Will this season continue the golden endurance era Group C started way back in the '80s & '90s? This race certainly lived up to expectations.
239 laps. 8 gruelling hours. 3 winners. Here's everything we saw and enjoyed at the 2023 1000 miles of Sebring.
That ain't the right way up...
Just 5 laps into the WEC season opener, GTE AM Ferrari 488 no.83 managed to slam into the barriers in T1 and flipped onto its roof. The car was running in a respectable P3 at the time. Driver Luis Perez Companc took too much speed into T1, went wide then hit a bump and span backwards into the tyre barrier. Although it was a fast accident, Luis emerged uninjured. This accident was a shame for both the team and driver Lilou Wadoux, a promising female talent looking to show her speed in her first season of WEC.
The racing in these Hypercars can be brilliant
Although Toyota ran away from the rest of the Hypercar pack, the battle for P3 was heated throughout the race, especially around lap 50. The Cadillac of Alex Lynn attacked Laurens Vanthoor in the no.5 Porsche Penske 963, eventually getting past on lap 54 after a superb move. Lynn got on the inside on the exit of T1, then managed to get past in the braking zone of T2. Both drivers' racecraft was superb, with close but fair racing from both sides. Vanthoor had a large struggle to even keep his 963 on the road - by that stage, his tyres were shot.
LMP2 is as competitive as ever
Throughout the whole race, the podium places continually changed. Prema car no.63 and Hertz Team Jota no.48 battled for the lead on strategy as the race progressed, with a nail-biting finish amidst fuel concerns. The no.48 Jota Oreca 07, driven by Will Stevens, pitted with just
7 laps to the end for a splash-and-dash, exiting behind the Prema team. Stevenson was expected to quickly catch up on the no.63 Prema car, but the gap was maintained by Mirko Bottolotti in his Prema expertly. However, this almost certain win for the Prema team was then clutched from their fingertips too. Just 2 laps to the end, on lap 237, the no63 Prema car also pitted for fuel, losing positions to both car 48 and the United Autosports no.22 car, eventually emerging 3rd. This positioning continued to the end of the race, with Will Stevens bringing home 1st for Jota, 2.8 seconds ahead of P2. However, the no.48 team don't gain any world championship points from this victory - they will only be racing in the LMP2 series until they take delivery of their Porsche 963 on April 29th.
Iron Dames got so, so close to a win...
The all-female GTE AM team Iron Dames were leading in class in their pink Porsche when disaster stuck on lap 82: driver Sarah Bovy ran over kerbs then a dip in the runoff, ripping off the entirety of the rear bumper, and doing considerable damage to the rear of their 911. This caused a full course yellow, with marshalls picking up debris and the entire rear bumper off the track. This FCY then caused havoc further up the field in the Hypercar class. Peugeot 9x8 no.93 hit the back of the Vanwall, who was braking to slow down for the FCY, in the final corner. The Vanwall suffered a puncture and minor damage to the rear. The Peugeot also pitted due to damage and swapped the front bodywork from (what we thought retired, but in fact, actually being frantically repaired,) the no.94 9x8 to the no.93, after a sticker change.
The Hypercar field spread is huge...
On Thursday's qualifying, the Vanwall qualified over 4 seconds off the Ferrari 499p that took pole. This gap is quite worrying, although was to be expected - Floyd Vanwall racing has a minuscule budget compared to WEC Manufacturer giants like Ferrari, Toyota and Porsche. However, the Glickenhaus also being over 4 seconds off the pole sitter's time is worrying - they are much more established within WEC, and have already had a season to theoretically iron out problems with their car. Glickenhaus gained around 4 tenths from last year's qualifying session, where Toyota gained over 3 seconds. Some LMP2 cars were actually faster than both the Vanwall and the Glickehaus, although hopefully BoP will sort out this major pace differential come the next race at Portimao.
The Hypercar tyre warm-up takes much longer than expected
This year, the FIA removed tyre blankets for the top class of the WEC. This meant the cars would leave the pits on fresh rubber that would have absolutely no grip. These freshly pitted Hypercars would often succumb to even mediocrely driven LMP2s, or even well-driven GTEs that would have sufficient tyre temperature for them to grip well.
That was the season opener for WEC - did you enjoy it? It certainly sets an exciting standpoint for the rest of this season, which promises to be edge of your seat exciting, and packed with drama.
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