The 1000 Miles of Sebring, the opening round of the FIA WEC World Championship, ended with fourth and fifth place for the 488 GTEs in the LMGTE Pro class and fifth place for the Iron Dames’ Ferrari in the Am. The race ended prematurely with just under an hour to go due to a high risk of lightning, obliging the race direction to show the red flag.
LMGTE Pro. It was not an easy race for reigning champions Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, who left Florida with a fourth place, objectively the best result the number 51 488 GTE crew could have hoped for. The Italo-British duo performed well, fighting lap after lap to minimise the gap to the leaders, but they were always out of reach. In a race won by the Porsche of the Christensen-Estre, a power steering problem hampered the performance of Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina in the number 52, who crossed the line in fifth.
LMGTE Am. The fifth place for Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy at the end of the 1000 Miles of Sebring doesn’t do justice to the all-woman crew, who were among the leading players throughout the race. The Iron Dames trio completed a solid performance featuring some great duels and overtaking, including that of Michelle Gatting, recent winner of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli. Seventh place went to the AF Corse 488 GTE crewed by Simon Mann, Christoph Ulrich and Toni Vilander, who edged out the car driven by Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni and Giancarlo Fisichella, with the Roman driver performing some manoeuvres that demonstrated his pure class. The Ferrari of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Nick Cassidy came ninth, while the Spirit of Race trio finished eleventh.