WEC: Toyotas lead Ferrari after 3 Hours at Sebring

–by Mark Cipolloni–

3 hours into the WEC 1000-Miles of Sebring sports car race and the Toyotas Hypercars run 1-2, barely ahead of the #51 Ferrari 499P hypercar.

The #8 Toyota with Brendon Hartley at the wheel currently leads the #7 Toyota with Kamui Koybashi driving by about 1-sec.   1.2 sec. separate the top-3.

Earl Bamber runs 4th in the #2 Ganassi Cadillac while the #6 Penske Porsche rounds out the top-5 with Kevin Estre currently driving.

Start – FIA WEC 1000 Miles of Sebring

There was early drama at Peugeot. The #94 9X8 didn’t take the start, Loic Duval diving into the pits on the second formation lap with a gearbox issue. The car was found to be stuck in first gear.

He did get sent out shortly after the pack began racing, but was unable to get up to speed when he did, forcing him straight back into the pits and behind the wall for lengthy repairs. To put it mildly, this was not the start to the season Peugeot or the #94 crew wanted.

United Autosports head the LMP2 teams after a fierce fight on track.

The #33 Corvette leads in GTE-Am by 23-seconds over the #77 Dempsey Porsche

Standings After 3 Hours

HYPERCAR Fastest Lap by BUEMI Sébastien: 1:47.885 (Lap 31, 200.8 Kph)

Pos

No./Team

Drivers

Car

Class

Laps

Behind

Gap

1

8 Toyota Gazoo Racing

S. BUEMI / B. HARTLEY / R. HIRAKAWA

Toyota GR010 HYBRID

HYPERCAR H

86

0.000 0.000

2

7 Toyota Gazoo Racing

M. CONWAY / K. KOBAYASHI / J. LOPEZ

Toyota GR010 HYBRID

HYPERCAR H

86

0.784

0.784

3

51 Ferrari AF Corse

A. PIER GUIDI / J. CALADO / A. GIOVINAZZI

Ferrari 499P

HYPERCAR H

86

1:44.300

1:43.516

4

2 Cadillac Racing

E. BAMBER / A. LYNN / R. WESTBROOK

Cadillac V-Series.R

HYPERCAR H

85

1 Lap

1 Lap

5

6 Porsche Penske Motorsport

K. ESTRE / A. LOTTERER / L. VANTHOOR

Porsche 963

HYPERCAR H

85

1 Lap

46.459

6

50 Ferrari AF Corse

A. FUOCO / M. MOLINA / N. NIELSEN

Ferrari 499P

HYPERCAR H

85

1 Lap

3.453

7

5 Porsche Penske Motorsport

D. CAMERON / M. CHRISTENSEN / F. MAKOWIECKI

Porsche 963

HYPERCAR H

84

2 Laps

1 Lap

8

4 Floyd Vanwall Racing Team

T. DILLMANN / E. GUERRIERI / J. VILLENEUVE

Vanwall Vandervell 680

HYPERCAR

82

4 Laps

2 Laps

9

93 Peugeot TotalEnergies

P. DI RESTA / M. JENSEN / J. VERGNE

Peugeot 9X8

HYPERCAR H

72

14 Laps

10 Laps

10

708 Glickenhaus Racing

R. DUMAS / R. BRISCOE / O. PLA

Glickenhaus 007

HYPERCAR

62

24 Laps

10 Laps

11

94 Peugeot TotalEnergies

L. DUVAL / G. MENEZES / N. MÃœLLER

Peugeot 9X8

HYPERCAR H

43

43 Laps

19 Laps

LMP2

Pos

No./Team

Drivers

Car

Class

Laps

Behind

Gap

1

23

United Autosports

J. PIERSON / T. BLOMQVIST / O. JARVIS

Oreca 07 – Gibson

LMP2

84

0.000 0.000

2

63 Prema Racing

D. PIN / M. BORTOLOTTI / D. KVYAT

Oreca 07 – Gibson

LMP2

83

1 Lap

1 Lap

3

41 Team WRT

R. ANDRADE / R. KUBICA / L. DELÉTRAZ

Oreca 07 – Gibson

LMP2

83

1 Lap

17.671

4

22 United Autosports

F. LUBIN / P. HANSON / F. ALBUQUERQUE

Oreca 07 – Gibson

LMP2

83

1 Lap

5.338

5

28 JOTA

D. HEINEMEIER-HANSSON / P. FITTIPALDI / O.

Oreca 07 – Gibson

LMP2

83

1 Lap

2.486

6

34 Inter Europol Competition

J. SMIECHOWSKI / F. SCHERER / A. COSTA

Oreca 07 – Gibson

LMP2

83

1 Lap

3.861

7

36 Alpine Elf Team

M. VAXIVIERE / J. CANAL / C. MILESI

Oreca 07 – Gibson

LMP2

83

1 Lap

21.740

8

48 Hertz Team JOTA

D. BECKMANN / Y. YE / W. STEVENS

Oreca 07 – Gibson

LMP2

83

1 Lap

8.099

9

31 Team WRT

S. GELAEL / F. HABSBURG / R. FRIJNS

Oreca 07 – Gibson

LMP2

83

1 Lap

2.214

10

9 Prema Racing

F. UGRAN / B. VISCAAL / A. CALDARELLI

Oreca 07 – Gibson

LMP2

82

2 Laps

1 Lap

11

35 Alpine Elf Team

A. NEGRÃO / M. ROJAS / O. CALDWELL

Oreca 07 – Gibson

LMP2

82

2 Laps

0.621

12

10 Vector Sport

R. CULLEN / M. KAISER / G. AUBRY

Oreca 07 – Gibson

LMP2

73

11 Laps

9 Laps

LMGTE Am

Pos

No./Team

Drivers

Car

Class

Laps

Behind

Gap

1

33

Corvette Racing

B. KEATING / N. VARRONE / N. CATSBURG

Chevrolet Corvette C8.R

LMGTE Am

79

0.000

0.000

2

77 Dempsey – Proton Racing

C. RIED / M. PEDERSEN / J. ANDLAUER

Porsche 911 RSR – 19

LMGTE Am

79

23.576

23.576

3

777 D’Station Racing

S. HOSHINO / C. STEVENSON / T. FUJII

Aston Martin Vantage AMR

LMGTE Am

79

1:06.471

42.895

4

21 AF Corse

S. COSTANTINI / S. MANN / U. DE PAUW

Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

LMGTE Am

79

1:12.763

6.292

5

98 Northwest AMR

P. DALLA LANA / A. JEFFERIES / N. THIIM

Aston Martin Vantage AMR

LMGTE Am

79

1:20.994

8.231

6

60 Iron Lynx

C. SCHIAVONI / M. CRESSONI / A. PICARIELLO

Porsche 911 RSR – 19

LMGTE Am

79

1:24.948

3.954

7

54 AF Corse

T. FLOHR / F. CASTELLACCI / D. RIGON

Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

LMGTE Am

79

1:30.746

5.798

8

57 Kessel Racing

T. KIMURA / S. HUFFAKER / D. SERRA

Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

LMGTE Am

79

1:32.914

2.168

9

86 GR Racing

M. WAINWRIGHT / R. PERA / B. BARKER

Porsche 911 RSR – 19

LMGTE Am

79

1:41.110

8.196

10

85 Iron Dames

S. BOVY / M. GATTING / R. FREY

Porsche 911 RSR – 19

LMGTE Am

78

1 Lap

1 Lap

11

25 ORT by TF

A. AL HARTHY / M. DINAN / C. EASTWOOD

Aston Martin Vantage AMR

LMGTE Am

78

1 Lap

14.277

12

56 Project 1 – AO

P. HYETT / G. JEANNETTE / M. CAIROLI

Porsche 911 RSR – 19

LMGTE Am

77

2 Laps

1 Lap

13

83 Richard Mille AF Corse

L. PEREZ COMPANC / L. WADOUX / A. ROVERA

Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

LMGTE Am

4

75 Laps

73 Laps