The Fastlane Motorsports Forum

Sebring WEC Wednesday Notebook

News and notes from the WEC paddock as track activity gets underway at Sebring…

***Toyota technical director Pascal Vasselon believes the Toyota TS050 Hybrid is capable of becoming the first sports car to break the 1-minute 40-second barrier at Sebring. Vasselon said “there is a possibility to do a 1:39. It looks visible to us,” when asked if a Toyota could improve on the record 1:41.211 time set by Mike Conway last weekend.

***Free Practice 1 saw five LMP1 cars eclipse Marcel Fassler’s 2013 Sebring qualifying lap record in an Audi R18 e-tron quattro. Both pairs of Toyotas and Rebellions, along with the No. 11 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1 AER, dipped under Fassler’s time of 1:43.886 that clinched pole for the 12 Hours six years ago.

***The cause of the fire that destroyed Team Project 1’s original Porsche 911 RSR chassis has yet to be determined. The team’s car has been transported to the Porsche factory at Weissach for further investigation, while its replacement went through scrutineering today but skipped the first Free Practice session.

***ABB FIA Formula E race director Scot Elkins is serving as an FIA steward this weekend. Elkins and a group of six Formula E drivers are fresh off last weekend’s Hong Kong E-Prix and will head directly back to Asia for the Sanya E-Prix next week.

***Out of all the debuting LMP1 machinery at Sebring, the Toyota has appeared to handle the circuit’s bumpy nature the best. It’s understood to be due to the car’s interlinked suspension setup, which the leading LMP1 non-hybrids developed by BR Engineering/Dallara and Rebellion/ORECA do not have.

***It’s still undecided whether Jonny Adam will return to TF Sport for the remaining two WEC rounds at Spa and Le Mans, or if the Aston Martin factory driver will be brought back into one of the GTE-Pro cars. TF Sport Director Tom Ferrier told Sportscar365 that a decision will be made following this weekend’s race, and could be influenced by the team’s performance.

***The team is still considering a return to WEC next season, depending on interest from its customers. Ferrier indicated that the Red River Sport drivers, whose car TF ran in the Asian Le Mans Series, could be looking at a WEC program, as could Salih Yoluc. “It could be two [cars], it’s more likely to be one, but I don’t know which one yet. Definitely, the plan is to do it.”

***Sebring debutant Nyck de Vries admitted that he underestimated how severe the circuit’s bumps would be. “I heard everyone talking about the bumps but honestly I was a bit skeptical about it,” said the 24-year-old Dutchman. “I’ve driven longer tracks before but honestly, it is a completely different story to anything I’ve driven. It’s a cool track, it’s different, and I like it.”

***Ferrari’s Alessandro Pier Guidi said the ‘Super Sebring’ double-duty weekend would have required compromise in preparation for the WEC and IMSA races. “It’s difficult for many drivers to do both races,” said the Italian. “It’s almost impossible to be well prepared for both races. If you want to go there, you need to be prepared in both the championships, and you cannot do it like that. Maybe they could avoid this ‘clash’ – maybe one week afterwards would be better.”

***Gustavo Menezes told Sportscar365 that he remains safe within Rebellion Racing’s lineup for the remainder of the season, despite rumors of a potential future change for Spa and the season-ending 24 Hours of Le Mans. Menezes indicated that Mathias Beche is not currently confirmed with a race seat for the final two races, due to Andre Lotterer’s expected return.

***Menezes said he hopes to announce his plans for the 2019-20 season soon but hinted that it’s “nothing too much of a surprise.”

***The extra two hours of racing afforded by the Sebring 1000-mile format will present GTE-Pro teams with “a chance to be a bit creative” on tire strategy, according to Alex Lynn.

“I think it’s more exciting for the GT category when we open up the tires because it creates an opportunity for people to take different routes at the fastest way to the end of the race,” said the Aston Martin driver. “I think from where we are, it’s going to be seven and a bit stints, so if we have any safety cars or Full Course Yellows then there’s a chance to be creative.”

***Aston Martin’s GTE-Pro drivers recently took some time out to visit Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, which included taking a ride in a ‘microgravity’ simulator. Watch how they got on here.

***Thursday sees a third Free Practice session for the WEC, starting a 4:15 p.m., ahead of night-time qualifying at 9:30 p.m. EST (1:30 a.m. GMT). Live coverage is available on the WEC App.

Jake Kilshaw and John Dagys contributed to this report.

Record-Breaking Alonso, Nakajima Take Sebring Pole

Toyota locks out front row for 1000 Miles of Sebring as Alonso sets lap record…


Fernando Alonso set a new Sebring lap record as he and Kazuki Nakajima combined to put the No. 8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid on pole for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 1000-mile race tomorrow.

Despite not breaking the 100-second barrier, Toyota still smashed the Sebring qualifying lap record with Alonso’s time of 1:40.124 eclipsing Marcel Fassler’s 2013 benchmark in an Audi R18 e-tron quattro by almost four seconds.

Alonso also broke the all-time speed record of the Florida circuit, as well as the outright lap record set by Lopez in Free Practice 3.

The No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing pair notched up their car’s fourth pole of the 2018-19 season with a two-driver average time of 1:40.142 to take pole from the sister No. 7 crew of Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway by half a second.

Alonso out-lapped Conway by almost a second during the first driver segment before Nakajima and Lopez cancelled each other out with similar times, giving the pole to the No. 8 entry.

Lopez went off-track in his attempts to claw back some of the deficit which left the Argentinian tight for time at the end of the session.

SMP Racing’s No. 17 BR Engineering BR1 AER qualified third ahead of the No. 3 Rebellion Racing R-13 Gibson.

Egor Orudzhev and Stephane Sarrazin produced an average time of 1:42.730 – highlighted by Orudzhev’s sub 1-minute 42 second lap – which was enough to edge out Gustavo Menezes and Thomas Laurent by a tenth.

The SMP crew’s two-driver number was 2.412 seconds off the pace set by Alonso and Nakajima at the front.

In fifth was the No. 11 SMP Racing BR1 qualified by Brendon Hartley and Mikhail Aleshin, ahead of the No. 1 Rebellion and the No. 10 DragonSpeed BR1 Gibson.

LMP2 pole position went to Jackie Chan DC Racing as the Jota-run squad claimed a lockout of the class front row.

Gabriel Aubry and Stephane Richelmi led the way with their average time of 1:44.288 that put them six tenths up on the identical No. 37 car of David Heinemeier Hansson and Will Stevens.

Signatech Alpine will start third ahead of DragonSpeed’s Oreca, while Larbre Competition rounded out the top five with its Ligier JS P217 Gibson.

The 1000 Miles of Sebring gets underway Friday at 4 p.m. EST.

theracer120 wrote: ↑5 years ago They're having a double header. The 1000 miles is today and the 12 Hour (which is still for the US series) is tommorow.

No. 8 Toyota Dominates Sebring to Claim First Win Since Le Mans

Alonso, Nakajima, Buemi claim first win since Le Mans as Toyota scores 1-2 Sebring finish…


Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi extended their FIA World Endurance Championship points lead with a dominant victory in the 1000 Miles of Sebring.

The No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing crew finished two laps ahead of the sister No. 7 team of Jose Maria Lopez, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi to claim their first win since the 24 Hours of Le Mans last June and go 15 points clear at the top of the LMP1 drivers’ standings.

Nakajima took the checkered flag under Safety Car conditions after a late rain shower drenched the 3.74-mile Sebring circuit which led to Loic Duval nosing the LMP2-class TDS Racing Oreca into the tire barriers.

The Toyotas took on rain tires for the final run to the flag and while Nakajima had a brief scare when he ran off-track in the greasy conditions, the Japanese manufacturer’s 1-2 results was never in doubt.

Toyota’s hybrid LMP1s commanded the WEC’s first standalone race at Sebring from the start and quickly piled the laps on their LMP1 non-hybrid competition.

By the halfway point the No. 8 had eked out a rough 10-second gap over its sister car, with the nearest privateer three laps behind, before the No. 7 reeled back some of the lead gap in the middle portion.

The race between the Toyotas was decided when Lopez clashed with the TF Sport GTE-Am Aston Martin with just over three hours to go which resulted in floor damage that necessitated three minutes of repairs.

This dropped the No. 7 off the lead lap and left Alonso, Nakajima and Buemi unattended to claim their third victory of the season, while Toyota scored its fifth 1-2 result in six races.

SMP Racing completed the podium with its No. 11 BR Engineering BR1 AER picking up third place from the No. 3 Rebellion Racing R-13 Gibson which encountered trouble late on.

The Russian-entered LMP1 finished 11 laps down on the lead Toyota as it picked up its second consecutive top-three finish.

Rebellion’s lead entry had been set free as the non-hybrid front-runner when the No. 17 SMP car crashed to bring out the first of two safety cars, but an electrical problem leading to an enforced ECU switch cost Gustavo Menezes, Nathanael Berthon and Thomas Laurent six extra laps.

This enabled the SMP car to move ahead and complete an impressive comeback drive from Mikhail Aleshin, Vitaly Petrov and team debutant Brendon Hartley who needed to recover from a tire failure early in the contest.

New Jackie Chan Trio Takes Debut Win

LMP2 honors went to the No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing squad which controlled the vast majority of the race.

Jordan King, David Heinemeier Hansson and Will Stevens seized control in the first couple of hours and put together a near-faultless run that saw them also pick up fourth place overall thanks to the LMP1 retirements.

It marked their first victory in their first race with the Jackie Chan DCR team after being nominated to carry the No. 37 entry in the final three races of the 2018-19 ‘Super Season.

Nicolas Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet and Andre Negrao took second in the No. 36 Signatech Alpine A470 Gibson, while DragonSpeed’s No. 31 Oreca driven by Anthony Davidson, Roberto Gonzalez and Pastor Maldonado rounded out the class podium.

RESULTS: 1000 Miles of Sebring