The Argentinian Jose Maria “Pechito” Lopez (Toyota Hypercar) was part of the fastest unit today in the second day of the prologue of the Sebring competition, in the state of Florida, the scene where the World Endurance Championship (WEC) will begin next week, with the performance of the 1000 Miles.
The 39-year-old driver from Córdoba and a native of Río Tercero, turned 21 times today with the number 7 car of the Japanese brand.
López had set the fastest time on Saturday with 1m48s208/1000, while the British Mike Conway registered the fastest time on Sunday, with 1m48s473/1000, after having done 29 laps.
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The third member of the team, the Japanese Kamui Kobayashi, completed 26 laps on the 6,019-meter long circuit.
The Toyota, which set the pulse of the tests for the second consecutive day, led by just 008/1000 the sports prototype driven by the Swiss Sebastien Buemi, the New Zealander Brendon Hartley and the Japanese Rio Hirakawa, champions in the 2022 contest.
For its part, the Vanwall that has Esteban Guerrieri from Buenos Aires among its ranks, accompanied by the Canadian former Formula 1 champion, Jacques Villeneuve, placed ninth, at 1s565/1000.
The main category of the World Endurance Championship will have several new teams this year that add to the era of Hypercars. Among the new structures that are added to the WEC is Ferrari, which this Sunday suffered a serious accident in Sebring.
Ferrari accident and the rest
Driver James Calado started his lap with the number 51 Ferrari 499P and at turn 1 he was involved in an incident that ended with his car hitting the wall, causing damage to the right front corner and the front of the vehicle.
The accident generated a red flag that caused a stoppage of about 10 minutes until the track could be cleared. Calado shares this Ferrari with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi, although the car did not return to action.
The other Ferrari 499P, the number 50, turned 56 laps and set the best time of 1m49s954/1000, finishing in eighth place.
Behind the two Toyotas, the best was the Porsche Penske Motorsport driven by Michael Cristensen, followed by the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series R driven by Alex Lynn. Fifth the other Porsche Penske and the Peugeot 9X8 LMH were sixth and seventh.
The 2023 World Endurance Championship (WEC) will begin with the race to be held on March 17, when the mythical 1000 miles of Sebring will be run.
The calendar
- 1000 Miles from Sebring. March 17.
- 6 Hours from Portimao. April 16th.
- 6 Hours from Spa-Francorchamps. April 29.
- 24 Hours of Le Mans. June 10 and 11.
- 6 Hours from Monza. July 9th.
- 6 Hours of Fuji. September, 10th.
- 8 Hours of Bahrain. November 4th.