Hot News World Endurance Championship

WEC: Vaxiviere Quickest for Alpine in Sebring 2nd Practice

Posted by AR1 staff

The first official track sessions of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship got underway today (Wednesday), to start the countdown to the opening round of the season, the 1000 Miles of Sebring.

After LMP2 cars set the pace in the Prologue pre-season test sessions, the senior Hypercar entrants began to assert their authority. Fastest in the morning session was the Glickenhaus 007 driven by double 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and former WEC champion Romain Dumas, who set a time of 1m49.738s.

The afternoon session saw the Alpine Elf Team to the fore with the fastest time of 1m50.512s being set by Matthieu Vaxiviere. The defending WEC champions at Toyota Gazoo Racing had struggled for pace in the Prologue but were contending for the top of the timesheets throughout the day.

The #36 Alpine A40 Gibson Hypercar of Andre Negrao topped the second 60 minute Wednesday Free Practice session ahead of the FIA WEC’s season-opening 1000 Miles of Sebring.

Negrao’s best effort of 1:50.845 was over half a second clear of the best of the rest of the Hypercar entry, this the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.

Between the pair though were no fewer than three LMP2 runners with Paul di Resta less than two tenths off the Alpine in his #23 United Autosports Oreca, edging out the sister #22 United car by less than two hundredths of a second.

The #41 RealTeam by WRT Oreca also led the Toyota, 4th fastest overall.

The remaining pair of Hypercars were 8th (#7 Toyota) and 14th #708 Glickenhaus.

The Porsche GT Team’s number 92 car took a clean sweep of fastest times in the manufacturer-backed LMGTE Pro class. Kevin Estre set a time of 1m58.827s to go top of the opening session and team-mate Michael Christensen lowered the bar to 1m58.488s in a session when the Porsches and their new season-long challenger, the Corvette Racing team, were within half a second of each other.

Michael Christensen was  fastest in the #92 Porsche (1:58.488), under a tenth of a second ahead of Nick Tandy in the #64 Corvette Racing C8.R, the Corvette splitting the two factory Porsches.

Porsche 911 RSR, Porsche GT Team (#92), Kevin Estre (F), Michael Christensen (DK)

Porsche drivers also topped the timesheets in the opening session for the LMGTE Am class, with Team Project 1 driver Matteo Cairoli setting a lap of 1m58.906s, but in the second session it was the Northwest AMR team’s Aston Martin that held sway with a time of 2m00.029s.

#98 Aston Martin. Photo: Drew Gibson

There were two cautions in the session, the first for an on-track issue for the #45 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca, the car though made it back to pit lane.

There was trouble too between the #7. Toyota GR010 of Mike Conway and the #28 JOTA Oreca of Jonathan Aberdein in the last few minutes of the session, the pair coming into contact at Turn One with a post session investigation signalled by race control.

Practice 2 Results

Pos Team Drivers No. Laps Time Behind Gap
1ST Alpine Elf Team Negrão A. Lapierre N. Vaxiviere M. #36 26 1:50.512 – –
2ND United Autosports USA Di Resta P. Jarvis O. Pierson J. #23 24 1:51.040 +0.528 +0.528
3RD United Autosports USA Hanson P. Albuquerque F. Owen W. #22 21 1:51.058 +0.546 +0.018
4TH Realteam By WRT Andrade R. Habsburg F. Nato N. #41 26 1:51.244 +0.732 +0.186
5TH Toyota Gazoo Racing Buemi S. Hartley B. Hirakawa R. #8 28 1:51.380 +0.868 +0.136
6TH Prema Orlen Team Kubica R. Deletraz L. Colombo L. #9 27 1:51.395 +0.883 +0.015
7TH WRT Gelael S. Frijns R. Rast R. #31 25 1:51.446 +0.934 +0.051
8TH Toyota Gazoo Racing Conway M. Kobayashi K. Lopez J. #7 24 1:51.503 +0.991 +0.057
9TH JOTA Gonzalez R. Felix Da Costa A. Stevens W. #38 28 1:51.683 +1.171 +0.180
10TH JOTA Rasmussen O. Jones E. Aberdein J. #28 23 1:51.783 +1.271 +0.100
11TH Team Penske Cameron D. Collard E. Nasr F. #5 20 1:52.047 +1.535 +0.264
12TH Ultimate Lahaye J. Lahaye M. Heriau F. #35 25 1:52.142 +1.630 +0.095
13TH AF Corse Perrodo F. Nielsen N. Rovera A. #83 28 1:52.343 +1.831 +0.201
14TH Glickenhaus Racing Pla O. Dumas R. Briscoe R. #708 15 1:52.479 +1.967 +0.136
15TH Inter Europol Competition Smiechowski J. Scherer F. Gutierrez E. #34 21 1:52.752 +2.240 +0.273
16TH Vector Sport Müller N. Cullen R. Rockenfeller M. #10 20 1:53.772 +3.260 +1.020
17TH Richard Mille Racing Team Wadoux L. Ogier S. Milesi C. #1 27 1:53.976 +3.464 +0.204
18TH Algarve Pro Racing Thomas S. Allen J. Binder R. #45 23 1:54.144 +3.632 +0.168
19TH Arc Bratislava Konopka M. Beche M. Van Der Helm T. #44 22 1:56.085 +5.573 +1.941
20TH Porsche Gt Team Christensen M. Estre K. #92 25 1:58.488 +7.976 +2.403
21ST Corvette Racing Milner T. Tandy N. #64 24 1:58.580 +8.068 +0.092
22ND Porsche Gt Team Bruni G. Lietz R. #91 27 1:58.889 +8.377 +0.309
23RD Northwest Amr Dalla Lana P. Pittard D. Thiim N. #98 25 2:00.029 +9.517 +1.140
24TH Dempsey – Proton Racing Ried C. Priaulx S. Tincknell H. #77 26 2:00.181 +9.669 +0.152
25TH Team Project 1 Iribe B. Millroy O. Barnicoat B. #56 25 2:00.367 +9.855 +0.186
26TH AF Corse Molina M. Fuoco A. #52 24 2:00.416 +9.904 +0.049
27TH AF Corse Mann S. Ulrich C. Vilander T. #21 26 2:00.533 +10.021 +0.117
28TH AF Corse Pier Guidi A. Calado J. #51 23 2:00.559 +10.047 +0.026
29TH Spirit Of Race Dezoteux F. Ragues P. Aubry G. #71 24 2:00.621 +10.109 +0.062
30TH Iron Lynx Schiavoni C. Cressoni M. Fisichella G. #60 26 2:00.866 +10.354 +0.245
31ST TF Sport Keating B. Latorre F. Sørensen M. #33 25 2:01.143 +10.631 +0.277
32ND D’station Racing Hoshino S. Fujii T. Fagg C. #777 25 2:01.424 +10.912 +0.281
33RD Dempsey – Proton Racing Poordad F. Lindsey P. Andlauer J. #88 26 2:01.546 +11.034 +0.122
34TH Iron Dames Frey R. Gatting M. Bovy S. #85 26 2:01.883 +11.371 +0.337
35TH AF Corse Flohr T. Castellacci F. Cassidy N. #54 26 2:01.899 +11.387 +0.016
36TH Team Project 1 Cairoli M. Pedersen M. Leutwiler N. #46 14 2:02.234 +11.722 +0.335

 

Wednesday Summary

Hypercar

  • Romain Dumas set his best time of 1m49.738s just before rain fell at Sebring Raceway with 20 minutes of the session left
  • Sebastien Buemi had set early benchmark with a 1m50.267s lap in No.7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar but saw both the Glickenhaus and then the Alpine ELF Team entry push him down to third
  • Matthieu Vaxiviere lapped the Alpine A480-Alpine 0.565s shy of Dumas’ best time to place second in Hypercar category

LMGTE Pro

  • Kevin Estre tops LMGTE Pro with an early session best lap of 1m58.827s in the No.92 Porsche 911 RSR
  • Estre edges stablemates, Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz, in No.91 Porsche by just 0.054s
  • Corvette Racing place third as they prepare for their first ever full WEC season. Tommy Milner sets best lap of 1m59.839s
  • Reigning champions, AF Corse Ferrari’s James Calado and Alesandro Pier Guidi are fourth ahead of the No.52 car driven this season by Miguel Molina and new Ferrari factory young gun, Antonio Fuoco

LMP2

  • Real Team by WRT head LMP2 as the class enters its most competitive season ever
  • Ferdinand Habsburg peaks with a 1m50.477s, which is one of two laps he sets that was good enough for P1
  • Habsburg’s best time is 0.5s ahead of the Prema Orlen Team as it makes its WEC debut this weekend. Louis Deletraz sets the best lap of 1m51.068s
  • Third in LMP2 is the No.23 United Autosports USA Oreca-Gibson with Paul di Resta, standing in for Alex Lynn this weekend, claiming the best time of 1m51.218s

LMGTE Am

  • Team Project 1’s Matteo Cairoli leads class with a best time set in early stages of 1m58.906
  • This proves to be just under a second faster than the No.99 Dempsey Proton Porsche driven by Julien Andlauer
  • Aston Martin deny a Porsche clean sweep as Nicki Thiim laps in 2m00.253s in Northwest AMR Vantage

FP2: Vaxiviere Quickest for Alpine; Porsche on top again in LMGTE Pro

Hypercar 

  • Matthieu Vaxiviere continues fine form with a late 1m50.512s lap to take fastest time of session for Les Bleues
  • Earlier Andre Negrao took the Alpine A480-Alpine to the top of the timing screens by setting best lap of the session with a 1m50.845s
  • No.8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid places second in session
  • But Brendon Hartley’s time is struck off for speeding in pitlane, although his next best time of 1m51.380s is still good enough for second place
  • No.7 Toyota takes third in session with a 1m51.503s best set by Jose-Maria Lopez
  • Contact between Mike Conway’s No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid and the No. 28 JOTA Oreca 07 Gibson of Jonathan Aberdein at Turn 1 resulted in a yellow flag with less than 15 minutes in the session.
  • Glickenhaus placed fourth in Hypercar after missing first half of 60-minute session

LMGTE Pro 

  • Michael Christensen leads the LMGTE Pro class after setting best time of 1m58.488s in the No.92 Porsche 911 RSR
  • Corvette Racing second as Nick Tandy posts a 1m58.580 to get within 0.092s of the Porsche
  • A 1m58.889s lap by Richard Lietz ensures that the top three in class are separated by less than 0.5s
  • AF Corse Ferraris placed fourth and fifth in LMGTE Pro as No.51 488 GTE Evo laps narrowly quicker than the sister No.52 car

LMP2  

  • United Autosports USA place 1-2 in LMP2 as a late time by Paul di Resta just beats sister car by 0.018s
  • Di Resta’s 1m51.040s lap just shades the early time set by the No.22 United Autosports USA car with Filipe Albuquerque stopping the clocks on 1m51.058
  • Real Team by WRT takes third place with Ferdinand Habsburg again claiming fastest lap on a 1m51.244s
  • Robert Kubica places the Prema Orlen Team LMP2 car in fourth position after peaking with a bets lap of 1m51.395s
  • Top four in LMP2 covered by just 0.4s

LMGTE Am  

  • Aston Martin fastest as David Pittard laps in 2m00.029s in Northwest AMR Vantage
  • No.77 Dempsey Proton Porsche takes second as Harry Tincknell manages an early session 2m00.181s
  • No.56 Team Project 1 Porsche is third as Ben Barnicoat set fastest time of 2m00.367s