WEC | First sprint triumph for AF Corse Ferrari in Austin

AF Corse’s Ferrari achieved a historic first triumph in the thrilling sprint that decided the Lone Star Le Mans, the sixth round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship.

In Austin, the 499P #83, masterfully driven by Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye, dominated, dominating for 4 hours before being overtaken by the Toyota #7, which, after suffering a penalty towards the end, attempted a desperate comeback, but had to settle for second place.

The official Ferrari #50 of Molina/Nielsen/Fuoco also climbed onto the podium, nibbling away precious points in the standings from Porsche, while in the LMGT3 class the Aston Martin of Heart of Racing dominated, ahead of the Porsches of Manthey PureRxcing and Manthey EMA.

HYPERCAR: yellow party… Ferrari!

It was a beautiful race with twists and turns at every hour, the one that the AF Corse Ferrari took home for the first time. The 499P #83 took the lead in the first hour and remained there until the fifth, when the #7 Toyota of Kobayashi/Conway/De Vries – becoming threatening – jumped ahead of it after the pit stop.

The GR010 Hybrid pulled away and seemed destined for victory, but with 45 minutes to go, a Drive Through penalty was imposed for not lifting the foot when the yellow flags were displayed in the previous hour, in the section where the Peugeot #94 had stopped.

Kobayashi then came back within ten seconds of Shwartzman, but he didn’t give up and tried a comeback, denied by a couple of braking errors and by the gritted teeth of the Maranello driver who pushed like crazy to gain the overall victory and also among the private teams in the category, also giving the Ferrari 499P its first victory outside the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A double joy that mitigates the disappointment of the premature retirement suffered by the 499P #51 of Giovinazzi/Pier Guidi/Calado, KO after the first stint of the Apulian due to a transmission failure caused by contact with an LMGT3 car.

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries

Photo by: Andreas Beil

The Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen trio also climbed onto the podium with a 499P #50 that they were unable to keep glued to the leading duo after a great start by the Spaniard; the winning crew at Sarthe however took 15 precious points that keep them tied in second place with the Toyota #7 trio and 12 points off the top of the Drivers’ Championship.

The Cadillac of the Lynn/Bamber duo probably deserved a podium finish, returning to competitiveness with a good fourth place and forced into yet another comeback after a contact at the start with the Alpine #35 of Milesi/Habsburg/Chatin, which obtained a fantastic Top5 with excellent performances and the best seasonal placing for an A424.

On a day where they failed to be very competitive, the official Porsches of Team Penske took home a precious sixth and seventh place: the #6 963 of Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor also paid a Drive Through for not lifting its foot with yellow flags out and also took a big risk when Sébastien Buemi pushed Estre almost into the wall on the straight after turn 11, but in the end it took the points that kept it at the top of the World Championship standings, followed at the finish line by the #5 of Christensen/Makowiecki/Campbell, struggling with an initial pit-stop due to a lack of attention from the team, who forgot the protection card placed on the Pitot tube above the cockpit.

The 963s have to thank a faulty and unlucky BMW: the #20 of Van Der Linde/Frijns/Rast fought in the early stages for the Top5, then dropped to sixth place along the way, but in the end it was given a 100″ Stop&Go penalty for a technical infringement after having already served a Drive Through for track limits, thus slipping to a less than honourable 14th place.

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The #15 of Marciello/Vanthoor/Wittmann had initially been together with its sister car, then had a small problem with a tyre, ending up in a spin and losing ground, crossing the finish line eighth and as the best of the M Hybrid V8s of Team WRT.

Completing the overall top 10 is the Alpine #36 of Schumacher/Vaxiviere/Lapierre, followed by the Porsche #38 of Jota driven by Button/Rasmussen/Hanson, second in the privateer classification, finishing ahead of its class rival, the #99 Proton Competition 963 (Andlauer/Jani/Tincknell).

Only the #93 Peugeot of Vergne/Muller/Jensen saw the checkered flag in 12th place, as the #94 of Di Resta/Vandoorne/Duval stopped during the fifth hour with a technical problem.

Lamborghini takes 13th place with Bortolotti/Kvyat/Mortara, followed by the #8 Toyota of Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa which pays a 30″ Stop&Go for contact with the #6 Porsche and a Drive Through for not respecting the blue flags.

#27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3: Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli, Alex Riberas

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

LMGT3: Domination and first joy for AMR-HoR

In the LMGT3 class there was no contest as the #27 Aston Martin of Heart Of Racing led the way without any worries, taking the first victory for the new Vantage and also for the American team led by driver Ian James, who was perfect together with Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas for all 164 laps completed.

The Porsches that occupied the remaining positions on the podium were in fact far behind: the #92 911 of Manthey PureRxcing driven by Bachler/Malykhin/Sturm made a good recovery that brought it even closer to the World title, pulling behind it the #91 Manthey EMA in the hands of Lietz/Shahin/Schuring, who beat their rivals in a tough fight for third place.

In the end, only the #59 McLaren of Saucy/Cottingham/Costa (United Autosports) and the #31 BMW of Farfus/Gelael/Leung (Team WRT) found themselves in the Top 5, but they gained a place thanks to the retirement at the end of the #46 BMW of Martin/Rossi/Al Harthy due to a technical problem that denied them a potential podium finish.

Sixth, one lap down, was the #77 Ford Mustang of Barker/Robichon/Hardwick (Proton Competition), while the #88 of Olsen/Keating/Pedersen retired at the last hour with problems.

#92 Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm, Klaus Bachler

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Seventh was the #95 United McLaren of Sato/Pino/Caygill, followed by the #82 Corvette of Juncadella/Koizumi/Baud, the best of the TF Sport Z06s as the #81 had to retire with problems after also paying a penalty for contact that knocked the #85 Iron Dames Gatting/Bovy/Frey Lamborghini out of the top 10.

The #78 Lexus of Akkodis-ASP finished ninth with Schmid/Robin/K.Van Der Linde, unfortunately for the 100″ penalty for a technical infringement inflicted on the #55 AF Corse Ferrari that Rovera/Mann/Heriau had managed to keep in contention for the Top5 until the end.

The Lamborghinis were left empty-handed, with the #60 of Iron Lynx (Cressoni/Schiavoni/Perera) 12th behind the #87 Lexus and ahead of the Huracan of the Iron Dames.

The #777 Aston Martin of D’Station Racing and the #54 Ferrari of AF Corse also retired due to mechanical problems.