Vanthoor leads Porsche 1-2 in opening Sebring practice

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s throwback-liveried 963s got off to a fast start in the opening practice of the Sebring 12 Hours event, finishing 1-2 in the GTP times.

Laurens Vanthoor led the way in the No. 6. He was the only driver to dip into the 1m47s with a 1m47.985s. Felipe Nasr in the sister car came closest, with a time just 0.026s off.

The three Cadillacs were next, with Action Express Racing’s No. 31 Whelen V-Series.R emerging as the quickest of the trio after Jack Aitken reeled off a 1:48.189. The No. 40 Wayne Taylor Caddy ended up fourth, with the No. 10 completing the top five.

Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 ARX-06 ended up almost nine tenths off in sixth, as the final car within a second of Vanthoor’s push lap. The two WRT BMWs, Aston Martin Valkyrie and No. 93 Acura completed the top 10.

In the LMP2 division, United Autosports set the early benchmark. Paul Di Resta completed a 1m50.700s to edge Ferdinand Habsburg in Era Motorsport’s machine.

AO Racing’s ORECA completed the top three, but the team’s lap time wasn’t the story here. PJ Hyett suffered an off into the wall at Turn 17 with just under 40 minutes to go. The incident, which saw the car sustain significant rear-end suspension and bodywork damage, along with minor damage to the front, caused a red flag and prompted the team to pull its spare car off the truck.

Hyett’s accident was the most serious of the handful of incidents in the session, the others were either minor contacts or brief off-track excursions. It's unclear whether the AO team's prototype will be out for Practice 2 later today.

In the combined GTD times, it was another German make that stole the headlines. Winward Racing’s Rolex 24-winning No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 led a 1-2 for the Three-Pointed Star. The Houston-based outfit's best time was a 1m59.363s, set by Philip Ellis.

Lone Star Racing’s example made it a 1-2 for the brand with another sub-two minute time, while Conquest Racing’s No. 34 Ferrari made it a 1-2-3 for GTD entries. The fastest of the GTD Pro runners was the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, with Alessio Picariello’s 2m00.297s good enough to put ‘Roxy’ fourth in the combined ranking.

Practice 2 is next, with the session set to go green at 16:00 local time.

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