Toyota authoritatively conquers the victory at the 6h of Portimão, the second event of the season of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship which reserved emotions up to the last corner.
After the success of Sebring, the Japanese team gives an encore, this time with the GR010 Hybrid #8, while United Autosports celebrates in the LMP2 Class and Corvette Racing in LMGTE AM, in a finale made even more enjoyable and uncertain by the of the Safety Car, which left the scene 53′ from the checkered flag, starting the final tussle.
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez
Photo by: Paul Foster
HYPERCAR: encore Toyota in the race of survival
The Portuguese one was a survival race as it practically reserved headaches for all the cars in the Hypercar Class, dominated by the Toyota of Hartley/Hirakawa/Buemi.
Starting from Pole Position, the #8 prototype initially gave way to Conway/Lopez/Kobayashi’s little sister #7, who however during the second hour had a problem with the torque sensor that transmits data to the FIA, which forced the team had to call the car into the pits to replace the transmission losing 6 laps and slipping to ninth.
This allowed the #8 to take off without worries, also because the pace of its rivals was decidedly lower. After 15 laps, the Ferraris already had a 20″ gap, also protagonists of ‘skirmishes’ in the family with drivers eager to maintain their position and not give way to their companion following them.
In the end, the 499P was still the best ‘of the others’ and the second place obtained by the #50 driven by Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen with one lap behind improves by one step the already positive podium on which the three had climbed in Sebring.
On the other hand, the race of the #51 turned out to be less positive, as in the central phase it ran into a malfunction of the brake-by-wire system, forcing it to make an emergency stop to sort things out and therefore losing ground. The ascent to the Top5 stopped 30′ from the checkered flag due to a further failure of the braking system which dropped Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi to seventh place after 3 laps, swallowing another bitter pill after that of Florida.
![#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen](https://cdn-4.motorsport.com/images/mgl/27vAovm0/s8/50-ferrari-af-corse-ferrari-49-1.jpg)
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
The #6 Porsche driven by Lotterer/Estre/Vanthoor therefore takes the podium for the first time, achieving the result that Team Penske had set itself at the beginning of the weekend with a good performance, despite having to come back quickly for a top-up in the final stages of petrol.
The 963 is the first LMDh to finish in the Top3 this year, keeping behind the Cadillac #2 of Chip Ganassi Racing (Lynn/Westbrook/Bamber), on which the decision not to change tires at the first stop weighed like a ton. accusing a drastic drop in performance which then forced the team to call her back to the pits in advance to anticipate the second stop.
The V-Series.R did not have any other problems afterwards and in the end another fourth place can be welcomed, with the satisfaction of having preceded a Ferrari, a Toyota and a Porsche, given that the other 963 reported the breakage of the power steering when it was already behind anyway.
The Peugeot race was finally consistent, with the only problem appearing when the 9X8 #93 left the pits to line up suffering from a power steering failure, fixed by the mechanics by starting it from the pit lane.
After all, everything went smoothly and even the pace seemed to grow compared to the past, not yet to compete with the best, but giving positive signals with the final fifth place of the #94 of Duval/Muller/Menezes and the seventh of the #93 of Di Resta /Vergne/Jensen.
Absent Glickenhaus and Vanwall: the 007 LMH #708 of Briscoe/Dumas/Pla didn’t show any problems and lost time only for an emergency stop when debris had blocked the brake cooling system, but the wheelbase was definitely lower than all category rivals.
The same goes also for the ByKolles Racing Vanwall Vandervell #4, which left the scene one hour from the end when its right front brake disc exploded, sending poor Jacques Villeneuve into a spin and luckily against the wall in an uphill stretch and not too fast, resulting in the entry of the Safety Car to shuffle the cards for everyone else.
![#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport - Porsche 963 - Hybrid: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor](https://cdn-4.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0L1b5Eg2/s8/6-porsche-penske-motorsport-po-1.jpg)
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport – Porsche 963 – Hybrid: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor
Photo by: Paul Foster
LMP2: United double on WRT
In the LMP2 class, from the first to the last lap, they saw all sorts of things, including overtaking, mistakes, accidents and so on.
In the end, the United Autosports Orecas won, driven by Pierson/Van Der Garde/Jarvis (#23) – among other things deprived of radio communications due to a system failure – and Hanson/Lubin/Hanley, separated by less than a second and followed 4″ by the #41 of Team WRT with Delétraz/Kubica/Andrade above.
Great bitterness for the Prema #63 of Bortolotti/Pin/Kvyat, who started from Pole Position and reached the finish line with only fourth place in her hands after having been in battle for the first two positions for a long time.
The race of Jota #48 (Ye/Beckmann/Da Costa) also ends with a bittersweet Top5, followed by Prema #9 (Correa/Ugran/Viscaal) who made up ground, putting the #31 of Team WRT behind her (Habsburg/Frijns/Gelael), another disappointing day.
The Top10 was completed by Jota #28, Alpine #36 and Inter Europol Competition #34, also fighting for the podium for several situations and descending towards the end where he topped up with fuel in the final minutes. Alpine #35 and Vector Sport #10 complete the impalpable classification.
![#23 United Autosports - Oreca 07 - Gibson - Joshua Pierson, Giedo Van der Garde, Oliver Jarvis](https://cdn-9.motorsport.com/images/mgl/YBeDok72/s8/23-united-autosports-oreca-07--1.jpg)
#23 United Autosports – Oreca 07 – Gibson – Joshua Pierson, Giedo Van der Garde, Oliver Jarvis
Photo by: Paul Foster
LMGTE AM: Encore Corvette by a whisker
With a final lap not for the faint of heart, Nicky Catsburg gave Corvette Racing the triumph in the LMGTE AM Class for the second time this season, stoically resisting Alessio Rovera’s comeback with the AF Corse Ferrari.
The Dutchman completes an excellent weekend with the C8.R #33 that Ben Keating had placed in Pole Position; the American fought in the early stages, then handed over the wheel to the excellent Nicolas Varrone and finally it fell to Catsburg to be the ‘catenaccio’ on a wild Rovera.
The Varese driver together with Lilou Wadoux and Luis Pérez-Companc puts the 488 #83 on the podium for the first time in 2023, redeeming the premature departure from the scene in Sebring with a good performance also by the Frenchwoman, in fact making her debut with the Rossa.
The podium was completed by the #85 Porsche of the Iron Dames Bovy/Frey/Gatting, protagonists of duels for the top positions right from the start and capable of repelling the assaults of the other two AF Corse Ferraris in the finale, the #54 of Rigon/ Castellacci/Flohr and #21 by De Pauw/Alessi/Mann.
A bitter sixth place for the Porsche #56 of Project 1-AO, in a comeback with Cairoli/De Oliveira/Ramos, but in the final stages penalized with a Drive-Through due to track limits being exceeded too many times which hampered another duel with the two aforementioned Ferraris.
The #77 Porsche of Dempsey-Proton Racing concludes seventh, followed by the Aston Martin #25 of ORT by TF Sport, which completes the Top10 together with the #88 Porsche of Proton Competition and the #57 Ferrari of Kessel Racing.
The Porsches of GR Racing (#86) and Iron Lynx (#60) remain behind, as well as the Aston Martins #98 of NorthWest AMR and #777 of D’Station Racing/TF Sport, which stopped due to problems.
![#33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R: Ben Keating, Nicolas Varrone, Nicky Catsburg](https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/images/mgl/2eABx132/s8/33-corvette-racing-chevrolet-c-1.jpg)
#33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R: Ben Keating, Nicolas Varrone, Nicky Catsburg
Photo by: Paul Foster
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