Key takeaways from WEC's 6 Hours of COTA
- Sharifah Zaqreeztrina
- Sep 12
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 13
Written by Sharifah Zaqreeztrina
After three weeks of absence, the World Endurance Championship (WEC) returned to action for its sixth round at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), Austin. DIVEBOMB looks at key takeaways that made up the entire six hours of chaos.
Peugeot finally prevails through tough early outings
Hard work finally paid off for the French manufacturer as they stepped up to the rostrum for the first time since Bahrain 2024 in third place.
Their 2025 campaign did not look optimistic at first as they struggled to rise above eighth place for the first half of the season.
Come Brazil, they went on to finish beautifully in sixth and seventh, with a bigger chance of going for higher positions if it weren’t for the high tyre wear degradation.
It was in Austin, however, where Peugeot delivered one of their best drives thus far.
The weekend initially went well, as Jean-Éric Vergne placed the No.93 Peugeot in third place behind the Ferraris in Hyperpole.
But Vergne set his best qualifying time only after the black-and-orange flag was shown for not activating his car’s rear rain light despite the race director’s instructions to do so.
The No.93 car then had its qualifying times deleted and dropped to 18th, the rear of the Hypercar field for race day.
The early laps of the race saw trouble for the No.93 Peugeot again, as Jean Éric Vergne had incurred a drive through penalty for exiting the pit lane at a red light.
Loïc Duval in the No.94 gradually rose up the order, eventually overtaking Alex Riberas in the No.009 Aston Martin to enter the top ten. Teammate and rookie Malthe Jakobsen pushed the No.94 up to a decent sixth approaching the fourth hour.
As track conditions improved over time, Peugeot opted for slicks. That gamble paid off, as they managed to hunt for bigger points, while also benefiting from the leading Ferraris who faced pit-stop issues along the way.
The No.93 ended the six hour race in third, while the sister car No.94 followed behind in fourth. Stunning comeback for the No.93 after starting last of the Hypercars.
No doubt mistakes in the rain will happen, and the team strived to keep it as little as possible, which was the key to withstand the challenging conditions and finish the race strongly.
Ferrari: the flawed heroes?
As the 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Robert Kubica snatched pole for the No.83 crew around the track they won 12 months ago, plus the favourable BoP adjustments, it’s not a surprise they were deemed to be favourites to win once again.
Initially, the Ferraris took up the top four spots, with No.6 Porsche settling in third place.
Philip Hanson in the No.83 fared for the first 30 minutes of green flag, but overused tyres topped with errors allowed James Calado in the No.51 to overtake him for the lead. Calado then pitted to pass the wheel over to Antonio Giovinazzi before heading back to the lead.
After building a gap to the rest of the Hypercar field, No.83 pitted as well. However, Hanson was compromised on entry to his pit lane and had to be pushed back. The pit-stop delay caused the car to lose 35 seconds to the leading No.51, inevitably sliding them off from second to fifth.
The contact with the No.31 BMW did not help them further in the race. In the end, No.83 had to take the chequered flag behind seventh.
Ferrari might leave Austin with much lesser points, but it was still sufficient for them to extend their lead in the Manufacturer’s Championship.
Ford vs Ferrari ended up benefitting McLaren instead
The grass seemed to be greener on the other side for its F1 counterpart, as McLaren celebrated its first ever LMGT3 class win with United Autosports.
In the midst of the Hypercar chaos, Darren Leung took this opportunity to maintain the lead for the No.95 McLaren in the first few hours.
Teammates Marino Sato and Sean Gelael also delivered impressive runs. Their incredible stints helped drive No.95 McLaren defend their place at the top three from the chasing No.77 Ford, before Sato gave one last push and grabbed second place.
Meanwhile, the No.77 Ford did their best to maintain their lead, hoping to repeat their LMGT3 front row lockout for qualifying on race day.
With less than five minutes remaining, Davide Rigon in the No.54 Ferrari crossed the finish line first for LMGT3, sliced past Ben Parker in the Ford. Ford then finished in a strong third.
However, the Ferrari and Ford made contact earlier on, which consequently handed the Italian team a five second penalty after the race.
The runner-up in papaya was then declared the LMGT3 class winner for this round. For a team that has been experiencing a tough season so far, including DNFs in Spa and Le Mans, plus the highest finish of seventh prior to this race, this further lifted up their spirits.
Historically, COTA also has been one of the tracks where they performed the strongest as they sealed their maiden podium last season here.
Rain never fails to bring chaos
Of course, the race wouldn’t be talked about without mentioning the safety car (there were six in total) and yellow flags galore, thanks to the heavy downpour filling up half of the race. The grid spent less than three hours racing under the green flag.
The quest to seize the top spot while battling mixed conditions is nothing short of exciting.
The track was already wet and foggy when the race started behind the safety car without a formation lap.
While the safety cars were switching out, the Hypercar field headed to the pits. A logistical blunder left the grid to race without a safety car, which made the running order uneven.
Confusion arose at the start due to a miscommunication between the safety car and the race directors. The race was eventually red flagged once the first hour was up.
Since race control caused the confusion, the order was reinstated to how it was before the yellow flag pits.
A few minutes later, the No.15 Alpine spun and crashed into the wall, same goes with No.007 Aston Martin, resulting in barrier damage. Sister car No. 36 Alpine eventually also clashed from the rear end, which invited another safety car. The car left some debris in the middle of the road. The race was suspended again.
Besides Alpine, several cars such as Porsche and Cadillac also fell victim to aquaplaning throughout the race, which then saw them lose control and spun off the track or into the gravel. The No.7 Toyota was not immune to this either, as it even spun twice in the same lap.
The track began to dry up with two hours remaining. Attempting to regain those lost positions in a short time, several teams took a gamble on tyre strategy, with the wets to slicks switch becoming a popular choice.
Despite this, not everyone gains the advantage out of it, as timing of the switch was also important. It worked for Porsche in a last minute decision.
No.77 Ford and No.92 Porsche went for it much earlier, which unfortunately led to them losing a couple of places. This is due to the fact that the track was not dry enough.
Though, Aston Martin seemed to suffer the most in this wet weather conditions. The British marque had a promising weekend, even qualifying ninth and 14th. Their first qualifying result inside the top ten.
Alex Riberas brilliantly drove the No.007 to sixth at the first few laps. However, mechanical issues got the best of them later on. Both No.007 and No.009 had to settle for the double DNF.
Porsche’s first win and many more racing records were made here
Amidst the wet-weather conditions, several teams went on to make new racing records in the American circuit.
Despite being hit with the largest BoP adjustments, the No.6 Porsche reigned in the rain and scored its first win of the season. It was also Matt Campbell’s first win in WEC since Spa 2019.
After enduring the challenge of scrapping through the top five, Peugeot sealed its first podium of the season.
McLaren struck gold when they achieved their first ever LMGT3 victory. This also marked United Autosports’ first win in the series. Marino Sato, who battled with the No.77 Ford and No.92 Porsche for the lead towards the end, finally experienced the fruits of his labour with his first ever race win in WEC.
Valentino Rossi and co in the No.46 BMW scored their second podium of the season, repeating their stellar result of second place in Imola. This was also Rossi’s fourth podium overall.
No.60 Mercedes finally scored its first point of the season, settling in tenth.
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