Alpine leads after 2 Hours; Corvette ahead in LMGTE Pro

Alpine hold a 36-second lead in the opening round of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship season at the 1000 Miles of Sebring in Florida. 

Corvette Racing take lead of LMGTE Pro as Porsche penalised for start infraction. 

United Autosports USA 1-2 in LMP as Joshua Pierson becomes youngest ever WEC starter at 16 years and 32 days of age. 

Hypercar

• Alpine ELF Team in control of Sebring 1000 Miles as Mattieu Vaxiviere opens up healthy gap from the start
• Nico Lapierre takes over from Vaxiviere at first pit stops which Alpine make first ahead of second placed Glickenhaus and the pair of Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercars was enough to take a clear pole for the opening round of the 2022 WEC campaign
• Both Toyotas elect to double stint drivers with Sebastien Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi completing first 95-minutes of race before handing over to Brendon Hartley and Jose-Maria Lopez respectively
• After two hours of racing Alpine enjoy a 36-second gap over the two Toyotas with Vaxiviere back at the wheel
• Glickenhaus Racing’s Olivier Pla drives flawless first stint of the race in second position repelling Sebastien Buemi’s Toyota in early stage
• Romain Dumas takes over cockpit and runs fourth throughout second hour in trouble-free run

LMGTE Pro

• Thrilling battle during first hour sees Kevin Estre’s No.92 Porsche 911 RSR lead sister Porsche GT Team car driven by Gimmi Bruni
• But Bruni is overtaken by Nick Tandy in Corvette Racing entry and British ace homes in on Estre
• The impressive Tandy takes over at the front of the field as he double stints tyres while Porsche change and drop back to second and third
• Michael Christensen, who took over from Estre at first stop, uses fresher tyres to advantage and catches Tandy at end of second hour but is unable to make a move stick
• But both Porsches are given 15-second hold penalties for starting infraction and drop further behind Corvette after sanction is taken at second scheduled pit stops
• AF Corse Ferraris place in fourth and fifth in LMGTE Pro as No.51 488 GTE Evo heads No.52 with James Calado and Antonio Fuoco starting the race

LMP2

• AF Corse’s Nicklas Nielsen relinquishes lead in opening corners as Filipe Albuquerque surges through in No.22 United Autosports USA car
• Albuquerque though can’t break clear of Nielsen until after first stint when Phil Hanson takes over
• No.23 United Autosports USA starts third in LMP2 as Paul di Resta drives solid opening two stints before Josh Pierson becomes the youngest ever driver to take part in a WEC race at 16 years and 32 days old
• Pierson stars in second hour as he shadows Hanson as United Autosports enjoy a 1-2 formation
• Prema Orlen Team place third as Robert Kubica opens the action for WEC debutants
• WEC rookie Lorenzo Colombo takes over the cockpit from the Pole and consolidates third place while
• Real Team WRT are fourth as Ferdinand Habsburg aims to chase down big gap to third place
• Team Penske place fifth as Felipe Nasr and then Emmanuel Collard enjoy stints at the wheel
• AF Corse place sixth as Francois Perrodo also heads Pro/Am LMP2 chase
• Early race collision delays both the Ultimate and No.38 JOTA entries as Matthieu Lahaye and Roberto Gonzalez spin. Gonzalez receives a drive-through penalty for incident
• Inter Europol car fights back from rear of grid after qualifying accident but stops multiple times on track with Esteban Gutierrez at wheel

LMGTE Am

• No.33 TF Sport leads from pole but Ben Keating succumbs to Paul Dalla Lana in opening exchanges
• Dalla Lana puts Northwest AMR entry in strong position before handing over to David Pittard who continues to stretch advantage
• Florian Latorre takes over from Keating and holds second with No.777 D’Station entry making it an Aston 1-2-3 clean sweep through second hour

Click HERE for second hour positions