pitstop for the #8, meaning their battle was over and they cruised to a crushing 1-2, marking Toyota's 40th victory in WEC competition.
Behind them – two laps in arrears – was a fierce battle for the final step on the podium. The #50 Ferrari 499P that Antonio Fuoco had qualified on pole position led early on but a strategy decision to pit under an early safety car backfired.
He was hit with a drive-through at the restart and a further 5s penalty for not following correct procedure, while the #51 sister car suffered a further delay that dropping both into the middle of the Hypercar pack.
With two hours to go, Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 car clipped the #54 GTE Am Ferrari 488 of Francesco Castellacci at Turn 15, near the pit entry, and spun into the #56 Project 1 Porsche, smashing its left-rear corner – which Pier Guidi further damaged having to drag the car around on three wheels, sending it to the garage for 20 minutes.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Before that, the Ferraris had enjoyed some entertaining on-track battles with the pair of Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s and the single Cadillac V-Series.R, with the latter being delayed when Alex Lynn suffered a drive-through penalty for not respecting the FCY procedure at the end of hour 2.
The Cadillac – piloted by Lynn, Earl Bamber and Richard Westbrook – just missed out on a podium finish, and chased home the #50 Ferrari of Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, which gave Ferrari a podium finish in the car’s first start.
The Porsche 963s finished a distant fifth and sixth, another two laps down, with the #6 of Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor aided in the intra-team battle when the #5 of Dane Cameron, Michael Christensen and Frederic Makowiecki earned a drive-through penalty for an FCY infringement. But an electrical system reset with an hour remaining switched their places back, so the #5 prevailed.
Peugeot suffered a disastrous race, with a number of technical issues consigning both 9X8 LMH cars behind the wall for prolonged periods. The #94 entry encountered a gear-shifting issue at the very start of the race, with further high-voltage energy store issues later on putting the car shared by Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes and Nico Muller in the garage for several hours.
The #93 sister car also had a troubled run, with an incident between Mikkel Jensen and the Vanwall Vandervell 680 of Esteban Guerrieri compounding the misery of the French marque. Jensen was caught out when Guerrieri slowed down in response to a FCY period at the end of hour 3, spinning as a result.
The sole Vanwall picked up a puncture in the process and had to pit immediately, but its hitherto untroubled run was spoiled when Jacques Villeneuve suffered a wild spin at Sunset Corner due to a suspension failure, and the former Formula 1 world champion was forced to crab back to the pits.
After repairs, the Vanwall recovered to beat the factory-run Peugeots.
The sole Glickenhaus retired from the race after Romain Dumas stopped on track at Turn 17 in the second hour with an electrical issue.
#48 Hertz Team Jota Oreca 07 - Gibson: David Beckmann, Yifei Ye, William Stevens
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
LMP2: Bizarre United issue hands win to JOTA
A bizarre TV camera issue for United Autosports handed victory in the LMP2 class to the Hertz Team JOTA car of David Beckmann, Will Stevens and Yifei Ye.
Oliver Jarvis led the early part of the race after qualifying the #23 United car on pole position, with Josh Pierson carrying on his team-mate’s good work after being put in the driver's seat at the end of the second hour.
But Pierson’s ORECA-Gibson 07 suddenly crawled to a halt in the fourth hour, ending the #23 crew’s hopes of repeating their Sebring victory from 12 months ago. United reported that the electric failure was “caused by an in-car TV camera fixture”.
That handed the class lead to the #48 JOTA car, which is the car that the team is running while it waits for its customer Porsche 963 LMDh to be delivered - and duly isn’t registered for points in LMP2.
But the #48 was off-strategy compared to the #63 Prema car of Doriane Pin, Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat, and looked to have given up victory with just over 10 minutes remaining as Stevens needed to pit for fuel.
But Bortolotti in the Prema car also had to stop a few laps later, so JOTA retook the position and the win with just three minutes remaining.
United's surviving LMP2 car was second with Phil Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque and newcomer Frederick Lubin ahead of the #63 Prema entry.
#33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R: Ben Keating, Nicolas Varrone, Nicky Catsburg
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
GTE Am: Corvette wins after Iron Dames drama
Corvette scored victory on home turf in GTE Am, with Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nicolas Varrone enjoying a flawless race in their #33 C8.R.
The Corvette was handed the lead when the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Rahel Frey went wide over the kerbs at the exit of Turn 1, with the impact breaking apart the car's entire rear bodywork that needed replacing.
That undid all the great work done by Sarah Bovy across the opening stints, which included a brilliantly-timed pitstop before an FCY that gave the car its considerable lead.
Dempsey-Proton’s Porsche finished a lap down in second, ahead of Kessel Racing’s #57 Ferrari, which needed a lap stop for fuel and gave away the runner-up spot as a result.
There was a major crash for AF Corse driver Luis Perez Companc in the opening hour of the race, with the Argentine’s #83 Ferrari rolling upside down after going wide at Turn 1 and smashing into the barriers.
WEC Sebring 1000 miles - Race results:
Cla # Drivers Car Class Laps Time 1 7 Mike Conway
Kamui Kobayashi
Jose Maria Lopez Toyota GR010 - Hybrid HYPERCAR 239 - 2 8
Sébastien Buemi
Brendon Hartley
Ryo Hirakawa Toyota GR010 - Hybrid HYPERCAR 239 2.168 3 50
Antonio Fuoco
Miguel Molina
Nicklas Nielsen Ferrari 499P HYPERCAR 237 2 laps 4 2
Earl Bamber
Alex Lynn
Richard Westbrook Cadillac V-Series.R HYPERCAR 237 2 laps 5 5
Dane Cameron
Michael Christensen
Frédéric Makowiecki Porsche 963 HYPERCAR 235 4 laps 6 6
Kevin Estre
Andre Lotterer
Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 963 HYPERCAR 235 4 laps 7 48
David Beckmann
Ye Yifei
Will Stevens Oreca 07 LMP2 230 9 laps 8 22 Frederick Lubin
Philip Hanson
Filipe Albuquerque Oreca 07 LMP2 230 9 laps 9 63
Doriane Pin
Mirko Bortolotti
Daniil Kvyat Oreca 07 LMP2 230 9 laps 10 34
Jakub Smiechowski
Fabio Scherer
Albert Costa Oreca 07 LMP2 230 9 laps 11 41
Rui Andrade
Robert Kubica
Louis Deletraz Oreca 07 LMP2 230 9 laps 12 28
David Heinemeier Hansson
Pietro Fittipaldi
Oliver Rasmussen Oreca 07 LMP2 230 9 laps 13 31
Sean Gelael
Ferdinand Habsburg
Robin Frijns Oreca 07 LMP2 230 9 laps 14 9 Filip Ugran
Bent Viscaal
Andrea Caldarelli Oreca 07 LMP2 229 10 laps 15 51
Alessandro Pier Guidi
James Calado
Antonio Giovinazzi Ferrari 499P HYPERCAR 228 11 laps 16 36
Matthieu Vaxiviere
Julien Canal
Charles Milesi Oreca 07 LMP2 228 11 laps 17 33
Ben Keating
Nicolas Varrone
Nick Catsburg Chevrolet Corvette C8.R LMGTE AM 221 18 laps 18 77
Christian Ried
Mikkel Pedersen
Julien Andlauer Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 219 20 laps 19 57
Takeshi Kimura
Scott Huffaker
Daniel Serra Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 219 20 laps 20 21
Stefano Costantini
Simon Mann
Ulysse De Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 219 20 laps 21 54 Thomas Flohr
Francesco Castellacci
Davide Rigon Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 219 20 laps 22 60
Claudio Schiavoni
Matteo Cressoni
Alessio Picariello Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 219 20 laps 23 86
Michael Wainwright
Riccardo Pera
Benjamin Barker Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 218 21 laps 24 85
Sarah Bovy
Michelle Gatting
Rahel Frey Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 218 21 laps 25 10
Ryan Cullen
Matthias Kaiser
Gabriel Aubry Oreca 07 LMP2 218 21 laps 26 25
Ahmad Al Harthy
Michael Dinan
Charles Eastwood Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 217 22 laps 27 777
Satoshi Hoshino
Casper Stevenson
Tomonobu Fujii Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 217 22 laps 28 98
Paul Dalla Lana
Axcil Jefferies
Nicki Thiim Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 216 23 laps 29 56 PJ Hyett
Gunnar Jeannette
Matteo Cairoli Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 215 24 laps 30 4
Tom Dillmann
Esteban Guerrieri
Jacques Villeneuve Vanwall Vandervell 680 HYPERCAR 215 24 laps 31 93
Paul di Resta
Mikkel Jensen
Jean-Eric Vergne Peugeot 9X8 HYPERCAR 213 26 laps 32 94
Loic Duval
Gustavo Menezes
Nico Müller Peugeot 9X8 HYPERCAR 141 98 laps 33 35
Andre Negrao
Memo Rojas
Olli Caldwell Oreca 07 LMP2 139 100 laps 34 23
Josh Pierson
Tom Blomqvist
Oliver Jarvis Oreca 07 LMP2 91 148 laps 35 708
Romain Dumas
Ryan Briscoe
Olivier Pla Glickenhaus 007 HYPERCAR 62 177 laps 36 83
Luis Perez Companc
Lilou Wadoux
Alessio Rovera Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4 235 laps View full results
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