Vanthoor Leads Porsche 1-2 in Opening Sebring Practice

Photo: Porsche

Laurens Vanthoor led the way in the first practice session of the weekend for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, which saw Porsche Penske Motorsport entries take the top two positions.

Vanthoor, in the special Mobil 1-liveried No. 6 Porsche 963, recorded a best lap of 1:47.985 in the 90-minute session to edge out teammate Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 entry by 0.026 seconds.

Jack Aitken was third quickest in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, while Louis Deletraz slotted in ahead of Wayne Taylor Racing teammate Filipe Albuquerque, who completed the top-five in their Cadillacs.

The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist was sixth quickest, meanwhile.

LMP2 was led by the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson of Paul di Resta, thanks to a 1:50.700 lap set by the Peugeot factory driver.

It was 0.048 seconds quicker than Ferdinand Habsburg in the No. 18 Era Motorsport entry, with the No. 99 AO Racing Oreca classified third in class.

However, team owner/driver PJ Hyett backed ‘Spike’ the dragon into the Turn 17 wall to bring out a red flag with 38 minutes to go, with the car appearing to have sustained significant right-rear damage.

Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos ran 1-2 in the production-based ranks, led by three GTD class entires.

Philip Ellis topped the time charts in the Rolex 24 class-winning No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, ahead of Scott Andrews’ Lone Star Racing example.

Lorenzo Patrese put the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, another GTD entry, third quickest.

The best of the GTD Pro cars was Alessio Picariello in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche.

In addition to Hyett’s accident, there were several other incidents that did not result in red flags, including contact between Sheldon van der Linde’s No. 25 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 and the No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports entry of Chris Cumming in Turn 14 that led to a spin for the LMP2 car and a drive-through penalty for the BMW driver.

Adam Adelson, meanwhile, had an off-course moment in Turn 5 in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche in Turn 5 and continued, which was the same case for the No. 2 United Autosports Oreca early in the session but in Turn 15.

A number of cars had spins or off-course moments in the exit of Turn 16 in the closing moments of the session, including Phil Fayer, Riccardo Agostini and Jon Field.

Sheena Monk, meanwhile, also drove off-course in the closing stages.

Two cars, the No. 24 WRT BMW and No. 912 Manthey Porsche, were given five-minute holds at the start of the session for failure to adhere to the torque sensor offset test.

Practice 2 gets underway at 4 p.m. EST.

RESULTS: Practice 1

Source: Sports Car 365