Audi Leads First Day of Sebring Practice; Level 5 Puts in Great LMP2 Performance

Today was the first day of practice for the 12 Hours of Sebring that will officially start at 10:30am Saturday, March 17. Today the LMP1 and LMP2 cars took to the track for practice.

Despite being delayed multiple times due to crashes and mechanical failures, the LMP1 cars put a strong performance, and one of the Level 5 LMP2 team beat last year's LMP2 qualifying time by over a second. 

The three Audi R18s, last year's car by the way not the new R18 Ultra, set the fastest practice times overall and in their class. The #1 Audi with Faessler, Lotterer and Treluyer behind the wheel set the fastest time with a 1:47.187. For comparison, last year's fastest qualifier was a Peugeot 908 that set a time of 1:46.571. 

The Level 5 team in the LMP2 class with a HPD ARX-03b set the fastest LMP2 time with a 1:52.055 lap. Again for comparison, last year's fastest time was set by the Signatech Nissan team with a 1:53.815 lap. The Level 5 team clearly has that car dialed in given that it beat last year's qualifying time on the first day of practice. That time put them 7th overall in terms of fastest laps, and made them faster than three LMP1 teams. 

Several teams in both classes did not put in any practice laps today. 

There will be two more rounds of practice on Tuesday, and all of the treams will take a day off on Wednesday. Both groups will practice on Thursday, including night practice, and qualifying lasts just 15 minutes for each group on Friday. 

Times Courtesey of Lola Group