WEC: United Autosports tops final session of FIA WEC Prologue test

The 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season officially began at Sebring International Raceway with the two-day Prologue test at the legendary Florida venue.

The traditional test is a curtain-raiser for the first round of the 2022 season in the 1000 Miles of Sebring on Friday.

The LMP2 entry of American-flagged United Autosports ended at the top of the timesheets after the final session of the FIA WEC Prologue two-day test at Sebring International Raceway. The team’s number 22 Oreca 07, driven by Philip Hanson, Felipe Albuquerque and Will Owen set a best time of 1m 48.439s around the 6.019 km circuit.

The final session was interrupted after the number 56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR-19 suffered heavy damage after going off the track, bringing the red flag out while the stricken car was recovered.

LMP2 cars set the pace in three of the four test sessions held during the Prologue, with the fastest outright lap being claimed in the third session by the Realteam by WRT entry driven by Ferdinand Habsburg, who clocked 1m 48.089s in the car that he will share with Rui Andrade and Norman Nato. Only the opening Prologue session on Saturday morning was headed by one of the elite Hypercar entries, that being the Toyota GR010-Hybrid of defending WEC champions Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María Lopez.

On a weekend when set-up development and data gathering were the priorities, neither GR010 HYBRID went in search of outright lap times as the team adjusted to the newly-implemented balance of performance, which includes a higher deployment speed for the hybrid motor. The #8 crew of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa set the ninth fastest lap of the two days, 1min 49.101secs, while the reigning World Champions Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López, in the #7 car, were 15th, with a best time of 1min49.465s.

The team’s only previous visit to the birthplace of American endurance racing came in 2019, when it set a new lap record on its way to victory with the TS050 HYBRID. So the GR010 HYBRID Hypercar, which has been slightly modified for the 2022 season, made its debut at Sebring when testing began on Saturday morning.

Ryo was also making his Sebring debut, and his first official appearance as a TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WEC driver. He turned his first laps of the 6.019km circuit soon after the morning session started.

Sebring, built on a former airfield from the 1940s, is famous for its bumpy, concrete surface, so the team worked immediately to optimize suspension and aerodynamic settings on the GR010 HYBRID for this unique challenge.

A heavy storm interrupted the first morning and halted the test around an hour earlier than planned due to the conditions. Strong winds continued, but the rain passed and the track dried quickly to allow the team’s intense program of set-up and tire comparisons to continue in the afternoon.

Sunday started bright but unusually cold for Florida, with temperatures as low as 10℃ in the morning. That allowed further testing of the various Michelin tire compounds as well as further mechanical and aerodynamic set-up investigations.

A productive two days in terms of data gathered and understanding of how the GR010 HYBRID behaves around the Sebring circuit represents a positive end to pre-season preparations for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing. The season kicks off on Wednesday with first practice sessions for the 1000 Miles of Sebring, before qualifying on Thursday and the race itself on Friday evening, beginning at midday local time and ending in darkness at 8pm.

In the production-based LMGTE Pro category, Corvette Racing managed to set the fastest time in the final session of Prologue as the American team prepares to make its first ever season-long campaign in the WEC. The Porsche GT Team had set the pace in all three of the earlier sessions and only missed out on a clean sweep by three hundredths of a second, promising a thrilling battle for manufacturer honors between the two brands and their competitors at Ferrari.

Dempsey-Proton Racing built on the fastest time set in the morning session among the LMGTE Am contenders to remain on top in the afternoon with their number 77 entry.

With the Prologue successfully completed, the tenth anniversary season of the WEC will begin at the 1000 Miles of Sebring, which takes place on Friday, March 18.

Sunday Results