Wec

Listen to this article Kamui Kobayashi set a blistering time of 1m45.783s in the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID to lead a one-two finish for the Japanese marque ahead of Thursday’s afternoon qualifying for the Sebring 1000 Miles. The 36-year-old set his fastest lap just 20 minutes into the 60-minute session, dethroning the #50 Ferrari that had sat atop the timesheets with Antonio Fuoco at the wheel. His time was a full 1.2s quicker than Wednesday’s benchmark time set by Brendon Hartley in the sister #8 car and cemented Toyota’s status as the favourite for pole position in the expanded 11-car Hypercar class. However, it wasn’t a clean session for Toyota with Kobayashi’s team-mate Lopez hitting the barriers at Turn 13 rear-first in the final 10 minutes of practice, a year on from his double incident that allowed rival Alpine to win the race. The impact led to some visible damage to the #7 GR010 Hybrid and, with Nicklas Nielsen also crashing his #50 Ferrari at almost the same … [Read more...] about WEC Sebring: Toyota fastest but suffers crash in truncated final practice

Listen to this article Antonio Fuoco set what turned out to be the benchmark time of 1m45.067s at the wheel of the quicker of the two brand-new Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars, which are making their race debut this weekend. Fuoco's lap in the #50 car, which he shares with Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, knocked the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley off provisional pole to the tune of almost three tenths of a second. Hartley was able to shave almost a tenth off his best time to get down to a 1m45.281s, but Toyota had to admit defeat as the tyres went past their peak in the closing stages of the 15-minute Hypercar session. Kamui Kobayashi was third-fastest in the #7 Toyota, 0.481s away from pole, ahead of the #51 Ferrari in which Alessandro Pier Guidi was eight tenths off the pace with a minor off at Turn 7. Cadillac secured fifth on the grid with its solo Chip Ganassi Racing-run V.Series.R, Alex Lynn beating the two Porsche 963s to the honour of top LMDh … [Read more...] about WEC Sebring: Ferrari beats Toyota to first pole of 2023

Listen to this article Fuoco explained that he couldn’t see through the fast and bumpy Turn 17 horseshoe and had to rely on his reference points to the side of the circuit as he completed the lap that gave the #50 Ferrari 499P pole for the Sebring 1000 Miles by two tenths of a second. “If I’m honest, in the last corner, I just sent it in, because I had the feeling it was a good lap,” said the Italian. “I had the sun on my visor and it was quite tricky to see the corner, but I had my reference points from free practice. “I had a big moment on the bumps, but in the end it worked out." Read Also: WEC Sebring: Ferrari beats Toyota to first pole of 2023 Fuoco’s pole lap of 1m45.067s bettered the 1m45.364s from Brendon Hartley in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, which the New Zealander subsequently improved to 1m45.281s. The time by the Ferrari driver represented a gain of 1.7s over the previous best for the 499P, which Fuoco set on a simulated qualification run during … [Read more...] about Fuoco was blinded by sun on way to Ferrari WEC Sebring pole

Listen to this article 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 … [Read more...] about WEC Sebring: Toyota dominates, Ferrari scores debut podium

Listen to this article The American manufacturer finished as the top LMDh finisher with its new V-Series.R, two laps behind the dominant Toyota Le Mans Hypercars that finished 1-2 but just 10 seconds behind the third-placed Ferrari 499P LMH. Lynn and team-mates Earl Bamber and Richard Westbrook finished another two laps ahead of both of the Porsche 963s despite Lynn picking up a drive-through penalty in the second hour for not respecting the full-course yellow procedure. Read Also: WEC Sebring: Toyota dominates, Ferrari scores debut podium The British driver said that Cadillac can't be disappointed to miss out on the bottom step of the podium to Ferrari. "No doubt it’s a strong and positive day for Cadillac Racing," commented Lynn. "We started our WEC campaign with a fourth place and I think we would have taken that at the start of the weekend. "This is the first time everyone has worked together on a brand-new program, and to come within 10 seconds of a … [Read more...] about Cadillac ‘would have taken P4’ on WEC debut, says Lynn

Listen to this article The #33 Corvette C8.R shared by Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone dominated the GTE Am class in Friday's Sebring 1000 Miles, finishing two laps clear of the second-placed Proton Competition Porsche. It marked the US manufacturer's second victory in WEC competition as a factory team outside of the Le Mans 24 Hours, following its win in the now-defunct GTE Pro class at Monza last year. It also marks the first Corvette win in the GTE Am ranks since the 2012 Shanghai round. Read Also: WEC Sebring: Toyota dominates, Ferrari scores debut podium Keating took the start of the race and settled into second place behind the pole-sitting Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19, handing over to Varrone in the third hour before the leading Porsche dropped out of contention when Rahel Frey picked up rear bodywork damage over the kerbs. The 51-year-old Texan said he was "really proud" that he, Varrone and Catsburg, who took the car to the chequered … [Read more...] about Keating hails “special” Sebring win in first WEC race for Corvette

Listen to this article The problem encountered by the #94 car in the opening moments of the Sebring 1000 Miles on Friday and then the #93 early in the second hour was already known to the team, Peugeot Sport technical director Olivier Jansonnie explained after the race. He described it as an issue with the actuator, which will be solved with an updated part in time for the second round of the 2023 WEC at Portimao on 16 April. "We know we have this issue, a weak point on the car," said Jansonnie. "It is something we have worked on, but we could not make it [the update] available for this race. "It doesn't really look good, but it wasn't such a surprise because it is something we know about. I wouldn't say that we were expecting to have the problem, especially not so early in the race." Jansonnie stressed that the actuator glitch was not the same transmission issue that afflicted Peugeot at the 2022 Bahrain WEC round, the last of the three events it contested last … [Read more...] about Peugeot already working on gearshift fix which hurt WEC Sebring charge

Listen to this article Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway won the opening round of the 2023 WEC season in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, leading the sister #8 car crewed by Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa by just over two seconds. The #7 Toyota moved to the front around the halfway point of the race when Kobayashi got ahead of the sister #8 car that had led the order since Ferrari went off-strategy in the first hour. No other car in the 11-car Hypercar class finished anywhere near the dominant Toyotas, with the third-placed Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco , Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen ending up two laps down after serving two separate penalties for not respecting correct restart procedures. The significance of Toyota's result wasn’t lost on Lopez, who hailed the Japanese marque for maintaining its advantage in the burgeoning Hypercar class at the start of sportscar racing’s new golden era. “First congratulations to everyone here … [Read more...] about Sebring 1-2 “very important” for Toyota against new WEC rivals

Listen to this article The Italian manufacturer has revealed that it already knew that its 499P Le Mans Hypercar would be unable to match the race pace of the Toyota LMHs that ended up finishing 1-2 before the start of the 1000-mile fixture. Ferrari sportscar racing technical boss Ferdinando Cannizzo explained after the race that Ferrari was happy with third place for pole winner Antonio Fuoco , Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen behind the two Toyotas GR010 HYBRIDs on the debut of the 499P. “After the pole, we knew the race would be a different story,” said Cannizzo. “The pole was just an indication that the job we’ve done so far is quite excellent, but at the same time we knew very well that it was just a step. “A podium was a good result; this was the most we could achieve in our opinion.” Cannizzo explained that the Ferrari AF Corse factory squad had achieved its goals for the first race of the Italian manufacturer’s factory return to top-flight sportscar … [Read more...] about Ferrari didn’t expect to fight Toyota for WEC Sebring win