Sebring 1000 mile race 2019

Sebring International Raceway track layout

The first 1000 miles of Sebring , also known as 1000 Miles of Sebring , took place on March 15, 2019 at the Sebring International Raceway and was the sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship 2018/19 .

Before the race

Team Project 1's Porsche burned out completely during the test drives.

In the entry list published by the FIA ​​before the race, the ENSO CLM P1 / 01 from the ByKolles Racing Team was missing for the Sebring 1000 mile race. The race was skipped due to problems with a supplier. The Kolles team planned to compete again at the next race in Spa-Francorchamps . As in Shanghai , Corvette Racing again entered a Corvette C7.R as a guest starter in the LMGTE Pro class.

Before the race, official test drives took place on March 9th and 10th. During the second day of testing, Jörg Bergmeister's Porsche 911 RSR, which was leading the LMGTE-Am class before the race, caught fire and burned out completely. However, the team was able to fly in a Porsche chassis that was actually intended for the European Le Mans Series and take part in both qualification and the race.

Since the race took place on the same weekend as the 2019 Sebring 12-hour race , the two events were advertised as the SuperSebring weekend.

The qualifying session for the two Gran Turismo classes started at 9:30 p.m. local time. The meeting was interrupted with a red flag eight minutes to go after Luís Pérez Companc hit the guard rails. The two classes had the best starting positions for Porsche vehicles: Kevin Estre achieved pole position in the professional class, while the Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche came first in the amateur class.

As expected, the two Toyota TS050s fought for pole position in the LMP1 class. With José María López missing the track, Fernando Alonso and Kazuki Nakajima achieved pole position. Third place on the grid was achieved by the BR Engineering BR1 with number 17 from SMP Racing, but this time was canceled and the Rebellion R13 with number 3 moved up to 3rd place on the grid. The fastest times in the LMP2 class were the two Oreca 07s from the Jackie Chan DC Racing Team.

The race

After an accident with the Clearwater Racing Ferrari 488 GTE in qualifying, the team was unable to repair the vehicle until the race. Thus only 33 vehicles started. The race began punctually at 4:00 p.m. local time in bright sunshine. As expected, the two hybrid Toyota were able to expand their lead quickly after the start. After a little more than an hour of racing, the Ford GT with the number 66 came into the pits. A necessary change of the alternator cost the team 9 laps and with it the hope of a good overall result. In the end, the car crossed the finish line second to last. The Oreca 07, number 38, from Jackie Chan DC Racing also had to go into the pits after problems with the gear shift. After the sky became more and more cloudy, it started to rain after almost two hours of racing. On a wet track, Egor Orudzhev in the BR Engineering BR1 of the SMP Racing Team had an accident in the first corner and could not restart the race; a safety car phase followed.

According to the regulations, the race was ended after 8 hours and 1523.06 kilometers of racing distance. The distance of 1000 miles was not reached due to the use of the safety car and some Code 80 zones. Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso won the race by one lap over the sister car. Third place, 11 laps behind, was the BR Engineering BR1 with the number 11 from SMP Racing. The class winner in the LMP2 class was the Oreca 07 from the Jackie Chan DC Racing Team with Hansson, King and Stevens in front of the Alpine A470 with the number 36. In the LMGTE Pro class, the Porsche from Lietz and Bruni won. A Porsche also won in the LMGTE-Am class; Ried, Andlauer and Campbell from the Dempsey-Proton Racing Team won here.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	LMP1	8th	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Fernando Alonso	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	253
2	LMP1	7th	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi José María López	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	252
3	LMP1	11	SMP Racing	Mikhail Aleshin Vitaly Petrov Brendon Hartley	BR Engineering BR1	242
4th	LMP2	37	Jackie Chan DC Racing	David Heinemeier Hansson Jordan King Will Stevens	Oreca 07	239
5	LMP2	36	Signatech Alpine Matmut	Nicolas Lapierre André Negrão Pierre Thiriet	Alpine A470	239
6th	LMP2	31	Dragonspeed	Roberto Gonzalez Pastor Maldonado Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	237
7th	LMP1	3	Rebellion Racing	Thomas Laurent Gustavo Menezes Nathanael Berthon	Rebellion R13	237
8th	LMP2	50	Larbre Compétition	Erwin Creed Romano Ricci Gunnar Jeannette	Ligier JS P217	234
9	LMP2	29	Racing Team Nederland	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries	Dallara P217	230
10	LMGTE Pro	91	Porsche GT Team	Richard Lietz Gianmaria Bruni	Porsche 911 RSR	226
11	LMGTE Pro	81	BMW Team MTEK	Martin Tomczyk Nicky Catsburg Alexander Sims	BMW M8 GTE	226
12	LMGTE Pro	67	Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK	Andy Priaulx Harry Tincknell Jonathan Bomarito	Ford GT	225
13	LMGTE Pro	51	AF Corse	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Daniel Serra	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	225
14th	LMGTE Pro	92	Porsche GT Team	Michael Christensen Kévin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR	225
15th	LMGTE Pro	71	AF Corse	Davide Rigon Sam Bird Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	225
16	LMGTE Pro	82	BMW Team MTEK	António Félix da Costa Tom Blomqvist	BMW M8 GTE	225
17th	LMGTE Pro	63	Corvette Racing - GM	Jan Magnussen Antonio García Mike Rockenfeller	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	109
18th	LMGTE Pro	97	Aston Martin Racing	Alex Lynn Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	224
19th	LMGTE Pro	95	Aston Martin Racing	Marco Sørensen Nicki Thiim Darren Turner	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	224
20th	LMGTE Am	77	Dempsey-Proton Racing	Christian Ried Julien Andlauer Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR	221
21st	LMGTE Am	54	Spirit of Race	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE	221
22nd	LMGTE Am	56	Team Project 1	Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Lindsey Egidio Perfetti	Porsche 911 RSR	221
23	LMGTE Am	86	Gulf Racing UK	Mike Wainwright Ben Barker Thomas Preining	Porsche 911 RSR	221
24	LMGTE Am	70	MR Racing	Motoaki Ishikawa Olivier Beretta Eddie Cheever III	Ferrari 488 GTE	220
25th	LMGTE Am	90	TF Sport	Salih Yoluc Jonathan Adam Charlie Eastwood	Aston Martin Vantage	220
26th	LMGTE Am	88	Dempsey-Proton Racing	Giorgio Roda Gianluca Roda Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR	219
27	LMGTE Am	98	Aston Martin Racing	Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda	Aston Martin Vantage	219
28	LMGTE Pro	66	Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK	Stefan Mücke Olivier Pla Billy Johnson	Ford GT	216
29	LMP2	38	Jackie Chan DC Racing	Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Stéphane Richelmi	Oreca 07	209
Not classified
30th	LMP2	28	TDS Racing	François Perrodo Matthieu Vaxivière Loïc Duval	Oreca 07	232
31	LMP1	17th	SMP Racing	Stéphane Sarrazin Egor Orudzhev Sergei Sirotkin	BR Engineering BR1	62
Failed
32	LMP1	10	Dragonspeed	Henrik Hedman Ben Hanley Renger van der Zande	BR Engineering BR1	143
33	LMP1	1	Rebellion Racing	Mathias Beche Neel Jani Bruno Senna	Rebellion R13	138

Only in the entry list

Here you will find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race but did not take part for a variety of reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
34	LMGTE Am	61	Clearwater Racing	Luís Pérez Companc Matteo Cressoni Matt Griffin	Ferrari 488 GTE

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
LMP1	Sébastien Buemi	Kazuki Nakajima	Fernando Alonso	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	Overall victory
LMP2	David Heinemeier Hansson	Jordan King	Will Stevens	Oreca 07	Rank 4
LMGTE Pro	Richard Lietz	Gianmaria Bruni		Porsche 911 RSR	Rank 10
LMGTE Am	Christian Ried	Julien Andlauer	Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR	Rank 20

Racing data

• Registered: 34
• Started: 33
• Rated: 29
• Race classes: 4
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: changeable, rainy
• Route length: 6.020 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 8:00: 38,186 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 253
• Total distance of the winning team: 1,523.06 km
• Winner's average: unknown
• Pole position: Fernando Alonso & Kazuki Nakajima - Toyota TS050 Hybrid (# 8) - 1: 40.318
• Fastest race lap: Fernando Alonso - Toyota TS050 Hybrid (# 8) - 1: 40.124
• Racing series: 6th round of the FIA World Endurance Championship 2018/19

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ByKolles does not start at the WEC race in Sebring. motorsport-total.com, accessed on February 24, 2019 (German). 
2. ↑ Entry list for the Sebring 1000 mile race in 2019. press.fiawec.com, accessed on February 24, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Project 1 Porsche In “Significant” Sebring Test Fire. dailysportscar.com, accessed March 10, 2019 . 
4. ↑ 1000 Miles of Silverstone - Race - Final Classification. fiawec.alkamelsystems.com, accessed on May 22, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Qualification results of the Sebring 1000 mile race in 2019. fiawec.alkamelsystems.com, accessed on May 20, 2019 (English). 
6. ↑ 1000 Miles of Silverstone - Race - Final Classification by Driver And Class Fastest Lap. fiawec.alkamelsystems.com, accessed on May 22, 2019 . 

Preceding race 6 Hours of Shanghai 2018

FIA World Endurance Championship

Successor to the 6-hour race of Spa-Francorchamps 2019