ALPINE TAKES VICTORY IN SHORTENED SEBRING WORLD SPORTSCAR CLASH
French trio of drivers claim first WEC win as Toyota Hypercar has huge accident
Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Matthieu Vaxiviere broke their World Endurance Championship duck in the Sebring 1000 Miles last weekend in a race which was marred by storms and a big accident.
The race was halted for 30 minutes when leader Jose Maria
Lopez, who was sharing his Toyota Hypercar with Michael Conway and Kamui Kobayashi, crashed heavily at Turn 15 after earlier making contact with a backmarker. At the restart, the Alpine A480 crew, which had started from pole, took advantage when the leading remaining Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa was forced into the pits for an emergency fuel stop. It eventually regained ground to finish in second spot.
The race was halted again due to storms in the region and was restarted for a 36-minute sprint, but more bad weather meant the race was stopped again with 14 minutes left. The Glickenhaus 007 of Olivier Pla, Romain Dumas and Ryan Briscoe rounded out the podium.
“We’ve been expecting this [win] since last season,” said Negrao. “We started on the right foot here in Sebring. It was a tough race for everyone, red flag and then green, and then red again… congratulations to these boys [the other two drivers], amazing job from the team as well. It’s crazy.”
Victory in LMP2 went to the United Autosport Orcea of
Josh Pierson, Paul di Resta and Oliver Jarvis (see separate story).
GTE Pro honours went to Porsche with Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen driving, narrowly ahead of the Corvette of Brit Nick Tandy and American Tommy Miller.
Brit David Pittard won
GTE Am in an Aston Martin, partnering Paul Dalla Lana and Nicki Thiim.