SEBRING, Fla. — Weather was the story during Friday’s opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Sebring Int’l Raceway.
Alpine Team Elf scored a dominant victory in the 1000 Miles of Sebring with drivers Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere sharing the winning machine in a race that ended under the caution flag because of looming threatening weather.
“It was a tough race. We expected this. We started on the right foot. With red flags too it was hard for all of us. This is crazy,” said Negrao.
The Hypercars were challenged throughout the race by the light and nimble LMP2 prototypes, among which the winner in fourth place overall was the number 23 car of United Autosports USA driven by Paul di Resta, Oliver Jarvis and Joshua Pierson.
The 16-year-old Pierson became both the youngest ever driver to start a WEC race and the series’ youngest winner. Second place fell to the WRT team of Robin Frijns, Sean Gelael and Rene Rast after a late charge to eclipse the sibling Realteam by WRT squad of Ferdinand Habsburg, Norman Nato and Rui Andrade.
The No.83 AF Corse crew of Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Nicklas Nielsen capped a successful first LMP2 race with victory in the Pro/Am division. The trio followed up a surprise pole with a strong race to claim maximum points for teams that include bronze categorized drivers.
In the manufacturer’s contest for LMGTE honors, Porsche’s number 92 of Kevin Estre and Michael Christansen bested its new season-long rival Corvette, whose C8.R is driven by Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner, after the two marques put on a thrilling battle. The second works Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz finished in third place, with the two Ferraris struggling to stay with the battle for the podium and finishing in fourth and fifth.
Aston Martin celebrated a 1-2 finish in the LMGTE Am category with the Northwest AMR entry of David Pittard, Nicki Thiim and Paul Dalla Lana just shading the similar car of TF Sport driven by Ben Keating, Marco Sorensen and Florian Latorre. Third place fell to the Porsche of Team Project 1 drivers Ben Barnicoat, Oli Millroy and Brendon Iribe.