The tenth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship started with a bang at Sebring International Raceway. Plenty of surprises were in store in the first free practice sessions, with world champions Toyota playing second fiddle in the Hypercar class.
Toyota have arrived at Sebring in a confident mood with a raft of updates on their GR010 Hybrid. However, it was Glickenhaus Racing and Alpine that made the pace in the top class. The #708 Glickenhaus was quickest by half a second in FP1, while Matthieu Vaxiviere went fastest in FP2 for the French manufacturer.
Strong start for Corvette
Home favourites Corvette Racing began their first full season in the FIA WEC on the front foot in GTE Pro. The US team drew on their wealth of experience from Sebring International Raceway to remain within touching disatnce of the Porsches, who topped both sessions.
The Ferraris were running around two seconds slower than the pair of German cars as the teams found their feet in the new season.
Top of the GTE Am field were Porsche and Aston Marting, with Dempsey-Proton Racing going quickest in FP1 and Northwest AMR the fastest in FP2. As in GTE Pro, the Ferraris were somewhat down on pace and wll have some work to do before Friday’s race to find the optimum set-up.
All to play for in LMP2
So far it’s a case of plus ça change in LMP2. The class looks set to remain the closest-fought in the WEC field in 2022, as only three seconds separated the 15-car entry. Realteam by WRT took the honours in FP1 with new entrants Prema Orlen Team and United Autosports USA close behind. For FP2, United Autorsports were able to lock out first and second in class.
All of the final standings from FP1 and FP2 are available here:
Image © 2022 Tim Hearn/focus-pack-media.de (FIA WEC press material)