The day before the Sebring 12 Hours round of the IMSA Sportscar Championship, the 2022 World Endurance Championship began at the Florida circuit with the 1000 Miles of Sebring. And shock horror: a Toyota didn’t win.
The Toyota GR010 Hybrid’s whitewash in 2021 resulted in a heavy Balance of Performance (BoP) penalty for the start of the new season, and neither Gazoo Racing entry had an answer to the ‘grandfathered’ LMP1 Alpine A480 as Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxivière and André Negrão took a first WEC win for the French firm.
The race was stopped three times: once for a big accident for José María López in the #7 Toyota, then for the threat of thunderstorms and finally for a deluge that stopped the race for good with 14 minutes to go.
Porsche defeated Corvette in the GTE Pro class, but the American team claimed GTD honours at IMSA’s 12 Hours the next day as Nicky Catsburg, Antonio García and Jordan Taylor brought home their C8.R just four seconds ahead of TR3 Racing’s Lamborghini Huracán.
Overall honours in the 12 Hours went to the top-class Cadillac DPi-VR of Earl Bamber, Neel Jani and Alex Lynn.
Motorsport greats: Jan Magnussen
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