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.

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

He 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 in the 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 as Loic Duval was quickest of the drivers in the French 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, while 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:

Cla	#	Drivers		Car	Class	Time	Gap
1	8	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa		Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'47.649
2	51	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi		Ferrari 499P	HYPERCAR	1'47.935	0.286
3	50	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen		Ferrari 499P	HYPERCAR	1'48.039	0.390
4	2	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook		Cadillac V-Series.R	HYPERCAR	1'48.090	0.441
5	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez		Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'48.613	0.964
6	6	Kevin Estre Andre Lotterer Laurens Vanthoor		Porsche 963	HYPERCAR	1'48.745	1.096
7	5	Dane Cameron Michael Christensen Frédéric Makowiecki		Porsche 963	HYPERCAR	1'49.043	1.394
8	94	Loic Duval Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller		Peugeot 9X8	HYPERCAR	1'49.315	1.666
9	93	Paul di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne		Peugeot 9X8	HYPERCAR	1'49.407	1.758
10	63	Doriane Pin Mirko Bortolotti Daniil Kvyat		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'50.074	2.425
11	31	Sean Gelael Ferdinand Habsburg Robin Frijns		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'50.317	2.668
12	9	Filip Ugran Bent Viscaal Andrea Caldarelli		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'50.338	2.689
13	28	David Heinemeier Hansson Pietro Fittipaldi Oliver Rasmussen		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'50.349	2.700
14	41	Rui Andrade Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'50.382	2.733
15	23	Josh Pierson Tom Blomqvist Oliver Jarvis		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'50.459	2.810
16	708	Romain Dumas Ryan Briscoe Olivier Pla		Glickenhaus 007	HYPERCAR	M
17	22	Frederick Lubin Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'50.765	3.116
18	35	Andre Negrao Memo Rojas Olli Caldwell		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'50.903	3.254
19	36	Matthieu Vaxiviere Julien Canal Charles Milesi		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'51.013	3.364
20	4	Tom Dillmann Esteban Guerrieri Jacques Villeneuve		Vanwall Vandervell 680	HYPERCAR	1'51.014	3.365
21	34	Jakub Smiechowski Fabio Scherer Albert Costa		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'51.095	3.446
22	48	David Beckmann Ye Yifei Will Stevens		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'51.524	3.875
23	10	Ryan Cullen Matthias Kaiser Gabriel Aubry		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'52.100	4.451
24	85	Sarah Bovy Michelle Gatting Rahel Frey		Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'59.028	11.379
25	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon		Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'59.053	11.404
26	33	Ben Keating Nicolas Varrone Nick Catsburg		Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	LMGTE AM	1'59.101	11.452
27	57	Takeshi Kimura Scott Huffaker Daniel Serra		Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'59.123	11.474
28	88	Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon Harry Tincknell		Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'59.128	11.479
29	77	Christian Ried Mikkel Pedersen Julien Andlauer		Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'59.274	11.625
30	86	Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker		Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'59.295	11.646
31	60	Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Alessio Picariello		Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'59.334	11.685
32	21	Stefano Costantini Simon Mann Ulysse De		Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'59.393	11.744
33	83	Luis Perez Companc Lilou Wadoux Alessio Rovera		Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'59.500	11.851
34	777	Satoshi Hoshino Casper Stevenson Tomonobu Fujii		Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'59.603	11.954
35	56	PJ Hyett Gunnar Jeannette Matteo Cairoli		Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'59.632	11.983
36	25	Ahmad Al Harthy Michael Dinan Charles Eastwood		Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	2'00.053	12.404
37	98	Paul Dalla Lana Axcil Jefferies Nicki Thiim		Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	2'00.458	12.809
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