Sebring 1000 Miles qualifying 2022

The qualifying for the 1000 Miles race at Sebring was run on Thursday evening, prior to the opening race in the FIA World Endurance Championship

The 17 GTE cars were the first on the track for their ten-minute qualifying.

While the Pro drivers qualified in the GTE Pro category, it was the Bronze-rated drivers who had to qualify the GTE Am cars.

The qualifying was run shortly before sunset, which was a condition the teams hadn’t tested at all, neither in the Prologue nor the practice sessions afterwards.

It didn’t take longer than three minutes before the first red flag. Team Project 1 Porsche #46 hit the tire wall in Turn 17 with Nicolas Leutwiler behind the wall. This meant that Leutwiler, Matteo Cairoli and Mikkel O. Pedersen would start last in the race tomorrow. Leutwiler could, however, drive to the pits by himself, and once he was in the session was restarted.

There were only six minutes left of the session, and it wasn’t much for the remaining drivers since the lap times were around two minutes.

Team Project 1 Porsche #56 was the first GTE Am car to set a fast lap time, while Porsche #91 was the first Pro car to set a quick lap, but it was beaten by Corvette Racing #64 shortly afterwards.

TF Sport Aston Martin #33 took the first position in GTE Am with a few minutes left.

Porsche struck back, with #91 and later #92 were 1-2 in GTE Pro.

But everyone still had a minimum of one lap left.

Christensen did a fantastic job in the last lap and snatched Pole for Porsche #92 with Kevin Estre, while Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz must be happy with second place in their sister car #91, and Corvette Racing #64 with Nick Tandy plus Tommy Milner took P3. AF Corse Ferrari #51 and #52 would start from P4 and 5 respectively.

TF Sport Aston Martin #33 with Ben Keating behind the wheel beat the other GTE Am drivers with a big margin, and claimed Pole Position with Florian Latorre and Marco Sørensen. In fact, Bronze-rated Keating’s time was better than both AF Corse GTE Pro cars! One and a half seconds behind them was Northwest AMR #98 with Paul Dalla Lana plus Nicki Thiim and David Pittard, while Team Project 1 Porsche #56 with Brendan Iribe plus Ben Barnicoat and Oliver Millroy qualified P3.

Iron Dames Ferrari #85 with Sarah Bovy plus Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting took P4, and was clearly the best GTE Am Ferrari in the field.

After that, it was time for the LMP2 and Hypercar for their 10-minute qualifying session.

Nicklas Nielsen in AF Corse #83 was the first LMP2 car to set a fast time, before Filipe Albuquerque in United Autosports USA #22 jumped to P1.

Alpine Elf Team #36 set the best time in Hypercar, followed by Glickenhaus Racing #708 and Toyota Gazoo Racing #8.

The majority of the LMP2 field chose to pit after new tires, and while they did, Ferdinand Habsburg in Realteam by WRT #41 set a new fastest time in LMP2.

Alpine Elf Team #36 improved their time, while United Autosports USA #23 was the fastest in LMP2.

Nielsen in AF Corse #83 took the chance in his new tires, and set the new fastest time in the LMP2 category, while UA #23 had pitted and couldn’t retaliate.

The qualifying stopped with twelve seconds left when Fabio Scherer went off in Turn 1 in full speed in Inter Europol Competition #34. Luckily, the Swiss was okay and left the car by himself, even though the medical light was on. Which meant that the driver had to stay in the car until the doctor allowed them to climb out.

Alpine Elf Team #36 with Nicolas Lapierre plus Andre Negrao and Matthieu Vaxiviere took Pole Position, ahead of Glickenhaus Racing #708 with Olivier Pla plus Ryan Briscoe and Romain Dumas, while Toyota Gazoo Racing #8 with Brendon Hartley plus Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa qualified third.

Nicklas Nielsen, Francois Perrodo and Alessio Rovera took Pole Position for AF Corse #83, ahead of United Autosports USA #22 with Filipe Albuquerque plus Phil Hanson and Will Owen, and with United Autosports USA #23 with Paul di Resta, Josh Pierson and Oliver Jarvis in P3. Nielsen also took the LMP2 Pro/Am Pole.

That was the ending to an exciting and dramatic qualifying. There are some mechanics at Inter Europol Competition #34, who probably won’t get much sleep tonight. The race will be run at midday local time or 17.00 CET, and can be streamed at FIAWEC.com.