United Autosports tops final session of FIA WEC Prologue test
American teams top the order overall and in LMGTE classes prior to home race
The LMP2 entry of American-flagged United Autosports ended at the top of the timesheets after the final session of the FIA WEC Prologue two-day test at Sebring International Raceway. The team's number 22 Oreca 07, driven by Philip Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque and Will Owen set a best time of 1m 48.439s around the 6.019 km circuit.
The final session was interrupted after the number 56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR-19 suffered heavy damage after going off the track, bringing the red flag out while the stricken car was recovered.
LMP2 cars set the pace in three of the four test sessions held during the Prologue, with the fastest outright lap being claimed in the third session by the Realteam by WRT entry driven by Ferdinand Habsburg, who clocked 1m 48.089s in the car that he will share with Rui Andrade and Norman Nato. Only the opening Prologue session on Saturday morning was headed by one of the elite Hypercar entries, that being the Toyota GR010-Hybrid of defending WEC champions Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María Lopez.
In the production-based LMGTE Pro category, Corvette Racing managed to set the fastest time in the final session of Prologue as the American team prepares to make its first ever season-long campaign in the WEC. The Porsche GT Team had set the pace in all three of the earlier sessions and only missed out on a clean sweep by three hundredths of a second, promising a thrilling battle for manufacturer honours between the two brands and their competitors at Ferrari.
Dempsey-Proton Racing built on the fastest time set in the morning session among the LMGTE Am contenders to remain on top in the afternoon with their number 77 entry.
With the Prologue successfully completed, the tenth anniversary season of the WEC will begin at the 1000 Miles of Sebring, which takes place on Friday, March 18.
