Turbulent start to the WEC test drives: LMP2s dance on the nose of the hypercars, a storm causes an interruption
The 2022 World Endurance Championship (WEC) prologue at Sebring is in the can. Over four sessions of three hours each (there was an extra 30 minutes in the third), the teams in the four classes Hypercar, LMP2, GTE Pro and GTE Am had plenty of time to prepare for the season opener at the same venue next Friday
There was some drama on track, including the 71 Spirit of Race Ferrari (Dezoteux/Ragues/Aubry) had an accident. The car returned in the fourth session, but only completed eight laps. Otherwise, it remained with harmless spins and a few technical defects.
The biggest chaos, however, was caused by a severe thunderstorm on Saturday morning, which broke out shortly after half of the first session. Violent squalls combined with heavy rains caused the first session to be called off early.
Besides that, the participants found good conditions at around 20 degrees. On Saturday it was mostly cloudy, on Sunday sunny. The track was much faster on the second day.
LMP2 faster than hypercar
The best time of the weekend was set by Ferdinand Habsburg in the WRT Oreca 41 (Andrade/Habsburg/Nato), which is run in cooperation with Realteam. The former DTM driver clocked 1:48.089 minutes on Sunday morning.
This already shows the old, new field of conflict. Three LMP2 cars were faster than the best hypercar. LMP2 cars set the fastest time in three out of four sessions. The situation is reminiscent of the 2021 prologue at Spa-Francorchamps, when three LMP2 cars were also at the top. In the following race, however, they were clearly distanced by the hypercars.
The second WRT-Oreca 22 in 1:48.439 minutes were faster than the best Hypercar.
This was the LMP1 “old car”, the Alpine 708 (Pla/Dumas/Briscoe).
The picture is even more dramatic than in the 2021 prologue, when Toyota was at least within a few tenths of a second of the LMP2s, but now they are more than a second behind. However, Toyota is known to score low in pre-season testing.
On the other hand, it remains to be seen what effect the BoP changes will have. Toyota, for example, was again slowed down at several corners, while the LMP2 cars got away with a relatively minor braking of 10 hp. Toyota did, however, set one fastest time of the weekend. That was in the first session, before the rain set in.
Porsche best times in both GT classes
In the GT classes, the Porsche 911 RSR-19s dominated the action. Three of the four fastest times in GTE Pro went to the 64 Corvette (Milner/Tandy) secured the fastest time in the final session on Sunday afternoon and second place overall with a fast lap in the third session. The two Ferraris, running with swapped numbers this year compared to 2021, followed with a respectable gap.
Also in the GTE Am, the Porsche teams coped best with the moguls. Sebastian “Seb” Priaulx, son of three-time World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx, conjured up a time of 1:57.787 minutes in the fast third session.
The “weekend” of the WEC opener already starts next Wednesday, the 1,000-mile race takes place on Friday. Saturday is reserved for the 12-hour race of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Results WEC Prologue 2022, cumulative
Top 10 Hypercar/LMP2
1st WRT-Oreca 708 (Pla/Dumas/Briscoe) – 1:49.159 (Session 3)
Top 5 GTE Pro
1st Porsche 51 (Molina/Fuoco) – 1:57.197 (Session 3)
Top 5 GTE Am
1st Proton-Porsche 60 (Schiavoni/Cressoni/Fisichella) – 1:58.148 (Session 3)