Mike Conway (GBR) / Kamui Kobayashi (JPN) / Jose Maria Lopez (ARG) #07 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid. 16.03.2023. FIA World Endurance Championship, Round 1, 1000 Miles of Sebring, Sebring, Florida, USA. – www.xpbimages.com, EMail: [email protected] © Copyright: Price / XPB Images
The Toyotas of Kamui Kobayashi and Brendon Hartley lead at the 1000 Miles of Sebring, with Porsche third and Ferrari fourth.
Kobayashi, in the #7 Toyota, has a second gap to his teammate Hartley in the sister #7 Toyota. They’ve been running line of stern, around as minute and a half ahead of their nearest challengers, for over an hour.
The #6 Porsche of Kevin Estre and #50 Ferrari of Miguel Molina fiought over third earlier in the hour, with Molina eventually taking amid a full course yellow for some bodywork recovery. However, Molina then dropped back into the clutches of Estre, with the Frenchman overtaking the Ferrari driver and then pulling away. Molina has since pitted his Ferrari and climbed out, being replaced by teammate Nicklas Nielsen. Estre has also pitted, replaced by three-times Le Mans winner Andre Lotterer.
The #2 Cadillac V.Series-R of Earl Bamber is currently running third but owes a pitstop. Nielsen and Lotterer are next, followed by Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari 499P, who recenhtl;y replaced James Calado in the car.
Dane Cameron runs seventh in the #7 Porsche 963. The #4 Vanwall Vandervell 680, with Jacques Villeneuve at the wheel, is eighth in class but 18th overall. Villenueve’s teammate Esteban Guerrieri was running well until he got a tap from the #93 Peugeot of Mikkel Jensen, who had not checked up enough for an imminent FCY, causing damage to the rear bodywork.
Both Peugeots are in the pits with technical issues, while #7087 Glickenhaus 007 is out of the race after stopping on track.
In LMP2, David Beckmann leads in the #48 JOTA Oreca 07-Gibson, ahead of the #36 Alpine of Matthieu Vaxiviere. Sean Galael is third in the #31 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson.
Finally, in GTE-Am, the long-time leader Sarah Bovy has dropped down the order after the aforementioned loss of bodywork after going off track. Now leading the class is Nicolas Varrone in the #33 Corvette C8.R. Julien Andlauer in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19, while Casper Stevenson is third in the class, around 1:10 behind Andlauer in the #777 D’Station Aston Martin Vantage AMR.
Keyword: Toyotas lead at Sebring halfway mark, Porsche and Ferrari battling over third