Sebring WEC: Lopez keeps #7 Toyota ahead in FP3
Toyota driver Jose Maria Lopez set the fastest time of the weekend so far in final practice for the Sebring 1000 Miles FIA World Endurance Championship round.

After taking over the #7 TS050 Hybrid from Mike Conway, Lopez posted a best time of 1m41.448s in the 60-minute session, eclipsing his own best time set in Wednesday evening's second practice.
It remains however three tenths shy of Conway's unofficial record set last weekend in testing.
Fernando Alonso set the best time in the #8 Toyota, a 1m42.101s - 0.653s adrift of Lopez - as both Toyotas stretched their advantage over the non-hybrid LMP1 runners.
Best of the rest was DragonSpeed's Gibson-powered BR Engineering BR1 of Renger van der Zande, albeit the Dutchman's best time was 2.7s off the pace.
Rebellion Racing's two R13-Gibsons were fourth and fifth, with Neel Jani in the #1 managing a time a little more than a tenth quicker than Gustavo Menezes in the #3.
Both SMP Racing BR1s were some five seconds slower than the Toyotas, with Vitaly Petrov's best lap putting the #11 car ahead of the #17 machine of Egor Orudzhev.
Gabriel Aubry, who is on double WEC/IMSA duty this weekend at Sebring, recorded the best time in the LMP2 class in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca.
The Frenchman's late 1m48.353s effort was enough to eclipse Nicolas Lapierre in the #36 Signatech Alpine Oreca by 0.141s.
Racing Team Nederland's Dallara P217 was third-fastest in the hands of Formula 2 racer Nyck de Vries.
GTE Pro was led by Ford courtesy of a 1m57.730s effort from Andy Priaulx in the #67 car, slightly quicker than the class benchmark from Wednesday evening.
Porsche's pair of 911 RSRs filled the next two spots, Michael Christensen in the #92 narrowly shading Gianmaria Bruni in the #91 car, while Alessandro Pier Guidi put the best of the Ferrari 488 GTEs in fourth.
Aston Martin, which topped FP2, propped up the GTE Pro times in 10th and 11th, behind the sole Corvette Racing C7.R in ninth place.
The pacesetter in GTE Am and fifth-quickest of the GTE cars generally was Matt Campbell in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche, the Australian going seven tenths clear of the field.
Paul Dalla Lana prompted a full-course yellow period when he spun the #98 Aston Martin Vantage at Turn 17 a little over half an hour into the session and hit the tyre barriers backwards.
Practice times:
Pos. | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 7 | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1'41.448 | ||
2 | 8 | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1'42.101 | 0.653 | |
3 | 10 | BR Engineering BR1 | LMP1 | 1'44.156 | 2.708 | |
4 | 1 | Rebellion R13 | LMP1 | 1'44.554 | 3.106 | |
5 | 3 | Rebellion R13 | LMP1 | 1'44.707 | 3.259 | |
6 | 11 | BR Engineering BR1 | LMP1 | 1'46.399 | 4.951 | |
7 | 17 | BR Engineering BR1 | LMP1 | 1'46.775 | 5.327 | |
8 | 38 | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'48.353 | 6.905 | |
9 | 36 | Alpine A470 | LMP2 | 1'48.494 | 7.046 | |
10 | 29 | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 1'49.028 | 7.580 | |
11 | 31 | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'49.061 | 7.613 | |
12 | 28 | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'49.333 | 7.885 | |
13 | 37 | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'49.353 | 7.905 | |
14 | 50 | Ligier JSP 217 | LMP2 | 1'50.777 | 9.329 | |
15 | 67 | Ford GT | LMGTE PRO | 1'57.730 | 16.282 | |
16 | 92 | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.052 | 16.604 | |
17 | 91 | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.083 | 16.635 | |
18 | 51 | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.365 | 16.917 | |
19 | 77 | Matthew Campbell Julien Andlauer | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'58.554 | 17.106 |
20 | 66 | Ford GT | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.595 | 17.147 | |
21 | 71 | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.788 | 17.340 | |
22 | 81 | BMW M8 GTE | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.864 | 17.416 | |
23 | 82 | BMW M8 GTE | LMGTE PRO | 1'59.095 | 17.647 | |
24 | 63 | Chevrolet Corvette C7R | LMGTE PRO | 1'59.130 | 17.682 | |
25 | 88 | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'59.260 | 17.812 | |
26 | 56 | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'59.605 | 18.157 | |
27 | 95 | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 1'59.609 | 18.161 | |
28 | 97 | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 1'59.661 | 18.213 | |
29 | 54 | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 1'59.699 | 18.251 | |
30 | 90 | Aston Martin Vantage | LMGTE AM | 1'59.934 | 18.486 | |
31 | 70 | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 2'00.129 | 18.681 | |
32 | 86 | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 2'00.429 | 18.981 | |
33 | 61 | Luis Perez Companc | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 2'00.579 | 19.131 |
34 | 98 | Aston Martin Vantage | LMGTE AM | 2'01.607 | 20.159 |

Previous article
Toyota open to entering road-going WEC hypercar
Next article
Sebring WEC: Alonso record lap gives #8 Toyota pole

About this article
Series | WEC |
Event | Sebring |
Author | Jamie Klein |
Sebring WEC: Lopez keeps #7 Toyota ahead in FP3
Ferrari enters LMH from 2023
Peugeot in sportscars
WEC: 2021 Entry list revealed!
WEC: What is a Hypercar?
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing: GR010 HYBRID HYPERCAR
Why Ferrari is ending its 50-year top-flight sportscar racing exile
Making a return to top-flight sportscar racing after 50 years away, Ferrari will enter the Le Mans Hypercar ranks in 2023. The Italian marque denies the link with Formula 1's new cost cap that frees up resources, but it's certainly no coincidence...
The GTE dilemma that IMSA has created for the WEC
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s decision to scrap its GT Le Mans class for 2022 raises the question of whether the FIA World Endurance Championship should phase out GTE cars. But it's a much harder decision than it appears on the surface.
The ground-up refresh behind Toyota's new Le Mans challenger
Toyota's new GR010 contender for the World Endurance Championship's Hypercar era has little in common with the LMP1 TS050 that preceded it. But within the confines of the scaled back new rules, its latest challenger will be no less formidable a prospect
The tiny increments that decided the final LMP1-era WEC
The system of success handicaps devised by the FIA World Endurance Championship to level the LMP1 playing field in the category's swansong season ended up having a counterproductive effect, as COVID cancellations also played in the champions' favour.
Why Audi’s shock return promises a new age for sportscars
OPINION: The news that Audi will return to Le Mans means we'll at last get to see the fight promised in 2012 against Peugeot and Toyota. It also gives LMDh a tangible form, which could open the floodgates for more like-minded marques to follow suit…
The eternal debate revived after the 2019/20 WEC season
It may have been missed amid the clamour over Lewis Hamilton's seventh F1 title, but Britain had another world champion crowned last weekend. Mike Conway's WEC crown raises an old conundrum - does title glory make up for the pain of Le Mans defeat?
The 10 greatest LMP1 races ranked
As the LMP1 class prepares to bow out of top-line sportscar racing at the World Endurance Championship season finale in Bahrain this weekend, Motorsport.com looks back over the past two decades to pick out the 10 of its best contests
Why COVID-19 didn't stop Peugeot's Le Mans commitment
When the global pandemic hit, Peugeot was given the perfect excuse to back out of its stated intention to return to Le Mans in 2022. That it hasn't done so is telling both of its unfinished business and the opportunities presented by the Hypercar rulebook