WEC Sebring: Ferrari beats Toyota to first pole of 2023

Antonio Fuoco set what turned out to be the benchmark time of 1m45.067s at the wheel of the quicker of the two brand-new Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars, which are making their race debut this weekend.

Fuoco's lap in the #50 car, which he shares with Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, knocked the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley off provisional pole to the tune of almost three tenths of a second.

Hartley was able to shave almost a tenth off his best time to get down to a 1m45.281s, but Toyota had to admit defeat as the tyres went past their peak in the closing stages of the 15-minute Hypercar session.

Kamui Kobayashi was third-fastest in the #7 Toyota, 0.481s away from pole, ahead of the #51 Ferrari in which Alessandro Pier Guidi was eight tenths off the pace with a minor off at Turn 7.

 

Cadillac secured fifth on the grid with its solo Chip Ganassi Racing-run V.Series.R, Alex Lynn beating the two Porsche 963s to the honour of top LMDh runner.

Lynn spent the first part of the session in the pits with an apparent issue but managed to return to the track with six minutes remaining to set a 1m46.082s, which was over a second quicker than either Kevin Estre or Michael Christensen managed in their Porsches.

Peugeot was a disappointing eighth and ninth with its two 9X8 LMHs, the faster of which was 2.3s off the pace with Loic Duval at the wheel.

The sister #93 car of Mikkel Jensen briefly stopped on track at the start of the session before resuming.

Glickenhaus and Vanwall rounded out the 11-car Hypercar field, both over four seconds off the pace.

United Autosports, Iron Dames get class poles

Oliver Jarvis bagged LMP2 pole for United Autosports in the #23 ORECA 07-Gibson he shares with Tom Blomqvist and Josh Pierson.

A best time of 1m49.974s from Jarvis was enough to overhaul JOTA's full-season #28 ORECA of Pietro Fittipaldi by 0.093s.

The 12-car field was split between those cars that opted to change tyres midway through the 15-minute session and those that didn't, but the top two runners fell in the latter category.

WRT opted for mid-session pitstops for both cars, with the faster #31 car of Robin Frijns coming third ahead of the lead Alpine entry, the #36 car of Matthieu Vaxiviere, which likewise opted for a tyre change.

JOTA's #48 car, which is running at Sebring in place of the team's yet-to-be delivered Porsche 963, was fifth-fastest in the hands of Yifei Ye.

In GTE Am, the first pole of the new season went the way of the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting.

#85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR - 19: Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey

Photo by: Porsche Motorsport

Bovy came out on top in an entertaining tussle with Corvette Racing's Ben Keating with a best lap of 1m58.949s, which was enough to beat the only C8.R in the field by 0.396s.

Third-fastest was the #25 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage of Ahmad Al Harthy, while Luis Perez Companc ensured all four manufacturers were represented in the top four in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE.

The Sebring 1000 Miles starts on Friday at 12pm local time (GMT -5).

WEC Sebring - Hypercar qualifying results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Time	Gap
1	50	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	1'45.067
2	8	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	1'45.281	0.214
3	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	1'45.548	0.481
4	51	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	1'45.874	0.807
5	2	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook	Cadillac V-Series.R	1'46.082	1.015
6	6	Kevin Estre Andre Lotterer Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 963	1'47.193	2.126
7	5	Dane Cameron Michael Christensen Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 963	1'47.210	2.143
8	94	Loic Duval Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller	Peugeot 9X8	1'47.455	2.388
9	93	Paul di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne	Peugeot 9X8	1'48.205	3.138
10	708	Romain Dumas Ryan Briscoe Olivier Pla	Glickenhaus 007	1'49.164	4.097
11	4	Tom Dillmann Esteban Guerrieri Jacques Villeneuve	Vanwall Vandervell 680	1'49.329	4.262
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WEC Sebring - LMP2 qualifying results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Avg Time	Gap
1	23	Josh Pierson Tom Blomqvist Oliver Jarvis	Oreca 07	1'49.974
2	28	David Heinemeier Hansson Pietro Fittipaldi Oliver Rasmussen	Oreca 07	1'50.067	0.093
3	31	Sean Gelael Ferdinand Habsburg Robin Frijns	Oreca 07	1'50.155	0.181
4	36	Matthieu Vaxiviere Julien Canal Charles Milesi	Oreca 07	1'50.174	0.200
5	48	David Beckmann Ye Yifei Will Stevens	Oreca 07	1'50.218	0.244
6	41	Rui Andrade Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz	Oreca 07	1'50.291	0.317
7	22	Frederick Lubin Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque	Oreca 07	1'50.408	0.434
8	9	Filip Ugran Bent Viscaal Andrea Caldarelli	Oreca 07	1'50.417	0.443
9	10	Ryan Cullen Matthias Kaiser Gabriel Aubry	Oreca 07	1'50.710	0.736
10	63	Doriane Pin Mirko Bortolotti Daniil Kvyat	Oreca 07	1'50.726	0.752
11	34	Jakub Smiechowski Fabio Scherer Albert Costa	Oreca 07	1'50.889	0.915
12	35	Andre Negrao Memo Rojas Olli Caldwell	Oreca 07	1'51.284	1.310
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WEC Sebring - GTE Am qualifying results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Avg Time	Gap
1	85	Sarah Bovy Michelle Gatting Rahel Frey	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	1'58.949
2	33	Ben Keating Nicolas Varrone Nick Catsburg	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	1'59.345	0.396
3	25	Ahmad Al Harthy Michael Dinan Charles Eastwood	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	1'59.657	0.708
4	83	Luis Perez Companc Lilou Wadoux Alessio Rovera	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	1'59.733	0.784
5	21	Stefano Costantini Simon Mann Ulysse De	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	1'59.992	1.043
6	56	PJ Hyett Gunnar Jeannette Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	2'00.588	1.639
7	57	Takeshi Kimura Scott Huffaker Daniel Serra	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	2'00.591	1.642
8	98	Paul Dalla Lana Axcil Jefferies Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	2'00.807	1.858
9	777	Satoshi Hoshino Casper Stevenson Tomonobu Fujii	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	2'00.941	1.992
10	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	2'01.041	2.092
11	77	Christian Ried Mikkel Pedersen Julien Andlauer	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	2'01.054	2.105
12	86	Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	2'02.588	3.639
13	60	Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Alessio Picariello	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	2'02.820	3.871
14	88	Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon Harry Tincknell	Porsche 911 RSR - 19
View full results