The #7 Toyota GAZOO Racing Hypercar was fastest by the end of the opening Prologue session, cut short by heavy wet weather conditions.
Sebring International Raceway welcomed the World Endurance Championship for the first time since last visiting in 2019.
The opening three-hour session saw the 36-car field take to the bumps for the first time with minimal incidents and a rain-struck circuit which ended the session almost an hour early.
The #7 reigning champions was fastest with a 1m51.223s, almost half-a-second ahead of the #41 RealTeam by WRT who’s teammates are defending champions in the LMP2 class.
Their time of 1m51.640s narrowly edged the #36 Alpine in third overall.
More about LMP2, Pro/Am class-debutants AF Corse only set two lap-times after spending most of their time in the garage.
As for Hypercar’s other entries, the #8 Toyota and #708 Glickenhaus Racing, were further down the tightly-packed order of endurance prototypes.
Both Toyotas each gathered 42 laps of experience, reaching almost identical average speeds.
The Glickenhaus was further down the running with 14 laps on the board, but set a top speed of 277.88 km/h to be the third fastest, in that aspect, in the Hypercar class.
In GTE-Pro, the #92 Porsche caused one of two Red Flag periods when it stopped on track.
Nevertheless, they were fastest in class with a lap-time of 1m58.543s ahead of the sister Porsche.
Team Project 1 set a 1m59.573s to be quickest in the GTE-Am category with a top speed of 243.21 km/h.
Almost an hour before the scheduled end, the dry conditions rapidly transitioned to heavy wet weather conditions thus ending the morning session.
The afternoon session will take place later today.
We need to talk, @sebringraceway. 🌧#WEC #WECPrologue pic.twitter.com/MfEwI8wewT
— WEC (@FIAWEC) March 12, 2022
| Overall Position | Category | Team | Fastest Time | Diff. (Seconds) | Completed Laps |
Top Speed (km/h)
|
| 1 | Hypercar | #7 Toyota GAZOO Racing | 1m51.223s | – | 42 | 284.25 |
| 2 | LMP2 | #41 RealTeam By WRT | 1m51.640s | + 0.417 | 37 | 267.53 |
| 3 | Hypercar | #36 Alpine Elf Team | 1m51.695s | + 0.472 | 26 | 273.98 |
| 4 | LMP2 | #31 WRT | 1m51.703s | + 0.480 | 23 | 267.01 |
| 5 | LMP2 | #9 Prema Orlen Team | 1m51.710s | + 0.487 | 38 | 268.58 |
| 6 | LMP2 | #38 JOTA | 1m51.813s | + 0.590 | 32 | 264.42 |
| 7 | LMP2 | #22 United Autosports USA | 1m51.979s | + 0.756 | 34 | 268.58 |
| 8 | LMP2 | #23 United Autosports USA | 1m52.097s | + 0.874 | 41 | 269.64 |
| 9 | LMP2 | #1 Richard Mille Racing Team | 1m52.488s | + 1.265 | 32 | 265.45 |
| 10 | LMP2 | #28 JOTA | 1m52.528s | + 1.305 | 42 | 265.45 |
| 11 | Hypercar | #8 Toyota GAZOO Racing | 1m52.566s | + 1.343 | 42 | 284.84 |
| 12 | LMP2 (Pro/Am) | #35 Ultimate | 1m52.870s | + 1.647 | 40 | 264.93 |
| 13 | LMP2 | #10 Vector Sport | 1m53.004s | + 1.781 | 32 | 268.58 |
| 14 | LMP2 (Pro/Am) | #45 Algarve Pro Racing | 1m53.092s | + 1.869 | 35 | 263.91 |
| 15 | LMP2 | #5 Team Penske | 1m53.261s | + 2.038 | 23 | 262.38 |
| 16 | LMP2 | #34 Inter Europol Competition | 1m53.581s | + 2.358 | 37 | 263.91 |
| 17 | LMP2 (Pro/Am) | #44 ARC Bratislava | 1m53.983s | + 2.760 | 41 | 262.89 |
| 18 | Hypercar | #708 Glickenhaus Racing | 1m57.462s | + 6.239 | 14 | 277.88 |
| 19 | GTE-Pro | #92 Porsche GT Team | 1m58.543s | + 7.320 | 35 | 245.84 |
| 20 | GTE-Pro | #91 Porsche GT Team | 1m58.758s | + 7.535 | 39 | 244.96 |
| 21 | GTE-Pro | #64 Corvette Racing | 1m59.122s | + 7.899 | 43 | 246.73 |
| 22 | GTE-Am | #46 Team Project 1 | 1m59.573s | + 8.350 | 27 | 243.21 |
| 23 | GTE-Pro | #51 AF Corse | 2m00.098s | + 8.875 | 36 | 240.21 |
| 24 | GTE-Am | #98 NorthWest AMR | 2m00.445s | + 9.222 | 25 | 240.63 |
| 25 | GTE-Pro | #52 AF Corse | 2m00.618s | + 9.395 | 37 | 239.37 |
| 26 | GTE-Am | #56 Team Project 1 | 2m01.043s | + 9.820 | 41 | 239.37 |
| 27 | GTE-Am | #21 AF Corse | 2m01.071s | + 9.848 | 34 | 239.79 |
| 28 | GTE-Am | #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing | 2m01.347s | + 10.124 | 34 | 241.06 |
| 29 | GTE-Am | #54 AF Corse | 2m01.413s | + 10.190 | 40 | 238.53 |
| 30 | GTE-Am | #85 Iron Dames | 2m01.550s | + 10.327 | 42 | 237.7 |
| 31 | GTE-Am | #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing | 2m01.565s | + 10.342 | 40 | 241.91 |
| 32 | GTE-Am | #33 TF Sport | 2m01.570s | + 10.347 | 22 | 238.12 |
| 33 | GTE-Am | #60 Iron Lynx | 2m01.969s | + 10.746 | 35 | 237.29 |
| 34 | GTE-Am | #777 D’station Racing | 2m02.608s | + 11.385 | 36 | 240.21 |
| 35 | GTE-Am | #71 Spirit of Race | 2m02.690s | + 11.467 | 43 | 241.06 |
| 36 | LMP2 (Pro/Am) | #83 AF Corse | 4m35.836s | + 2m44.613 | 2 | 189.5 |
