Britain’s Mike Conway continued where he left off in day one of the two day test at Sebring International Raceway ahead of Round 6 of the 2018/19 FIA World Endurance Championship.
The Toyota driver lowered his best time by five hundredths, to finish the day on 1m41.152, just 0.o52 ahead of Fernando Alonso in the no8 Toyota TS050 – Hybrid.-
The non hybrid entrants in the LMP1 category continued to close the gap to the factory team, with former Toyota driver Stephane Sarrazin posting a 1m42.554 in the no17 SMP Racing BR1-AER, just 1.4 seconds behind Conway. Reigning FIA World Endurance Drivers’ Champion Brendon Hartley was just 0.054 behind Sarrazin in the no11 SMP Racing BR1.
The battle to finish on top in the LMGTE Pro category intensified on day two after Ford dominated the opening day. The no67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx took the top spot in the morning session but Porsche pulled out all the stops and Richard Lietz lapped the Sebring track in the no91 Porsche 911 in 1m57.302, just ahead of Priaulx’s best of 1m57.411.
Ferrari were also resurgent on Day 2 with the no71 F488 of Davide Rigon setting the second quickest time in the afternoon session with a 1m57.771.
In LMP2 it was the Dallara-Gibson in the yellow Racing Team Nederland colours that claimed the top spot after Dutch driver Nyck de Vries posted a 1m47.086 in the morning session, a time that was beaten in the afternoon, with Loic Duval setting a 1m47.642 lap in the final session of the test.
The laurels in the LMGTE Am class were also claimed in the morning session, with Matteo Cairoli pushing hard in the no88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche to set a lap of 1m58.707, 0.529 seconds ahead of Pedro Lamy in the no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage. Matt Griffin claimed the top spot in the afternoon session on day two in the no61 Clearwater Racing Ferrari, with a 1m59.448 lap.
While there were several minors incidents during the day, the most serious was for LMGTE AM championship leaders Team Project One after the Porsche caught fire in the morning. The car was badly damaged but Jorg Bergmeister was able to get out unharmed. The chassis was beyond repair and the team will now replace the car ahead of the race at the end of this week.
Everything is now set for the next round of the FIA World Endurance Championship Super Season, the 1000 Miles of Sebring on Friday 15 March
