WEC: Toyota leads Ferrari in first practice at Sebring

Continuing where it left off during the Prologue last weekend at Sebring, Toyota topped the times at Sebring in opening free practice for this week’s opening round of the World Endurance Championship.

Toyota driver Ryo Hirakawa made a late improvement to beat Ferrari AF Corse’s James Calado to the top spot in the first Free Practice session for the 1000 Miles of Sebring.

Calado, driving the No. 51 Ferrari 499P, let most of Wednesday morning’s 60-minute session until Hirakawa burst through with a time of 1:47.649 two minutes from the end.

Calado settled for second on a time of 1:47.935, while Miguel Molina squeezed into third on his final lap with a 1:48.039 behind the wheel of the No. 50 Ferrari.

Sandbagging like a pig, Ferrari took 1.4 seconds off its previous best last weekend, as Hirakawa went half a second quicker than his teammate Jose Maria Lopez’s leading Prologue number.

The Ferrari – AF Corse teammates in the No. 50 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen finished the session with the third fastest time of 1’48”039 set by the Spanish driver, the third to take to the track after the stints of Fuoco and Nielsen respectively; the crew completed 33 laps.

Mirko Bortolotti set the pace in the LMP2 class, posting a 1:50.074time in the No. 63 Prema Oreca 07 Gibson.

Michelle Gatting set the GTE-Am pace  in the Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19.

The Danish driver topped the No. 54 NAF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Francesco Castellacci with her 1m59.028s lap.

Also sandbagging like a pig at the Prologue, Nicky Catsburg came through in third for Corvette Racing, while the best Aston Martin Vantage GTE finished 11th in class.

Practice 1 Results