Ferrari Might Have the Fastest New Prototype, But It’s Still No Toyota

This weekend, both IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship held endurance races at Sebring. That meant the entire new class of factory-run sports cars from Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac, Peugeot, Acura, and BMW was in action at once, fighting for two separate overall wins. While most left with at least something to hang their hat on, it was largely a disappointing day for these new cars.

Ferrari scored the most surprising result of the weekend, taking pole for the WEC race thanks to an exceptional flying lap from factory driver Antonio Fuoco. Although one of their two 499 Ps started at the front of the field, the cars would struggle to match Toyota’s race pace. The team instead spent the day racing the three full-time LMDh-spec cars in the series, two Penske Porsches and a Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac. One car finished third, while the other finished 11 laps down after crashing into a Ferrari racing in GTE-Am. The 499 P was the only car to make its official debut this weekend, so its mechanical reliability was an encouraging sign.

Peugeot’s 9X8s struggled throughout their partial season in the WEC last year, and that did not change at Sebring. The team is expected to improve at tracks that benefit the car’s radical zero wing design, but Sebring was a wash of a weekend that saw both cars struggle mightily with both pace and reliability. One retired, the other finished 26 laps down. Peugeot hopes that car’s radical design will pay off once the 9X8 debuts at Le Mans in June, but the team has yet to secure an overall WEC podium through four races.

The Porsche Penske Motorsport operation entered two factory cars in both the WEC and IMSA races, but came away from the weekend disappointed. The Porsche 963s finished just fifth and sixth in the WEC race, but both finished. They were scored in third and fifth, but it undersells a disastrous race: Porsche ran in first and third with fifteen minutes to when the leading No. 6 entry collided with the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura, which flew off track only to hit that same No. 6 car on the way back onto the circuit. Incredibly, the third-placed No. 7 car that would have effectively inherited the win then hit the No. 10 as it was stopped on track, eventually throwing one 963 into the other and ending the day for three GTP leaders. Although the race ended in disappointment, the team’s pace in the closing hours is an encouraging sign that the 963 is ready to win in IMSA right now.

Cadillac, which entered one car in the WEC round and two in IMSA’s 12 Hours of Sebring, had a mixed result. The No. 2 V-Series.R was behind Toyota on pace in the WEC round like everyone else, but the No. 31 started on pole for the IMSA round and, after the fracas that wiped out both Porsches, was able to go on to win. The No. 01 car, the car that seemed to be the fastest in the field during the IMSA race, retired with a major mechanical issue. Cadillac’s choice to race in both the WEC and IMSA in the same season is new to the program, but not new to GM; by competing in both on the same weekend, they are building on what the Corvette Racing team has been doing in recent years.

Acura’s two cars did not bring their dominant pace from Daytona to Sebring, but the pair of ARX-06s were able to keep pace with the leaders throughout the day before eventually suffering issues on track. BMW’s M Hybrid V8s were far faster this weekend than they were at Daytona, but one retired with mechanical trouble and the other finished second after being unable to challenge the leading Cadillac on the day’s final restart. Although their cars are eligible, neither BMW nor Acura are entered in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A combined four more IMSA and FIA WEC rounds remain before the 24 Hours of Le Mans. If Ferrari, Peugeot, Cadillac, and Porsche want to bring the fight to Toyota’s GR010s, they will need to catch up to the blistering pace the Toyotas set at Sebring.