The 1000 miles of Sebring marked the 1st round of the 2023 World Endurance Championship, with a plateau so pleasant to see, which suggests a new golden age of Endurance: Toyota, Peugeot and Glickenhaus have joined Ferrari , Porsche and VanWall.
Ferrari celebrated its return to the top of Endurance with dignity after 50 of absence with a historic pole. Antonio Fuoco fended off Brendon Hartley’s Toyota by 0.291 behind the wheel of his Prancing Horse-stricken Hypercar. Ferrari, Toyota, Toyota, Ferrari, such is the leading quartet, grouped in 0”807.
In the race on the other hand, there was no photo. In terms of pace, traffic management and operational execution, Toyota not only showed they had a formidable car with the GR010, but above all they had top-notch experience and organizational mastery.
The two GR010 Hybrids are separated by only 2”168, to the advantage of the n°7 led by the trio Mike Conway / Kamui Kobayashi / José-Maria Lopez. The outgoing champions Sébastien Buemi / Ryo Hirakawa / Brendon Hartley therefore climb on the second step of the podium.
3rd but at a good distance (two laps behind), Ferrari confirms and takes a podium with the 499P n°50 of Nicklas Nielsen / Miguel Molina / Antonio Fuoco and this despite a drive-through for an infringement committed during a refueling and a another for overtaking a GT competitor under a safety car regime. The Ferrari is ahead of the Cadillac of Bamber-Lynn-Westbrook, after a good fight, as well as the two Porsches, a little lacking in rhythm, two laps behind the Ferrari and the Cadillac. The 963 LMH of Cameron-Christensen-Makowiecki, 5th, is ahead of that of Estre-Lotterer-Vanthoor.
Several Oreca LMP2s fit in the standings with the rest of the Hypercars. The 2nd Ferrari of Pierguidi-Calado-Giovinazi is classified 15th after having lost a lot during a spin that was followed by a collision with the Porsche n°56. . At the bottom of the classification, the Vanwall, driven in particular by Jacques Villeneuve, finished the race, but after many problems. but what about Peugeot, which experienced a nightmarish race, under the eyes of the big boss Carlo Tavarès…
Admittedly, the track is not suitable for the 9X8 whose ground effect philosophy seems more cut out for Le Mans than for winding tracks. In testing, the two cars were more than 2″ from pole, but Peugeot suffered on all fronts: performance, reliability and even operational performance. The two lionesses n°93 and n°94 clocked 52’31 and 3h22 respectively. ‘ at a standstill… We even saw a mess in the pits over an involuntary swapping of spare parts between the two 9X8s.
In LMP2, the Oreca 07 n°48 of Yifei Ye-Will Stevens-David Beckmann won by 2.8 on the n°22 of United Autosports. On the third step of the podium, the Oreca n°63 of the Prema Racing entrusted to Daniil Kvyat, Mirko Bortolotti and our French Doriane Pin, defending champion of the Ferrari Challenge Europe.
In GTAM, one of the main protagonists was eliminated in the first laps of the race: Luis Perez-Companc violently crashed into the tires the Ferrari 488 GTE AF Corse / Richard Mille which he shared with the French Lilou Wadoux and Alessio Rovera. The Iron Dames’ #85 Porsche 911 RSR-19 lost time after ripping its rear bumper into the sidewalk, allowing the #33 Corvette C8.R to have a quiet run. Nicky Catsburg / Nicolas Varrone / Ben Keating won at home. The podium is completed by the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 driven by Julien Andlauer-Christian Ried-Mikkel Pedersen and the #57 Ferrari 488 GTE entered by Kessel Racing for Daniel Serra-Takeshi Kimura-Scott Huffaker .
Full results are here
A little extra pleasure with this Porsche/Ferrari battle:
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