Estre wins WEC Lone Star Le Mans at COTA for Porsche Penske

Porsche claimed its first World Endurance Championship Hypercar victory of the season in Austin as Laurens Vanthoor, Matt Campbell and Kevin Estre triumphed in a chaotic wet-weather race.

Estre took the lead in the #6 Penske-run Porsche 963 LMDh with one hour and 45 minutes to go immediately after the sixth safety car of the race when he was able to put the Porsche’s nose alongside Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 factory Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar at Turn 1. 

The lightest of contacts was made as the Frenchman completed the move and resulted in a front left puncture for the AF Corse-run Ferrari Pier Guidi shared with James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi. 

It was unclear if the incident was investigated by the stewards, though another touch at the final corner as the safety car peeled off was, though Estre only received a warning for the contact. 

Estre had the pace on Ferrari in this portion of the race, driving away from the #50 factory 499P with Miguel Molina at the wheel. 

He moved into a 10s lead before another safety car, but was immediately able to eke out some breathing space and re-establish a clear advantage on the way to an 8.6s victory after the frontrunners all made late stops for fuel.

The Ferrari Molina shared with Nicklas Nielsen and Antonio Fuoco claimed the runner-up spot, but Molina had to work hard for the position. 

He dropped behind Stoffel Vandoorne in the #94 Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMH at the final splash-and-dash stops for fuel, but was able to take back second with just six laps remaining. 

That meant Peugeot narrowly missed out on scoring its best ever result since joining the WEC in 2022, but it was still a good day for the French manufacturer.

Behind the #93 car Vandoorne shared with Loic Duval and Malthe Jakobsen, the sister #94 entry driven by Jean-Eric Vergne, Paul di Resta and Mikkel Jensen claimed fourth position. 

The #51 Ferrari recovered to fifth in Pier Guidi’s hands, which meant he and his teammates extended their lead at the head of the championship. 

Cadillac bounced back from a disappointing qualifying when it ended up at the  back after its gamble to qualify on wet tyres backfired. 

Earl Bamber, who flew up the order in the early running in a Cadillac shared with Sébastien Bourdais and Jenson Button ended up sixth despite a monster spin for Bourdais when the conditions were at their worst and then an extra stop to replace the windscreen wiper.

The sister car shared by Will Stevens, Alex Lynn and Norman Nato looked like a victory contender in the penultimate hour after Lynn propelled the car up to third, but Nato could only take the chequered flag in eighth.

Lynn battled with Molina for second, but the car dropped down the order after an early final stop to hand over to Nato and was jumped by the two Peugeots, the #51 Ferrari and its sister car. 

Incidents and notable retirements

The bright yellow, pole-winning Hypercar entry from the AF Corse Ferrari squad ended up seventh between the Cadillac teams.

It led the early going in Philip Hanson’s hands, but lost the lead to #51 shortly before the first round of pitstops in hour three. Hanson was then unable to pull up correctly at his pitstall when he stopped to hand over to Yifei Ye, the delay dropping the Ferrari to fifth at that stage. 

Robert Kubica then struggled after taking over and lost time with a spin.  

He drove into the pits believing he had a puncture, only to be waved through by the team.

#007 Aston Martin Thor Team Aston Martin Valkyrie: Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Toyota again endured a difficult weekend, with both of its GR010 HYBRID LMHs spinning multiple times. 

Sébastien Buemi brought the #8 car shared with Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa up to ninth at the finish, but the sister #7 entry ended up four laps down in 14th position after Jose Maria Lopez, standing in for the injured Mike Conway, beached the car after a spin. 

Both Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH cars ran a strong pace in the top six over the course of the race, though neither saw the finish. 

The two cars run by The Heart of Racing team stopped in the final hour when track debris clogged the radiators, leading to engine issues.

The race was red flagged after an hour — before the race had turned a single green flag lap — after an organizational miscue when a second safety car was deployed after the first needed to refuel. 

Some cars ended up following the second course vehicle into the pits when it was recalled, race control opting to halt the race so it could re-establish the correct order.

New winners in LMGT3

LMGT3 honours went to McLaren and United Autosports for the first time, with Marino Sato, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung taking the victory in a super-exiting climax. 

In the end, Sato crossed the line in the #95 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO in second position behind the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr. 

The Ferrari, however, had five extra seconds on its elapsed race time — added after the chequered flag — for contact in the closing stages as Rigon passed Ben Barker in the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 for the lead.

The penalty dropped the Ferrari to third behind the #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo shared by Valentino Rossi, Kelvin van der Linde and Ahmad Al Harthy, which came back from two penalties. 

Rigon had moved into the lead in the final hour, only to drop back to fifth when AF opted to send him out after his final stop on slicks. 

The Ferrari driver made the most of a drying track, able to fight back in the dying minutes of the race as he lapped up 5s quicker than the cars ahead of him that had opted to stay on wets. 

The McLaren and the BMW were also on the Goodyear slick at the finish, the top finisher on wets being the Ford Mustang that Barker shared with Ben Tuck and Bernardo Sousa.