37 cars will be on the starting grid of the 1000 Miglia di Sebring, the first round of the 2022 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
After two years the World Championship returns to racing in the United States, where we will see 4 cars fighting in the Hypercar Class, 15 in LMP2, 5 in LMGTE Pro and 13 in LMGTE Am.
Hypercar: Glickenhaus leafs through the daisy
Starting from the first category of prototypes, obviously the two Toyota and the Alpine with its old LMP1 will be present, while as known there will be no Peugeots, which continue development tests with the aim of homologating the car for the 6h of Spa -Francorchamps and therefore have the go-ahead to take part in the 24h of Le Mans in June.
Then there will be Glickenhaus # 708 and the drivers designated to lead it are Olivier Pla, Romain Dumas and Ryan Briscoe.
And here there is a separate discussion because the German-American team has not yet fully revealed the programs, as they are waiting to know if the entry of the 007 LMH # 709 for Le Mans will be accepted.
“At the moment the definitive line-up has not yet been decided, we are waiting for answers in view of Le Mans and we will understand when the official entry-list will be published”, explains to Motorsport.com Luca Ciancetti, head of Podium Advanced Technologies, the company that manages the LMH Glickenhaus.
“It is still probable that Dumas and Pla will do the whole season, but nothing is 100% decided, as I said before. What is certain is that we have to choose between the 6 riders who raced with us in 2021”.
There is talk of the two Frenchmen, plus Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, Franck Mailleux and Pipo Derani, who, however, will also have to split up with the commitments of IMSA, in which he rides with the Cadillac of Action Express Racing.
“Pipo should be with us in Spa in # 708 because Richard and Franck have to do the Qualifying Race of the 24h of the Nurburgring with our GT. If the second car for Le Mans is accepted, it would go into the hands of Briscoe, Westbrook and Mailleux. “.
# 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid Hypercar
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
LMP2: many stars with precise future goals
It had already been evident from the publication of the entry list for 2022, but that the LMP2 Class has become one of the most competitive and full of curiosities can also be seen from the names that will race at Sebring.
Almost all the crews completed (only the third driver of the G-Drive is missing, who will put James Allen and Rene Binder in the # 26), lights clearly focused on Sébastien Ogier’s debut with Richard Mille Racing’s Oreca 07-Gibson # 1.
It is also interesting to see how the rookies Team Penske, Prema, Vector Sport and AF Corse will fare against skilled people like the boys of the two United Autosports, Jota, Team WRT and RealTeam, Inter Europol Competition, Ultimate and ARC Bratislava,
Charles Milesi, Sébastien Ogier, Lilou Wadoux, Richard Mille Racing Team
Photo by: Richard Mille Racing Team
LMGTE PRO: the Corvette is reviewed
After a year of duels (and controversies) between Porsche and Ferrari, the Corvette is also added for the home race.
Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner will drive the C8.R # 64 prepared by the men of Pratt & Miller, crossing arms against the two 488s of AF Corse.
The reigning champions Alessandro Pier Guidi / James Calado are called to defend the Maranello title with the # 51, while we will see how Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina’s new teammate in the # 52, will fare.
Porsche responds instead with Gimmi Bruni / Richard Lietz in the 911 RSR-19 # 91 and Michael Christensen / Kévin Estre at the wheel of the # 92.
# 64 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R LMGTE Pro, Tommy Milner, Nicholas Tandy, Alexander Sims
Photo by: Eric Le Galliot
LMGTE Am: 13 is served
The other category reserved for the GTEs, the one with the drivers with ‘Silver’ and ‘Bronze’ licenses, flanked by the ‘Gold’ and ‘Platinum’ promises to be very hard fought and fierce.
Here too some crews remain to be completed, with the three AF Corse Ferraris (one branded Spirit Of Race) and the Aston Martins of TF Sport and NorthWest AMR which have already chosen their drivers.
There is the news of Inception Racing, which will manage Porsche # 56 together with Project 1, while the # 46 of the German team will see Matteo Cairoli as the first driver.
Iron Lynx brings its 488s, one of which as always is all female, while the grid is completed by the Porsches of Dempsey-Proton Racing and GR Racing, and the Aston Martin of D’station Racing.
# 33 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR: Ben Keating, Dylan Pereira, Felipe Fraga
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
The program
The great ‘Super Sebring’ weekend is back, where the protagonists of the FIA WEC will be on stage in the same event as the 12h valid for the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
For this reason, the actions on the track will be divided over the week from 16 to 20 March: taking into account the 6 hours of time zone that separate us from Florida, let’s see when we will be able to follow the activities in Italy.
Wednesday March 16th
Free Practice 1: 17; 05-18; 05
Free Practice 2: 22; 35-23; 35
Thursday 17 March
Free Practice 3: 18; 05-19; 05
Friday 18 March
Qualifications: 1; 00-1; 30
Race: 18; 00 (8 Hours)
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