TOYOTA ON TOP IN WEC AT PORTIMAO

Toyota Gazoo Racing continued where it left off at Sebring International Raceway in preparation for the 6 Hours of Portimao, the second round of this year's FIA World Endurance Championship.

1-2S for Prema & Toyota in FP1

With a time of 1m32.792s, Sebastien Buemi set the quickest lap of the opening practice while driving the No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid Hypercar. The No. 7 machine's Mike Conway, who set the fastest lap in 1m33.176s, was defeated by the Swiss master.

Alessandro Pier Guidi, driving the No. 51 Ferrari 499P, finished third for Ferrari AF Corse, narrowly beating off Nicklas Nielsen for third place with a time of 1m33.453s.

After a 90-minute session, Prema Racing finished 1-2 in LMP2. Due to a time of 1m34.542 achieved by Bortolotti, the No. 63 car driven by Daniil Kvyat, Doriane Pin, and Bortolotti ended up being the fastest in its class. Bent Viscaal came in second with a time of 1m34.884s, 0.3s slower than Bortolotti's record.

After earning points for finishing third at Sebring, Inter Europol Competition maintained its excellent start to the season with the third-best time. Due to his best tour time of 1m34.920s, Fabio Scherer of the yellow and green Oreca-Gibson claimed the fastest lap.

In the Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, Daniel Serra set the pace in LMGTE Am. The Aston Martin and Ferrari's former factory driver completed a lap of the course in 1 minute, 41.341 seconds. The No. 88 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19 finished third, and Harry Tincknell's best lap was just 0.004s slower than the No. 98 Aston Martin.

Toyota remains unbeatable in F2

This afternoon, Kamui Kobayashi led another Toyota 1-2 by turning the quickest lap in the 6 Hours of Portimao competition so far.

A Japanese 1-2 was achieved when Kobayashi's fellow countryman Ryo Hirakawa set the fastest time in the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar, stopping the clocks in 1m33.114s.

Once more, Ferrari AF Corse finished third and fourth, with Miguel Molina's No. 50 Ferrari 499P managing to close the gap on the second-place Toyota to just 0.2 seconds. The No. 51 driver, Antonio Giovinazzi, finished the practice session in fourth place, barely over a tenth of a second behind the sister car.

However, James Calado, the 2022 LMGTE Pro winner, outperformed his squad in the last moments with a time of 1m33.455s. As 'the Lion' began to roar back after a challenging Sebring session, the No. 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 went fifth-fastest.

Gabriel Aubry's amazing 1m34.609s lap time allowed Vector Sport to surprise everyone and claim the LMP2 lead. By 0.082 seconds, the French ace led Inter Europol Competition Oreca-Gibson.

With a top lap time of 1m34.837s, FP1's fastest car, the No. 63 Prema, concludes the practice in third place. Mirko Bortolotti remains one of the fastest drivers on the circuit. In LMGTE Am, Daniel Serra once again set the pace, with Lilou Wadoux of Richard Mille Racing and Davide Rigon of AF Corse making it a Ferrari 1-2-3 in the field.

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