WEC Sebring: Toyota leads Ferrari in first practice of 2023

Ryo Hirakawa knocked Ferrari driver James Calado off the top spot in the dying minutes of the one-hour Free Practice 1 session with a time more than half a second quicker than the Toyota Le Mans Hypercar managed in last weekend’s official pre-season Prologue test. 

The Japanese driver’s 1m47.649s aboard the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID compared to the 1m48.208s with which Jose Maria Lopez headed the times from the two-day official test that led into race week for Friday’s Sebring 1000 Miles.

Ferrari driver Calado bounced back from an accident during the Prologue when he went quickest in the #51 Ferrari 499P 15 minutes into FP1.

Calado posted a 1m47.935s, which represented an improvement of 1.3s for the Ferrari LMH making its race debut in Sebring. 

Miguel Molina put the #50 Ferrari third right at the end of the session when he got down to a 1m48.039s. 

Earl Bamber found over three tenths on his Prologue best in the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh, getting down to a 1m49.090s to take fourth position.

The second Toyota ended up fifth when Lopez improved on Mike Conway’s previous best in the car by three tenths. 

The Argentinian driver’s 1m48.613s gave him a one-tenth margin over the best of the Porsche 963 LMDhs in sixth place. 

Laurens Vanthoor’s 1m48.745s in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry was just a couple of tenths up on the 1m48.043s posted by Frederic Makowiecki in #5.

Peugeot took eighth and ninth position in the Hypercar class with its 9X8. 

Loic Duval was quickest of the drivers in the Peugeot LMH with a 1m49.315s, which was on a par with team-mate Nico Muller’s best for the marque at the Prologue. 

Jean-Eric Vergne was less than a tenth behind in the second Peugeot. 

Olivier Pla took 10th position for Glickenhaus with a time four tenths up on the Pipo-engined 007 LMH’s Prologue best. 

Esteban Guerrieri brought up the rear in the Vanwall-Gibson Vandervell 680 LMH.

Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve started the session in the car and improved by more than four seconds during his first long run in the Vanwall. 

#63 Prema Racing Oreca 07 - Gibson: Doriane Pin, Mirko Bortolotti, Daniil Kvyat

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Prema led the way in LMP2, Mirko Bortolotti taking class honours in the #63 ORECA-Gibson 07. 

The Italian’s 1m53.074s gave him a margin of more than two tenths over Robin Frijns in the best of the WRT ORECAs. 

The Dutch driver’s 1m50.317s was just a hundredth up on the fastest lap from Andrea Caldarelli in the second Prema entry. 

The United Autosport squad that headed the class order at the Prologue was sixth and seventh in the times with its pair of ORECAs, Oliver Jarvis ending up three tenths ahead of Phil Hanson. 

Michelle Gatting was quickest in GTE Am in the Iron Dames Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. 

Her 1m59.028s knocked Francesco Castellacci off the top of the times by a couple of hundredths. 

Second free practice begins at 16:45 local time at Sebring. 

WEC Sebring - FP1 results: