WEC: Toyota tops final Sebring practice, then crashes

Kamui Kobayashi topped his second practice session in as many days, before the very same No.7 GR010 Hybrid Hypercar was crashed against a tyre wall at T17 by his team-mate, José María López.

A 1m45.783s lap from the Japanese ace was entire 1.8s faster than last year’s pole position time. Kobayashi’s flyer was also 0.6s quicker than the best lap of Brendon Hartley in the sister machine.

Lopez did a number on the #7 Toyota. Photo: MPS Agency

Antonio Fuoco set third best lap time, but his team-mate Nicklas Nielsen went off track just before the red flag caused by López, as the result, the Ferrari 499P sustained minor damage.

Cadillac Racing placed fourth for the third time in as many sessions as Alex Lynn set the best time of 1m47.155s in the new V-Series.R. The US manufacturer was however forced to sit out a period of the session owing to a penalty for Richard Westbrook’s contact with No.88 Dempsey Proton Porsche in Free Practice 2 held yesterday.

Mikkel Jensen managed fifth in the No.93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 as team continues to make progress on what is its first Sebring visit. Porsche Penske ended the session sixth after a late best time of 1m48.303 set by Michael Christensen.

Pietro Fittipaldi again took Jota to the top of the LMP2 category with a best lap of 1m50.128s, which proved to be just under 0.1s ahead of the No.22 United Autosports entry driven by Philip Hanson.

In LMGTE Am, a 1m50.030s lap by Nicki Thiim saw the Northwest AMR topping the category, just ahead of Riccardo Pera and Daniel Serra, with the 13-car-strong class the top three covered by 0.054s, while the top six separated by just 0.180s.

Practice 3 Times

POS	No.	CLASS	TEAM	Drivers	CAR	TIME	BEHIND
1	7	Hypercar H	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota GR010 HYBRID	1:45.783	–
2	8	Hypercar H	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 HYBRID	1:46.392	0.609
3	50	Hypercar H	FERRARI AF CORSE	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	1:46.777	0.994
4	2	Hypercar H	CADILLAC RACING	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook	Cadillac V-Series.R	1:47.155	1.372
5	93	Hypercar H	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES	Paul di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne	Peugeot 9X8	1:47.965	2.182
6	5	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	Dane Cameron Michael Christensen Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 963	1:48.303	2.520
7	51	Hypercar H	FERRARI AF CORSE	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	1:48.425	2.642
8	6	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	Kevin Estre Andre Lotterer Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 963	1:48.485	2.702
9	94	Hypercar H	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES	Loic Duval Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller	Peugeot 9X8	1:48.602	2.819
10	28	LM P2	JOTA	David Heinemeier Hansson Pietro Fittipaldi Oliver Rasmussen	Oreca 07 – Gibson	1:50.128	4.345
11	22	LM P2	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	Frederick Lubin Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque	Oreca 07 – Gibson	1:50.218	4.435
12	48	LM P2	HERTZ TEAM JOTA	David Beckmann Ye Yifei Will Stevens	Oreca 07 – Gibson	1:50.256	4.473
13	23	LM P2	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	Josh Pierson Tom Blomqvist Oliver Jarvis	Oreca 07 – Gibson	1:50.291	4.508
14	63	LM P2	PREMA RACING	Doriane Pin Mirko Bortolotti Daniil Kvyat	Oreca 07 – Gibson	1:50.409	4.626
15	36	LM P2	ALPINE ELF TEAM	Matthieu Vaxiviere Julien Canal Charles Milesi	Oreca 07 – Gibson	1:50.467	4.684
16	9	LM P2	PREMA RACING	Filip Ugran Bent Viscaal Andrea Caldarelli	Oreca 07 – Gibson	1:50.912	5.129
17	31	LM P2	TEAM WRT	Sean Gelael Ferdinand Habsburg Robin Frijns	Oreca 07 – Gibson	1:51.162	5.379
18	35	LM P2	ALPINE ELF TEAM	Andre Negrao Memo Rojas Olli Caldwell	Oreca 07 – Gibson	1:51.281	5.498
19	708	Hypercar	GLICKENHAUS RACING	Romain Dumas Ryan Briscoe Olivier Pla	Glickenhaus 007	1:51.288	5.505
20	41	LM P2	TEAM WRT	Rui Andrade Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz	Oreca 07 – Gibson	1:51.495	5.712
21	34	LM P2	INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION	Jakub Smiechowski Fabio Scherer Albert Costa	Oreca 07 – Gibson	1:51.556	5.773
22	10	LM P2	VECTOR SPORT	Ryan Cullen Matthias Kaiser Gabriel Aubry	Oreca 07 – Gibson	1:51.579	5.796
23	98	LM GTE Am	NORTHWEST AMR	Paul Dalla Lana Axcil Jefferies Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	1:59.030	13.247
24	86	LM GTE Am	GR RACING	Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	1:59.073	13.290
25	57	LM GTE Am	KESSEL RACING	Takeshi Kimura Scott Huffaker Daniel Serra	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	1:59.084	13.301
26	54	LM GTE Am	AF CORSE	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	1:59.093	13.310
27	33	LM GTE Am	CORVETTE RACING	Ben Keating Nicolas Varrone Nick Catsburg	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	1:59.098	13.315
28	77	LM GTE Am	DEMPSEY – PROTON RACING	Luis Perez Companc Lilou Wadoux Alessio Rovera	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	1:59.210	13.427
29	21	LM GTE Am	AF CORSE	Christian Ried Mikkel Pedersen Julien Andlauer	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	1:59.216	13.433
30	60	LM GTE Am	IRON LYNX	Stefano Costantini Simon Mann Ulysse De	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	1:59.325	13.542
31	85	LM GTE Am	IRON DAMES	Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Alessio Picariello	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	1:59.487	13.704
32	83	LM GTE Am	RICHARD MILLE AF CORSE	Sarah Bovy Michelle Gatting Rahel Frey	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	1:59.517	13.734
33	25	LM GTE Am	ORT BY TF	Ahmad Al Harthy Michael Dinan Charles Eastwood	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	1:59.622	13.839
34	56	LM GTE Am	PROJECT 1 – AO	PJ Hyett Gunnar Jeannette Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	1:59.637	13.854
35	777	LM GTE Am	D’STATION RACING	Satoshi Hoshino Casper Stevenson Tomonobu Fujii	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	2:00.880	15.097
36	4	Hypercar	FLOYD VANWALL RACING TEAM	Tom Dillmann Esteban Guerrieri Jacques Villeneuve	Vanwall Vandervell 680	–	–
37	88	LM GTE Am	PROTON COMPETITION	Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon Harry Tincknell	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	–	–