We have arrived almost halfway through the 268 laps scheduled for the 1000 Miles of Sebring, the opening race of the 2023 WEC and if everything already seems rather obvious for victory, with the Toyotas leading without ifs and buts, for the lowest step of the podium you could see a nice duel between Ferrari and Porsche.
After four hours of racing, the number 8 GR010 Hybrid was still ahead of everyone, having in the meantime passed into the hands of Brandon Hartley. Following behind is its sister car, the #7, which is always a couple of seconds behind veteran Kamui Kobayashi. However, the Japanese tandem now has almost a lap ahead of its pursuers, so it can manage without major worries.
Behind them, however, the last minutes of the fourth hour heated up the duel between Porsche and Ferrari. This time it was the 499P that seems to have run into trouble with tire management, with the #50 of Miguel Molina suffering a sudden drop in pace and the 963 #6 which was very good at taking advantage of it with a very aggressive Kevin Estre to go and steal the third position from him. The Spaniard then went into a deep crisis and was forced to bring up the pit stop, thus dropping back to sixth place. The Porsche also made the pit just before the end of the fourth hour, returning right in front of the Red.
Cadillac therefore inherited the third position and found an excellent pace with Earl Bamber after being forced to complete a drive through due to an infringement committed under a full course yellow by Alex Lynn. More detached instead the other Ferrari, the #51 of James Calado, who occupies the fourth position despite a digression off the track (he too seemed to be in a crisis of tyres), and the second Porsche, the #7 of James Cameron, who due in turn to make a drive through for an infringement during the full course yellow committed by Frederic Makowiecki and is seventh.
Unfortunately Glickenhaus is no longer in the game, because Romain Dumas was forced to park it after about two hours and 20 minutes due to an electrical problem that hasn’t been resolved yet. The Vanwall also delayed, with Esteban Guerrieri who was literally hit in full by Mikkel Jensen’s Peugeot # 93 when he had slowed down for the full course yellow, ending up in a spin and then being forced to a fairly long pit stop. Instead, the 9X8 #94 stopped definitively.
The real twist came in the LMP2 class, because the #23 United Autosport, which was literally dominating, was stopped along the track with Joshua Pierson due to a technical problem. The lead then passed into the hands of the #48 Jota Sport, who now leads by around ten seconds over the Alpine #36, even though at the moment she has completed one pit stop less than the one behind.
Turnaround also in the GTE-AM class, with the Iron Dames paying dearly for a mistake made by Rahel Frey, who, going over the external curb of turn 1, tore off the rear bumper and the diffuser of her Porsche. So now the #33 Corvette with Nicolas Varrone is at the top, but watch out for the comeback by the Porsche of the Dempsey Proton, because Julien Andlauer is only 15 seconds behind, even if by now he should be close to the pit stop. In this grouping we should also mention the contact between the Porsche #86 of Benjamin Barker and the Aston Martin #98 of Paul Dalla Lana, which led to the puncture of the rear right for the latter.
#WEC #Sebring #4th #Hour #Toyota #dominates #FerrariPorsche #fighting