1000 miles of Sebring: Ferrari on pole, the battle has begun!
The Ferrari No. 50, driven by Antonio Fuoco, stole the pole position from the two Toyotas, during the night from Thursday to Friday, at the 1,000 Miles of Sebring. This surprise confirms the full potential of the Hypercar category!
Who would have believed, after the free practice sessions, that Toyota was going to have the pole position stolen from them at Sebring, before tonight’s race (5 p.m., French time)! Antonio Fuoco led car number 50 to the top of the time sheets, even though the Japanese manufacturer was expected to have a comfortable lead.
Still, be aware: qualifications are not a definitive judge before a six-hour race. But the demonstration has been made: the Ferrari 499P is indeed well-born and benefits from its numerous hours of driving.
Behind, the Cadillac N°2 is the best among the others. Not necessarily in the rhythm for the pole, but close enough to take advantage of the race events.
We must remember that in 2022, Toyota had a dreadful race: one car did not make it to the podium, the other rolled over… so, why not expect a race full of twists and turns?
The Japanese still seem much better at racing rhythms. Typically, the preferences are for N°7 and N°8. But beware of Ferrari and Cadillac!
Behind, on the other hand, the observation is simple: Porsche and Peugeot still have a lot of work to do to catch up: the Peugeot is quite disappointing compared to the competition, besides being as fragile as glass. It goes to show that a beautiful car isn’t necessarily fast.
On their side, Glickenhaus and (especially) Vanwall are completely outperformed. Jacques Villeneuve can’t do much about it. The two “private” cars fall four seconds behind the times. Tough luck…
LMP2 cars in close battle, ladies honored in GTE-Am
The twelve LMP2 cars are grouped within 1.3 seconds at the end of qualifying. United Autosport, with car number 23, denied Jota, the reigning world champion, with their car number 28, from taking the pole position by just 93 milliseconds!
The also highly anticipated car is the No. 36 Alpine: Matthieu Vaxivière has set the 4th fastest time and must find his bearings in LMP2. A podium finish for a blue car is not to be ruled out, even though the No. 35 will start in last place among the P2 cars.
In GTE-Am, which is preparing to hand over to GT3 in 2024, the front row of the grid is enticing: the Iron Dames’ Porsche No.85 secured pole position ahead of a vengeful team. Corvette Racing, with its semi-official program, aims to finally regain the top of the category.
The start of the 1,000 Miles of Sebring will be launched tonight at 5 p.m., French time. In the meantime, you can find the starting grid by categories here.
