the wait is over. The 2022 WEC season is already underway. The first free sessions of the 1,000 Miles of Sebring have kicked off the tenth campaign of the contest and have done so with a result that is unexpected. In fact, the Glickenhaus #708 has finished at the top of the time table thanks to the 1:49.738 set by Romain Dumas. Both the #36 Alpine and the #8 Toyota have fallen within half a second of the SCG 007 LMH. Best time for RealTeam’s #41 Oreca in LMP2 and #92 Porsche in LMGTE-Pro.
The ‘Balance of Performance’ with new parameters established by ACO has generated some uncertainty in the queen class of the WEC and now Toyota’s hegemony is at least in doubt, at least until otherwise indicated. In fact, in FP1 the best time was for Romain Dumas with the SCG 007 LMH with number #708 after beating Frenchman Matthieu Vaxivière by 525 thousandths in the #36 Alpine. For its part, the #8 Toyota was third in the hands of Sébastien Buemi, while the #7 finished fifthbehind the best LMP2 prototype.
And it is that the absolute fourth place and best time in the silver category has been for the Oreca #41 of RealTeam by WRT. Ferdinand Habsburg set a time of 1:50.477, which allowed him to beat Louis Deletraz, Prema rider, by more than six tenths. In a class that promises great emotions, the #23 United Autosports Oreca finished third. The ‘top 5’ was completed by the Oreca #31 of the WRT Team and the #45 of Algarve Pro Racing, a structure that has assumed the entire project of the Russians of G-Drive Racing.
In a one-hour free practice session, but on the practice it has been disputed to 40 minutes due to the appearance of the rain in the form of a notable downpour, Porsche has achieved a one-two finish in LMGTE-Pro, with Kévin Estre’s #92 ahead of Gianmaria Bruni’s #91. The difference between the two GTEs of the Stuttgart firm was barely 54 thousandths, while the #64 Corvette captained by Tommy Milner has finished thirdalthough one second from the reference GTE.
As in the Pro category, lhe LMGTE-Am class has been dominated by Porsche machinery. With a time of 1:58.906, Matteo Cairoli took the #46 Porsche of Team Project 1 to the top of the time table. In addition, the Italian driver has sneaked into the official cars by finishing with the third fastest time of a GTE within the session. The Porsche #88 and the Aston Martin #98 have completed the ‘top 3’ within the amateur category, although they have finished far from the leader.
Photos: Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus/Porsche Motorsport