Jose Maria Lopez went quickest for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the first session of the FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue test session, held at Sebring.
Lopez, in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, set a 1:48.208, with the car completing 70 laps. This was just under a tenth quicker than the teamcar, the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, with Ryo Hirakawa setting that car’s fastest lap.
The lone Cadillac was next quickest, but was over a second Kobyashi’s lap time, with Richard Westbrook setting a 1:49.253, behind the wheel of the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R. The car set the second lowest number of laps amongst the 11 Hypercars, with a total of 44, 11 higher than the Vanwall.
Fred Makowiecki was fourth in the #5 Porsche 963, on a 1:49.650, setting 69 laps. In fifth was the first of the much anticipated Ferraris, with Alessandro Pier Guidi setting a 1:49.724 in the #51 Ferrari 499P. That car had a total of 61 laps around the bumpy, challenging Sebring circuit.
Sixth was the #6 Porsche 963 of Andre Lotterer, with the sister Ferrari, #50, going seventh fastest with Miguel Molina at the wheel. The Porsche was able to do 54 laps in the three hour session, while the Ferrari managed 48.
In eighth and ninth came the two Peugeot 9X8s, Mikkel Jensen in the #93 followed by Loic Duval in the #94. Jensen was almost 2.5 seconds off Kopbayashi, while Duval was a little over three off the Japanese driver.
The two non-hybrid Hypercars, from Glickenhaus and Vanwall, were mixed in amongst the LMP2s on one lap pace. Romain Dumas in the #708 Glickenhaus 007 set a 1:52.247 to go 13th quickest overall, while Tom Dillmann set a 1:52.410 to go 17th quickest in the #4 Vanwall Vandervell 680. Glickenhaus were able to set 45 laps on track, whereas the Vanwall only managed 33.
In LMP2, Phil Hanson was fastest in the #22 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson, setting a 1:51.722. Robert Kubica was next quickest in the #41 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson, just three hundredths off Hanson, while Yiefi Ye was third in the #48 JOTA Oreca 07-Gibson.
In GTE-Am, Michelle Gatting, driving for the all-female Iron Dames squad, was quickest in a top three covered by just 0.024. She set a 1:59.913 in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19, just 0.022 faster than Alessio Picariello in the sister car, the #60 Iron Lynx Porsche 911 RSR-19. The quickest Ferrari was up next, Davide Rigon behind the wheel of the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, just two thousandths slower than Picariello.
The next session starts at 1:30pm local time, and will run for three hours.
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