Written by Mykhailo Golovach, Edited by Owen Bradley
The Ferrari #83 squad usurped the Toyota #7 team to take glory at the WEC Lone Star Le Mans race at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), with a thrilling battle across both the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes.
It was a warm, sunny day which led the #83 AF Corse Ferrari crew to their debut victory in round 6 of the World Endurance Championship in 2024, at the Circuit Of The Americas (COTA) at Austin, Texas. Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye all drove remarkable stints to victory, with Shwartzman taking the chequered flag after 6 hours of racing. COTA provided brilliant overtaking opportunities, with sharp and undulating corners, long back straights and huge elevation changes, with Turn 1 in particular, a hotspot for overtaking.
With a Ferrari front row lockout in qualifying, the #51 Ferrari driven by Antonio Giovinazzi, secured pole position as the Italian was joined by the #83 Ferrari of Robert Kubica, the two Ex-F1 drivers starting alongside each other in the Hypercar class.
The polesitters of LMGT3 would be the #27 Heart of Racing Aston martin squad, with the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini starting alongside them. Valentino Rossi’s #46 BMW LMGT3 team would start from 15th on the grid.
It was a relatively clean start throughout the field, as Ferrari would lead a one-two-three in Hypercar, with the #83 Ferrari of Robert Kubica eventually trading places with the #51 Ferrari. However, contact between the #15 BMW M Team WRT, #35 Alpine and #2 Cadillac Racing heading into Turn 12 shook up the midfield.
As we approached the first round of pit stops, the Ferrari one-two-three would continue to lead the race, the #83 ahead of the #51 followed closely by the #50 Ferrari.
Early drama hit the #15 BMW M Team WRT crew with Marko Wittman behind the wheel, as he would drop down the field after a spin in the first part of the circuit. Polesitter Antonio Giovinazzi in the Ferrari #51 would hit a Peugeot in traffic at Turn 12, which forced the #51 Ferrari squad to retire from the race.
Able to make it back to the pit lane, eventually the Ferrari #51 would come to a stop midway through the pits. The car had to be pushed by the mechanics back to the pit box, where further issues with the engine were discovered. With the Ferrari’s coming into strife, it would eventually be the BMW Team WRT #15 car leading the race at the half distance mark.
Back to the LMGT3 field, disaster had hit the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini, after contact with one of the Corvette’s. The #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini had attempted to dive up the inside of the Corvette into the tight Turn 15 left-hander, coming in too hot and slamming hard into the side of the Corvette. The Corvette would escape with some bodywork damage, but the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini would be forced to retire with terminal damage.
The first Full Course Yellow would be seen just about halfway into the race, as marshals cleaned up some debris for the prior incident between the Iron Dames and the Corvette. The #7 Toyota had gained a number of positions due to penalties and spins for other cars in the field, the team also tried an undercut strategy during the final wave of pit stops to take the lead of the race in Hypercar.
The #46 BMW LMGT3 crew’s first stint would be driven by Ahmad Al-Harthy, who managed to climb through from 15th on the grid, to 5th place by the end of his stint, passing the baton to Maxime Martin, who did a single stint and managed to bring the #46 BMW up into the podium positions before passing over to Valentino Rossi.
Yifei Ye led the Hypercar class in the #83 Ferrari as we went into the second part of the race, with the #20 BMW M Team WRT and #8 Toyota close behind. The tight battle for the lead in Hypercar promised an exciting finish. Valentino Rossi would battle the #59 United McLaren in LMGT3 for P4, the pair providing beautiful wheel to wheel action, with Rossi unfortunately picking up a 5-second penalty due to contact between the pair.
With 2 hours to go, late race drama hit the #8 Toyota in Hypercar with a puncture exactly on the outlap from the pitlane after a contact with the championship leading #6 Porsche, both went off the track on the back straight, heading down into Turn 12, with the Toyota pushing the Porsche outside of the white lines.
The #7 Toyota would take the lead, but shortly after the Toyota would be hit with a drive-through penalty for not respecting yellow flags. Robert Shwartzman would take the lead of the race for the #83 Ferrari AF Corse team, with Kamui Kobayashi in hot pursuit aboard the #7 Toyota.
However, it would be the #83 Ferrari AF Corse who took their debut victory in the World Endurance Championship, despite Kobayashi’s best efforts in the #7 Toyota to reclaim the lead of the race, even getting to within just a couple of seconds from the Ferrari.
Robert Kubica would make history, becoming one of three drivers in the FIA World Endurance Championship, to take a race victory in both Formula One and the World Endurance Championship, joining Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso in the exclusive club.
In LMGT3, the #27 Aston Martin Heart of Racing crew took the win in LMGT3 after a dominant performance, with the LMGT3 championship leaders #92 Manthey Porsche coming home for second place, over 20 seconds adrift from the Aston Martin.They would be joined on the podium by the #91 Porsche Manthey EMA crew.
Mick Schumacher and the #36 Alpine crew would score some major points with a ninth place, Schumacher driving the opening and closing stints at his best weekend in the World Endurance Championship. Jenson Button would bring the #38 Jota Porsche team home for 10th place, also securing points.
It would be another heartbreak for Valentino Rossi fans, with the #46 BMW LMGT3 car charging for third place in the final few laps, the BMW would eventually have a power steering issue, as they were forced to retire from the race. This means that the #46 BMW crew have retired from three out of six events so far this season.
The next race in the FIA World Endurance Championship will be held in Fuji, Japan, at the Fuji speedway. Round 7 in the World Endurance Championship takes place in two weeks’ time, with the championship battle heating up - 12 points separating the Top 3 teams and drivers in Hypercar.
Comments