Ferrari take surprise victory at WEC Lone Star Le Mans after late Toyota retirement
- DIVEBOMB Sportscars Team
- 2 hours ago
- 7 min read
The No.50 Ferrari squad took a shocking victory at the Circuit of the Americas, after the No.7 Toyota ran into late-race technical troubles. Meanwhile, Aston Martin dominated the LMGT3, the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin leading a double podium finish for the Heart of Racing and Aston Martin crew.
Before the race even got going, the weather decided to throw some drama into the race. It began to rain quite heavily in parts of the track, especially the final sector. However, most of the rest of the circuit was almost bone dry, so it created a tricky balance for drivers.
Due to the rain, race control decided to add an extra two formation laps to dry up the circuit that little bit more before we got to green flag racing.
We did go green, and they all got away cleanly into the dry turn 1. It wasn't until turn 12 when the wet stuff really affected things. The Hypercars were through cleanly, but the No.58 McLaren of Alexander West got spun by Martin Berry in the No.61 Mercedes. The Iron Lynx man got a penalty for the incident.
The No.51 Ferrari led the No.38 Cadillac as they were on the grid in Hypercar, but it was all mixed up in LMGT3. The Aston Martin 1-2 was quickly thwarted by the No.77 Ford Mustang of Eric Powell, who moved into the lead in the opening laps.
Steffano Gattuso moving up behind briefly made it a Ford 1-2 in his No.88, but Powell was given a drive-through penalty for a FCY infringement. That didn't hamper the home-racers spirits, though as he pushed on afterwards to get back into contention in the race.
The FCY that caused the issue for the Ford man was brought out for debris, likely from the incident between the No.69 BMW of Anthony McIntosh and one of the Lexus cars. The Akkodis ASP went up the inside, but McIntosh cut back across. The two made contact and the BMW got a puncture.
Smoke came billowing from the rear of the car as the deflated tyre rubbed against damaged bodywork. That caused the cockpit to fill with smoke, meaning the American had to jump out of the car when he came into the pits, where he fell onto the ground coughing.
He took a minute in the garage while the repairs were done though, and he was able to get back into the car with no issues.
In Hypercar, Miguel Molina in the No.50 Ferrari and Andre Lotterer in the No.17 Genesis were battling over third place. Lotterer got a run down the back straight, but got caught up with a GT3 and was unable to pull off the move.
He tried a last minute lunge once past the GT though, which didn't work out for the 2024 World Champion. He made contact with Molina, spinning himself around. Lotterer fell from fourth place all the way to the back of the Hypercar field.
As the first hour closed, the first pit stops came and went for the Hypercars. The No.12 Cadillac, No.83 Ferrari and No.8 Toyota all pit early to try to take advantage of a clear track, leaving them all offset.
Everyone else pit on schedule though, and once the early pitters had cycled through, Antonio Giovinazzi still led the way in the No.51 Ferrari from the No.38 Cadillac which had been handed over to Sebastian Bourdais at the stop.
In LMGT3 the No.91 Porsche of James Cottingham picked up the pieces of the Aston Martin - Ford battle, leading ahead of the No.61 Mercedes.
With different strategies throughout the Hypercar field, the race was anybody's for the taking. The No.51 Ferrari led the way from the No.38 Cadillac, with Alpine also in the mix for the lead of the race. Eventually, during the second hour, the leaders would pit, promoting the No.50 Ferrari of Nicklas Nielsen and the No.8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley to the lead of the race.
The pair were on offset strategies, taking aim at running the long game with pit stops until the end of the race. They opted to make an extra pit stop and push further through the field on pure pace, looking to then go longer in the final hour of the race. The Ferrari and Toyota would then lock horns, duelling for a while, before Hartley was instructed to conserve energy.
The No.50 Ferrari eventually came into the pits after running long in the middle of the race, ceasing the lead to the No.38 JOTA Cadillac of Earl Bamber, as the race approached half distance. With the threat of rain looming in the distance, track position proved crucial.
Meanwhile, in the LMGT3 fight, the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin led the way, followed closely by the No.91 Manthey Porsche and the sister No.23 Aston Martin in third place. A Virtual Safety Car was eventually deployed just before half distance, due to debris on the circuit at the final corner.
Suddenly, the heavens opened and rain began falling around the Circuit of the Americas. With the VSC still deployed, the drivers were able to stay out on slick tyres and attempt to watch what the weather was doing, looking at a move to a wet tyre set.
At half distance, it was the No.38 JOTA Cadillac that led the way from the No.35 Alpine, followed up by the No.7 Toyota. In LMGT3, the No.27 Aston Martin still led the way from the No.91 Porsche and No.23 Aston Martin.
With the field bunched and then eventually released by the safety car, the second half of the race started chaotically, with many impressive moves throughout the field. Antonio Fuoco managed to successfully dive up the inside of James Calado, putting the No.50 Ferrari into sixth place, just ahead of the sister No.51 car.
The No.007 Aston Martin, which looked strong and consistent in the first half of the race, was eventually caught out and overtaken by numerous cars. Nyck De Vries was the first one to get through, the Dutchman throwing his Toyota to the inside of the Aston Martin at the first corner.
Meanwhile, a battle between the leading two Hypercars, the No.38 Cadillac and No.35 Alpine, allowed the No.7 Toyota of De Vries to come racing up to the back of the pair of them. De Vries quickly dismantled the Alpine, which had been stuck behind the Cadillac for several laps, diving up the inside of the Alpine into turn one, seemingly a favourite overtaking spot for De Vries.
After an unsuccessful first attempt, De Vries eventually went on to battle his way past the leading Cadillac. De Vries dived to the inside of the Cadillac at the first corner once again, going late on the brakes, parking his Toyota across the apex, and sealing the move. The Dutchman then went on to find strong pace, and attempted to open a lead over the field.
Further behind, Jules Gounon, aboard the No.36 Alpine, made his way through on the No.007 Aston Martin, which began bleeding positions during the second half of the race. Gounon overtook Tom Gamble down the back straight, after going side-by-side with the Alpine for a few corners prior.
In LMGT3, Maxime Martin drove the No.61 Iron Lynx Mercedes past the No.91 Manthey Porsche to take the lead of the race, with several LMGT3 cars also on offset strategies. Martin showed strong pace, building a decent gap of nearly 10 seconds at one stage.
The penultimate pit stop window would see the No.36 Alpine attempting to jump ahead of the No.38 Cadillac by undercutting them. The Alpine was very fast on its' out lap, with the leading No.7 Toyota only just beating Gounon out of the pits. Further behind, the No.8 Toyota, also on an offset strategy, had made its' way steadily through the field, sitting in third position with a couple of hours remaining.
However, the No.8 Toyota would be hit with a crucial drive-through penalty with less than 90 minutes remaining, for a pit stop infringement. The No.8 Toyota squad would subsequently be pushed from the podium, with the drive-through costing them around 18 seconds.
In LMGT3, the leading No.61 Iron Lynx Mercedes would also be given a drive-through penalty, with the FIA citing a FCY infringement. This penalty pushed the Iron Lynx squad out of the podium positions.
Further behind, the No.78 Akkodis Lexus lost it's front bonnet twice. The second time around, saw the Lexus pull over at turn three, bringing out a FCY and subsequently a full Safety Car. Teams took advantage of the opportunity to pit under the safety car, with many refuelling just before the final hour of the race.
After the safety car came back into the pits and the track went back to green flag running, it became a one hour sprint to the finish. De Vries led the way aboard the rapid No.7 Toyota. Nicklas Nielsen, in the No.50 Ferrari, also came crawling right back through the field, overtaking the No.36 Alpine for second place, after the Alpine ran wide to avoid traffic.
With only 15 minutes remaining in the race, catastrophe struck the No.7 Toyota squad, who had a hydraulic problem, which meant that De Vries struggled when turning the car. The No.7 Toyota squad were forced to bring the car into the garage, with their race effectively over.
This suddenly promoted the No.50 Ferrari of Nielsen into the lead of the race, with just over 10 minutes remaining. Meanwhile, the No.36 Alpine was hit with a penalty for an unsafe release. This penalty would eventually cost them second place, with the gap to the No.38 JOTA Cadillac of Aitken sitting at just under five seconds.
Nielsen drove the No.50 Ferrari across the line to seal a dramatic victory in a chaotic and ever-changing race with so many moving pieces. Aitken managed to put the No.38 Cadillac into second, with the No.36 Alpine finishing in third.
In LMGT3, the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin dominated their way to victory, with the No.91 Manthey Porsche finishing in second and the No.23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin making it a double podium, with their third place finish.
Toyota were fast, but ultimately, reliability let them down at the very end of the race, allowing for Ferrari to take a crucial victory in dramatic fashion.
The next round of the WEC gets underway in just a couple of weeks, at Fuji.
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