Written by Owen Bradley
The World Endurance Championship (WEC) returns after a lengthy summer break to close out the 2024 season, with just a few races remaining. WEC is racing at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) for the "Lone Star Le Mans" race. In this article, you can find a preview of the weekend's action, session times and where you can watch the FIA WEC Lone Star Le Mans at COTA.
The last "Lone Star Le Mans" race at COTA was in the Pandemic affected 2020 season, with WEC not returning to COTA for the last few years, this weekend could provide results that surprise a lot of people.
Lone Star Le Mans at COTA - The Circuit of the Americas
With 20 corners, long straights and tight, twisty sections of the circuit, COTA is one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar. Long straights allow for cars to run incredibly close, with overtaking hotspots at Turn 1, Turn 11, Turn 12 and the final corner, Turn 20.
The LMGT3 traffic will likely cause major headaches for the Hypercar field in the opening and final sectors, the circuit flowing left to right and right to left, could make slow traffic a bit more complicated to get past, especially without sacrificing too much speed.
The race will be 6 hours long, with plenty of action and opportunities to make up positions with pit stop strategies.
The Championship Standings and Recent Form
The #6 Porsche Penske leads the Constructors Championship, with each driver in the team, Andre Lotterer, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor also leading the Drivers' Championship. They will definitely be the team to beat as we head into the final few races of the year. The #6 Porsche squad has had exceptional consistency this year, only failing to reach the podium once at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The #8 Toyota squad led by Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Riya Hirakawa won last time out at Sao Paulo, with the sister #7 Toyota currently an outsider for the championship, led by Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck De Vries predominantly.
However, the main title contenders who will be looking to duel with the #6 Porsche, are the Le Mans 24 Hours winners, the #50 Ferrari squad. The Top 2 teams are separated by less than 20 points, and therefore with just three races remaining, the Ferrari team need to ensure they make inroads as soon as possible.
Ferrari have been notoriously fast this season, particularly on more power-focused circuits like the Le Mans circuit. With COTA having a lot of straights and fast corners, Ferrari will almost certainly be one of the leading manufacturers in the mix for victory this weekend, and with the more tight and twisty sections, Porsche will likely have their area of the circuit to dominate as well, meaning this could make for a perfectly balanced weekend between Porsche, Ferrari and Toyota too.
Robert Kubica, in the #83 Ferrari AF Corse has laid out his plan coming into this weekend, shining a spotlight on how the team need to finish in the Top 5 after what has been a year of some missed potential. Jenson Button's Jota Porsche #38 team will also be racing this weekend, with just 10 points to Button's name, the #38 Porsche team will also want to secure a big points-paying position if they can, this weekend.
Weather Forecast for the weekend
Currently, it appears that both Saturday and Sunday running could be affected by rain, meaning the race could have showers at various times throughout the race. The question truly is, will that rain be enough to potentially move the grid onto wet tyres?
Throughout the season we have seen a race interrupted by rain. particularly at Le Mans and at Spa. If there is another rain-disrupted race in COTA, then it could likely end up with a lot of drama in both the Hypercar and LMGT3 field.
LMGT3 Preview
The #92 Manthey Purerxcing squad currently lead the way with 100 points to their name, leading over the #91 Manthey EMA team by 25 points. Team WRT's #31 squad are further behind by just a single point.
Therefore, similarly to the Hypercar field, with just a small handful of races remaining and opportunities starting to evaporate, it will be crucial for the rest of the field to catch up and stop the dominant force that has been the #92 Manthey Purerxcing team.
Valentino Rossi's #46 BMW WRT squad sits sixth in the standings with 46 points to their name. A couple of brutal retirements at Le Mans after Ahmad Al-Harthy crashed in the wet and another at Spa when Al-Harthy was collected in a Hypercar incident have ensured that the #46 BMW team are practically out of the running for the championship.
However, Rossi's team did secure a podium finish earlier in the season at Imola in just their second race, and led the Le Mans 24 Hours after starting outside the Top 20 after a number of hours. The #46 WRT BMW team have got exceptional potential, and will be hoping to prove themselves once again by stamping some authority over the rest of the field with either a victory or a podium finish.
As is the case with LMGT3 racing at the same time as the Hypercars, the LMGT3's will need to move out of the way for the Hypercars and try to be as fast and as cautious as possible all at the same time. The battle in LMGT3 is always incredibly close and tight, especially with penalties for speeding in the pit lane and all sorts of infringements usually playing their role in delivering close racing, and therefore the race in the LMGT3 class is truly anyone's.
Owen's Predictions!
I'm predicting a rain-affected race which will result in some unexpected things happening. In the Hypercar field, I think it will be a battle between the Porsche's, Ferrari's and Toyota's. Therefore, it will likely be exceptionally close between all of them throughout the race, especially with alternate stragies coming into effect if rain does affect the race. I'm predicting the #50 Ferrari takes victory from the #7 and #8 Toyota's, with the #6 Porsche being forced to retire from the race, opening the championship up drastically.
In LMGT3, I'm predicting a battle between the BMW WRT team, with the #46 and #31 duelling throughout, closely followed by the Manthey #92 and Manthey #91 cars. However, I predict that the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin will take a victory at home, with the Aston Martin able to stretch its' legs down the straights, as well as being competent in the corners. Rossi's #46 BMW team will come home second with the #31 BMW following the sister car to third.
Session Times - UK Time
Friday August 30th
FP1: 18:40 FP2: 23:10 Saturday 31st August
FP3: 17:00
LMGT3 Qualifying - 21:00
LMGT3 Hyperpole - 21:20
Hypercar Qualifying - 21:40
Hypercar Hyperpole - 22:00
Sunday 1st September
Lone Star Le Mans - Race Start at 19:00
Where to Watch?
UK Viewers can watch all the racing action via Eurosport, which is also available through Discovery+, with another way to access on Amazon Prime.
U.S viewers can watch via MAX, and Canadian viewers will be able to watch via Discovery Velocity.
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