Porsche Dominates Opening Practice at WEC’s Austin Outing
(Austin, TX)
The opening practice session for this weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) round at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) saw Porsche assert their authority, with a late surge from Australian driver Matt Campbell propelling the #5 Penske-run Porsche 963 LMDh to the top of the timesheets.
Campbell’s 1:53.574 lap time around the 3.43-mile circuit was nearly half a second quicker than the next best Hypercar, the AF Corse-run Ferrari 499P driven by Robert Kubica, who set a 1:54.034.
The early pace-setter was Antonio Fuoco in the factory Ferrari, but late improvements from Campbell and Porsche’s other factory driver, Antonio Giovinazzi, saw them move up to first and fifth respectively, sandwiching the Jota Porsche 963 of Oliver Rasmussen and the sole Cadillac V-Series.R of Earl Bamber.
In the competitive GT3 class, it was the AF Corse-run Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessio Rovera that set the quickest time, a 2:06.253, narrowly edging out the best of the Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3s driven by Dennis Olsen.
“With the WEC calendar for 2023 now confirmed, including the return of the iconic Dakar Rally, this opening practice session in Austin provided an exciting preview of the battles to come in the premier endurance racing series. Fans can look forward to more thrilling on-track action as the weekend progresses.”
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