WEC Prologue: #51 Ferrari out of Sunday action with crash damage

James Calado crashed the #51 Ferrari AF Corse entry at the fast and bumpy first corner of the Sebring International Raceway on his out-lap in the first of two sessions on the second and final day of the pre-season official WEC test.

The incident at Turn 1 resulted in an immediate red flag, which lasted for more than 10 minutes while the car was retrieved and the barriers repaired.

The Ferrari Le Mans Hypercar Calado shares with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi is known to have sustained damage to the front right corner and the nose.

The 499P did not return to the track over the remainder of a session lasting three hours and 30 minutes and wasn’t credited with a lap time.

No comment was available from Ferrari, except confirmation that Calado had crashed the car and that it would not be back on track in the afternoon.

There was no explanation as to why the car will not run again at the test, but mechanics were seen to be closely investigating the carbon-composite monocoque after the car’s return to its garage.

The second 499P ran as normal, completing 56 laps and ending up eighth in the Hypercar classification with a 1m49.954s from Antonio Fuoco.

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Toyota monopolised the top of the classification as it had done in the opening session of the Prologue on Saturday.

The pair of GR010 HYBRIDs went quickest straight after the red flag caused by the Ferrari, Brendon Hartley just edging out Mike Conway.

Conway subsequently improved to a 1m48.473s that stood as the fastest time of the session aboard the #7 LMH, while Sebastien Buemi ended up just eight thousandths behind on 1m48.481s.

Michael Christensen took third place for Porsche, a 1m49.073s aboard the #6 963 LMDH run by the Penske team, pushing the solo Cadillac Racing entry down to fourth.

Alex Lynn posted a 1m49.182s in the Chip Ganassi Racing-run V-Series.R to end up a tenth up on the second Porsche in which Kevin Estre posted a 1m49.285s.

Peugeot moved closer to the pace with its 9X8 LMH, Nico Muller getting within a second of Conway in #94.

The Swiss topped the times initially before ending up on a 1m49.302s, which was just a couple of tenths up on the 1m49.568s Mikkel Jensen managed in the sister car.

Vanwall and Glickenhaus brought up the rear of the field, Tom Dillmann’s 1m50.038s giving him a margin of move than a second over Ryan Briscoe.

#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes, Nico Müller

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

United continues LMP2 domination

The #22 United Autosports ORECA-Gibson 07 was again fastest in LMP2, Filipe Albuquerque setting the best time in the car this time.

The Portuguese driver’s 1m50.577s was a couple of tenths faster than Doriane Pin in the best of the Prema ORECAs. Her 1m50.860s was a tenth up on Yifei Ye’s 1m51.000s for the Jota team.

Porsche led the way in GTE Am, Matteo Cairoli’s 1m59.170 in the Project 1 911 RSR edging out Alessio Picariello in the Iron Lynx car.

The final session of the Prologue, which leads into race week for the season-opening Sebring 1000 Miles on Friday, begins at 14:30 local time.

Pos	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Time	Delay	Laps
1	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi José María López	Toyota	1'48.473		71
2	8	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota	1'48.481	0.008	93
3	5	Dane Cameron M.Christensen F.Makowiecki	Porsche	1'48.957	0.484	45
4	2	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn R.Westbrook	Cadillac	1'49.182	0.709	63
5	6	Kévin Estre André Lotterer Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche	1'49.285	0.812	65
6	94	Loïc Duval Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller	Peugeot	1'49.302	0.829	58
7	50	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari	1'49.558	1.085	80
8	93	Paul Di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Éric Vergne	Peugeot	1'49.568	1.095	64
9	4	Tom Dillmann E.Guerrieri J.Villeneuve	Vanwall/Gibson	1'50.038	1.565	41
10	22	Frederick Lubin Phil Hanson F.Albuquerque	ORECA/Gibson	1'50.577	2.104	82
11	63	Doriane Pin Mirko Bortolotti Daniil Kvyat	ORECA/Gibson	1'50.860	2.387	79
12	48	David Beckmann Yifei Ye Will Stevens	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.000	2.527	83
13	28	David H.Hansson P.Fittipaldi Oliver Rasmussen	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.000	2.527	81
14	31	Sean Gelael F.Habsburg Robin Frijns	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.156	2.683	82
15	708	Romain Dumas Ryan Briscoe Olivier Pla	Glickenhaus/Pipo	1'51.173	2.700	51
16	36	M.Vaxivière Julien Canal Charles Milesi	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.286	2.813	81
17	23	Josh Pierson Tom Blomqvist Oliver Jarvis	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.317	2.844	64
18	41	Rui Andrade Robert Kubica Louis Delétraz	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.432	2.959	65
19	9	Filip-Ioan Ugran Bent Viscaal A.Caldarelli	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.595	3.122	84
20	34	J.Smiechowski Fabio Scherer Albert Costa	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.601	3.128	74
21	10	Ryan Cullen Matthias Kaiser Gabriel Aubry	ORECA/Gibson	1'51.877	3.404	81
22	35	André Negrão Memo Rojas Olli Caldwell	ORECA/Gibson	1'53.230	4.757	72
23	56	PJ Hyett Gunnar Jeannette Matteo Cairoli	Porsche	1'59.170	10.697	74
24	60	C.Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni A.Picariello	Porsche	1'59.267	10.794	73
25	85	Sarah Bovy Michelle Gatting Rahel Frey	Porsche	1'59.270	10.797	79
26	77	Christian Ried M.O.Pedersen Julien Andlauer	Porsche	1'59.302	10.829	82
27	88	Ryan Hardwick Z.Robichon Harry Tincknell	Porsche	1'59.305	10.832	77
28	57	Takeshi Kimura Scott Huffaker Daniel Serra	Ferrari	1'59.332	10.859	17
29	54	Thomas Flohr F.Castellacci Davide Rigon	Ferrari	1'59.392	10.919	66
30	33	Ben Keating Nicolás Varrone Nicky Catsburg	Chevrolet	1'59.393	10.920	71
31	86	Mike Wainwright Riccardo Pera Ben Barker	Porsche	1'59.497	11.024	77
32	21	S.Costantini Simon Mann Ulysse De Pauw	Ferrari	1'59.689	11.216	73
33	83	L.P.-Companc Lilou Wadoux Alessio Rovera	Ferrari	1'59.735	11.262	39
34	25	Ahmad Al Harthy Michael Dinan Charlie Eastwood	Aston Martin	2'00.183	11.710	65
35	777	Satoshi Hoshino Casper Stevenson Tomonobu Fujii	Aston Martin	2'00.372	11.899	51
36	98	Paul Dalla Lana Axcil Jefferies Nicki Thiim Thomas Merrill	Aston Martin	2'00.438	11.965	58
37	51	A.P.Guidi James Calado A.Giovinazzi	Ferrari	-	-	58