Toyota Gazoo Racing scored an impressive dominant 1-2 victory in the opening round of the 2023 FIA WEC season at Sebring. The Japanese-flagged team’s GR010 HYBRIDs controlled the race almost from start to finish, after AF Corse’s bid to win on the Ferrari 499P’s debut from pole position quickly faded in the opening hour.
The #7 GR010 HYBRID of Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi took the win, finishing 2.1 seconds ahead of the #8 sister car of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa. The two Toyotas spent much of the race together on track, but the crew on the pit wall managed the second half of the race to ensure there were no heroics by the drivers that would risk a 1-2 formation finish.
In the end the Toyotas crossed the line over two laps clear of the chasing pack, in a race that was relatively subdued up front in the second half. After so much promise and expectation pre-race that Ferrari and perhaps Cadillac could challenge Toyota, for the new cars from both brands, and from the other teams in Hypercar, it wasn’t really a contest. A combination of mechanical issues, incidents, penalties and a lack of ultimate pace prevented any of Toyota’s rivals from keeping it close.
“Thanks to Toyota Gazoo Racing in Japan, this was very tough yesterday, but we were strong today, finished 1-2. Today is just the start, there are big races coming. We need to work and improve, but I am excited by this. It’s so challenging,” Kobayashi said after the race.
Instead, the most competitive race in Hypercar was for the final podium spot, with Porsche, Cadillac and Ferraris all spending time in and around the top five. There were plenty of exciting on-track battles, including memorable duels between Laurens Vanthoor (#6 Porsche) and Alex Lynn (Cadillac) and Miguel Molina (#50 Ferrari) and Kevin Estre (#6 Porsche). The cars looked extremely tough to drive in the Florida sunshine when the tyres are worn at the end of a double stint, making for some nail-biting moments.
In the end, the #50 AF Corse Ferrari, after a rollercoaster race, finished up a distant third. Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina all drove well here, but their chances of converting yesterday’s famous pole into victory faltered in the opening laps.
A big off for Luis Perez Companc at turn one, in which the Argentinian rolled his #83 Richard Mille Ferrari 488 GTE after sliding backwards off track and into the tyre barriers, brought out a lengthy safety car period which prompted a strategy gamble from Ferrari. AF Corse brought both cars in, and both lost time getting stuck in their pit boxes in the traffic, emerging sixth and ninth.
They wouldn’t recover from this. The #50 was handed a drive-through penalty for overtaking before the start line under the safety car, and then a 5-second penalty for a pit infringement. The #51 meanwhile, dropped down the order after Alessandro Pier Guidi clashed with Francesco Castelaccci’s AF Corse GTE Ferrari on the run to Turn 13 at the start of Hour 7, which sent him spinning off track and into the #56 Project 1 AO Porsche. Pier Guidi had to limp back, and then serve a penalty for causing a collision. The car finished 15th overall.
It’s a testament to the pace and reliability of the Ferrari 499Ps that AF Corse will leave disappointed with a podium on the car’s race debut though. On a different day, this could have been a very different result. A podium is nevertheless a really encouraging start to this programme, the team now knows where it needs to make gains before Portimao and ultimately Le Mans.
Just off the podium was the Cadillac Racing V-Series.R of Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook. The Cadillac had a strong first outing in the WEC, and the Ganassi-operated team, like AF Corse, will take the positives from this. The team, with only one car in a class featuring four two-car factory efforts, did extremely well here and came so close to a podium. In the end, it became a chase between Fuoco and Bamber, with Bamber handed a set of four tyres and a nine-second gap to eliminate in his final stint, but he was unable to reel in Fuoco and crossed the line 10 seconds behind.
This left the two Porsches fifth and sixth. Penalties proved costly for Penske, but the car didn’t have the speed over a double stint to stay in this fight. The grip levels from the rear tyres on the 963s fell off a cliff towards the end of each stint, the car looking like a handful to drive.
Perhaps the most disappointing performance though was from Peugeot Sport, which lest we forget, began racing its 9X8s last season. Both cars suffered major mechanical issues, which began before the race even started when Loic Duval was forced to pit the #94 on the second formation lap with gearbox issues.
It really has been a trip to Sebring to forget for the French brand, which had neither the pace nor the reliability to be in the mix for even a top-five place. Both made it to the end but the #93 ended up 31st, and the #94 was 32nd. Next time out in Portugal, on a track less aggressive than Sebring, you’d expect the 9X8s to be more of a force, but there are no guarantees. There is so much work required to get this team in contention for Le Mans. Can Peugeot turn this around?
The remaining two entries from the non-hybrid boutique manufacturers, Glickenhaus and Vanwall, had races to forget too. Glickenhaus’ 007 had its engine cut out, retiring after just 62 laps. The Vanwall had a better time, though it could only muster a 30th-place finish, after collisions and a suspension issue cost the new Gibson-powered Vandervell 680 chunks of time.
This wasn’t a classic in Hypercar, but it was early days for this new-look field. It also served as a strong reminder of just how strong Toyota is. There was plenty of chatter ahead of this race about Toyota’s ability to continue winning against renewed opposition after multiple seasons without major factory opposition. But it’s clear that Toyota Gazoo Racing is a well-oiled machine and with its decade of experience in the WEC will be extremely hard to beat. For any of these factories to better Toyota this year, it is going to take a faultless performance.
In LMP2, HERTZ Team JOTA’s #48 ORECA of Yifei Ye, David Beckmann and Will Stevens stormed to victory in dramatic fashion, in a car that’s only due to compete in LMP2 until Spa. There, the team is expected to compete debut a Porsche 963 in Hypercar, and scale back its P2 effort to a single car.
It was a commanding performance from the trio, who led most of the second half of the race. This was a race that was turned on its head in the fourth hour, when United’s #23 ORECA retired. In the opening hours the pole-sitting #23 from the Anglo-American team built a comfortable lead and was lapping the back of the field, until Josh Pierson, in the midst of a superb stint, pulled off at the side of the road, the car losing power.
This blew the race wide open and allowed the #48 to take control at the front. It was an impressive run, which almost ended with a disappointing second-place finish after Stevens had to take a splash in the final hour and dropped for second.
Prema’s #63 inherited the lead and Mirko Bortolotti looked set to steal the win with the sun setting, but he had to pit with just a couple of laps left in the race, dropping the car to third behind the #22 United ORECA. Aside from the disappointing finish, it was a near-flawless run from Mirko Bortolotti, Doriane Pin and Daniil Kvyat, who should have title aspirations after a performance like this.
For the #22 United Autosports ORECA. Filipe Albuquerque, Phil Hanson and Frederik Lubin, this was fought hard fought P2 finish, salvaging something for Richard Dean and Zak Brown’s team, it will have done a lot to lift the mood in the team.
The Inter Europol ORECA had an impressive, metronomic run to fourth, finishing ahead of the #41 WRT ORECA that completed the top five.
GTE Am was a similar story to LMP2. The car that looked set to win this one hit trouble and changed the race.
In this case, it was the Iron Dames Porsche. The all-female trio of Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey and Sarah Bovy, who started from pole, benefitted early from being in the pits during an FCY, and held a lead of over half a minute when Bovy handed over to Frey. Unfortunately, the lead wouldn’t last long, as Frey made an error at T1, going off track on the exit, and ripping the rear bumper and diffuser off the car.
This forced Frey to limp to the pits for repairs, dropping the car down the order. This forced the team to switch to recovery mode, and spend the remaining hours fighting their way back through the field. Iron Dames looks set to be a force to reckon with, this eighth-place finish doesn’t tell the story.
Winning the race after a rather comfortable run to the flag was the #33 Corvette Racing C8.R of Ben Keating, Nico Varrone and Nicky Catsburg, on the US factory team’s home soil and on its GTE Am debut.
Keating set this victory up, the Texan the class of the Bronze drivers in the field, his performance, in trademark fashion, was so strong that the team went almost unchallenged after the drama for Iron Dames in the first half of the race. Varrone, who was superb and completed an iron-man triple stint, and Nicky Catsburg, who didn’t put a foot wrong, then finished the job.
“Ben (Keating) did a great job with the start and in his first three stints,” said Varrone after the race. “He got us to P2. Then I jumped in the car for three hours, which was tough. Then I handed it over to Nicky, who is a legend. We all know that he knows what to do. He brought it home safely and now I can’t be happier!
“This was a very difficult race for me. I had to do a triple stint in the middle. I’ve had to do a triple stint at Le Mans, but I have to say that Sebring is much more difficult! Ben did a great job at the start to get the car to me. The track was changing a lot during the whole race, so we had to figure out what was happening. Corvette Racing did a great job with that. They did a great job all week long. It’s a dream come true.”
The gap to the second place #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche was almost 90 seconds at the end. The Porsche was another car that moved up the order in the dying moments, asit look set for third until six minutes to go when the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari pitted for a splash. It was agonisingly for Daniel Serra, who pushed hard steering the Car Guy liveried Ferrari home.
The #21 AF Corse Ferrari finished fourth, and the #54 AF Corse Ferrari finished fifth.
The only brand in Am that failed to make an impact on the race result was Aston Martin, all three cars struggled in the race, with the Northwest AMR and ORT by TF Sport Vantages both suffering punctures that eliminated them from podium contention.
Next up for the FIA WEC teams is Round 2 at Portimao on April 16th.
