Toyota Ends Prologue Pre-Season Test on Top

Photo: Jamey Price/Toyota

Toyota Gazoo Racing ended the FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue on top, with the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Jose Maria Lopez setting the quickest time of the two-day pre-season test at Sebring International Raceway.

The Argentinean driver’s 1:48.208 set in Saturday’s opening session held as the best after more than 12 hours of available track time.

Brendon Hartley, in the sister No. 8 Toyota, meanwhile, was quickest in the fourth and final session on Sunday afternoon, thanks to a 1:48.216 to make it a 1-2 run for the Japanese manufacturer.

The No. 2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R was third overall and in the final session, with Earl Bamber’s 1:48.429 from Saturday afternoon’s session standing as the quickest for the American team and manufacturer.

Nicklas Nielsen put the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P fourth on the time charts in Session 4, in a mixed day for the Prancing Horse following an accident by James Calado in the morning that sidelined the No. 51 car for the remainder of the day.

Both Peugeot 9X8s suffered misfortunes in the final session, with Gustavo Menezes nosing the No. 94 car into the Turn 3 tire barriers to bring out a red flag.

The No. 93 car, meanwhile, returned to the track in the final minutes of the session after working through an undisclosed mechanical issue.

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s pair of Porsche 963s clocked the fifth and sixth quickest times on Sunday afternoon with Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre at the wheel, respectively, ahead of the No. 94 Peugeot of Menezes.

The No. 22 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson of Filipe Albuquerque led the LMP2 ranks, while Robert Kubica was quickest in Session 4 aboard his No. 41 Team WRT machine.

Kubica edged out Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson in the three-hour final session, which featured two additional red flags.

The first was for the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Stefano Costanini, who backed his car into the Turn 17 barriers, followed by an incident for David Heinemeier Hansson in the No. 28 JOTA Oreca that saw the session end ten minutes early.

Matteo Cairoli’s 1:59.170 from Sunday morning held up as quickest of the test for the No. 56 Project 1 – AO Porsche 911 RSR-19.

The Italian driver was 0.031 seconds faster than Michelle Gatting in the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche, whose time was set on Saturday afternoon.

Ben Barker, meanwhile, led the way in the final session of the test at the wheel of his No. 86 GR Racing Porsche.

RESULTS: Session 4 / Combined

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John