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Toyota takes another BoP hit for home WEC race at Fuji

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Toyota has received a further double hit under the Balance of Performance for this weekend’s Fuji World Endurance Championship round after its near-miss last time out at Austin.

The Japanese manufacturer’s GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar will run with reduced maximum power and increased minimum weight under the Hypercar BoP released on Tuesday for the penultimate round of the WEC in Japan on Sunday.

It follows a starring performance by Toyota at Austin earlier this month, which would have yielded victory for the #7 entry driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries but for a late drive-through penalty awarded to the Japanese driver for failing to slow sufficiently under waved yellow flags.

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The GR010 had been given a 9kW (12bhp) reduction in power for the US event at the Circuit of The Americas and has now had power reduced by a further 4kW (5bhp), bringing its maximum down to 493kW (661bhp).

Toyota’s minimum weight has gone up by 5kg for Fuji, the same increase as it received for Austin, meaning it will have to run at 1070kg for its home race in Japan.

That is the heaviest the GR010 has been since it ran at 1089kg at the Qatar season-opener in March when its two cars could finish only fifth and eighth when they had maximum power of 510kW (683bhp).

Toyota’s loss of performance from its hybrid powertrain will be offset under the new Power Gain element of the BoP introduced at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June: above 250km/h (155mph) the GR010 will be allowed 0.8% extra power compared with Austin.

Ferrari, which took victory in Austin with the customer AF Corse-run 499P LMH shared by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman, will race in Japan with the same BoP as in North America with the exception of a 0.6% loss of power above 250km/h (155mph).

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Porsche, which leads the Hypercar drivers’ points with Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer, has received a weight break of 4kg and a power increase of 3kW after its 963 LMDh dropped out of the lead battle in Austin.

Peugeot is another winner under the BoP for Fuji, its 9X8 2024 LMH being handed another 7kg reduction in weight and a 4kW increase in power.

The Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh, which took fourth position in Austin, has been given marginally more power (2kW) and less weight (1kg) for this weekend. Alpine and BMW have also received power increases of 3kW and 2kW respectively.

Lamborghini’s maximum power and minimum weight for Fuji is unchanged from Austin.

Track action for the Fuji 6 Hours, round seven of the 2024 WEC, kicks off with free practice on Friday.



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Gounon gets Alpine drive for Fuji WEC round

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Alpine reserve driver Jules Gounon will replace Paul-Loup Chatin at the Signatech-run team for the Fuji 6 Hours round of the World Endurance Championship.

Alpine made the announcement on Friday ahead of next week’s race, explaining that plans for Gounon’s outing had been made prior to the season with the team’s sole motive being giving the 29-year-old Frenchman more experience.

“Jules Gounon will exceptionally take the wheel from Paul-Loup Chatin to join Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg during the #6HFuji,” the team said in a statement on social media.

“Agreed upon even before the season started, this switch gives the team’s reserve driver the opportunity to continue his Hypercar training.

“Paul-Loup Chatin will naturally rejoin the No. 35 crew for the 8 Hours of Bahrain.”

Having raced in GTs since 2016, Gounon has less sportscar experience, although his only full-time season in IMSA was successful.

Taking place last year in the GTD Pro class at the wheel of a WeatherTech Racing-run Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo, the campaign yielded the championship’s runner-up spot for Gounon and his team-mate Dani Juncadella.

Furthermore, Gounon has already taken part in two WEC races with Alpine this year, having stood in for an injured Ferdinand Habsburg at Imola and Spa-Francorchamps after the Austrian fractured two vertebrae in a testing crash.

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Alpine achieved its best result of the 2024 WEC season so far last weekend at the Circuit of The Americas, courtesy of the #35 car shared by Chatin, Milesi and Habsburg finishing fifth.

Meanwhile, the sister A424 was ninth under the chequered flag, with Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere recording just their second points score of the year.

“It’s been a surprisingly positive weekend, given all the other teams tested in Austin,” Habsburg said following the Austin race. “Despite our lack of experience, there was good communication between the drivers and engineers, which led us to make some sound decisions on strategy and set-up.”

“There are a lot of positives to take from fifth place in such a tough field, but there’s still a lot of work to do if we want to win,” Chatin added. “Let’s savour the moment without forgetting about our future goals.”



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Porsche concedes second WEC customer team unlikely in 2025

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Porsche is not expecting a second team to join Proton Competition in running its 963 LMDh in the World Endurance Championship next year.

Thomas Laudenbach, boss of Porsche Motorsport, has revealed that at present there are no other teams in the frame to purchase a 963 for 2025 when the marque’s customer contingent will be reduced on Jota’s switch to Cadillac to become its factory team. 

“It looks like Proton will be the only customer team,” said Laudenbach. “From what I know now this is the most likely scenario.

“But if tomorrow someone rings us, we will sit together and have a look at it — are they a proper team, do they have the proper finance etc? — and then we will make a decision.”

Laundenbach’s comments come at a time when it appears that space in the Hypercar segment of the WEC grid has been freed up for next season. 

Even with the expansion of the field to 40 cars, which will mean a maximum of 22 entries in Hypercar, it looked like the WEC grid was on course to hit capacity. 

Aston Martin will join the series with its new Valkyrie AMR-LMH, while Cadillac and Lamborghini will have to go from one to two cars each in line with new regulations mandating two-car teams from manufacturers.

The uncertainty over the future of the Isotta Fraschini programme after the Italian marque’s decision to call time on its 2024 campaign with the French Duqueine team appears to have opened the door to additional entries. 

But should it return with the LMH Tipo 6 Competizione — and it would also have to go to two cars if it does — the 40-car grid would be full. 

Proton has outlined an ambition to expand its presence in the top class of the WEC from a single 963, which joined the series at Monza in July 2023. 

Thomas Laudenbach, Head of Porsche Motorsport, Andreas Roos Head of BMW M Motorsport

Thomas Laudenbach, Head of Porsche Motorsport, Andreas Roos Head of BMW M Motorsport

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Team boss Christian Ried said at the Austin WEC round last weekend that the chances of an expansion of its programme are 50-50 at the moment, while at the same time ruling out stepping up from one to two 963s in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. 

The Vanwall Racing team, which did not gain an entry for this season after a maiden campaign in 2023 with its Vandervell 680 LMH, has aspirations to return with a reworked version of the car powered by the Pipo twin-turbo V8 formerly used by Glickenhaus. 

The squeeze on WEC entries in Hypercar has been brought into focus by the likelihood of Hyundai joining the series, possibly as early as 2026, while Toyota has also outlined a desire to run a third GR010 HYBRID LMH on a customer basis following the lead of Ferrari and AF Corse this year.

Porsche has ruled out taking that route with the Porsche Penske Motorsport squad, Laudenbach stating that it was not on the table. 

On whether Porsche will again field a third car at the Le Mans 24 Hours WEC round next year, Laudenbach stated that no decision had been taken at this stage.

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Muller aspiring to stay in WEC alongside FE after Porsche move

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Outgoing Peugeot World Endurance Championship driver Nico Muller has aspirations to continue his sportscar career after joining Porsche for a Formula E campaign with Andretti.

Muller stressed that his focus in 2025 would be his drive with the Andretti Porsche customer team in FE, but he has outlined a desire to race in the WEC or to pursue other sportscar opportunities with the German manufacturer, which has signed him as a factory driver for next year.

“I would love to keep doing both,” said Muller at the Austin WEC round last weekend while on duty for Peugeot.

“The focus will be FE: that’s the first programme I’m committed to. But if there is any sort of chance to stay here and do WEC in Hypercar, that would be the dream scenario. The door is open to do other stuff besides FE.”

Muller, who joined Peugeot’s WEC squad for the final race of the 2022 season, insisted that discussions about a wider programme with Porsche had yet to take place.

“We haven’t talked about what the options are and how we are going to proceed,” he explained.

Nico Muller, ABT CUPRA Formula E Team

Nico Muller, ABT CUPRA Formula E Team

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Porsche hinted that Muller could have a wider role above and beyond FE when it announced his signing and programme with Andretti in July.

“We will announce at a later date whether and in which other series Nico will also drive for Porsche,” said Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach.

A full programme in WEC with the factory Penske Porsche Motorsport squad appears unlikely.

For 2023, Porsche required Antonio Felix da Costa to give up his long-standing sportscar programme with Jota to focus on his FE assault with the factory team.

There also remains one date conflict between the FE and WEC calendars: the Berlin FE round clashes with Interlagos in the WEC.

A one-off at the Le Mans 24 Hours could be a possibility for Muller if Porsche decides to run a third factory 963 LMDh at the French enduro for the third consecutive season.

“If you are asked to go back to Le Mans, you will say yes,” he said. “That is top of list.”

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Jean-Eric Vergne, Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Jean-Eric Vergne, Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

Outings with the privateer Proton team in the Hypercar class could be another option.

Muller also revealed a desire to expand his experience of the IMSA SportsCar Championship in North America, in which his only previous start came in LMP2 at the 2022 Daytona 24 Hours with the High Class Racing squad.

“IMSA has a lot of old-school tracks and is something I’d love to discover a bit more,” he said.

“There are similarities with FE because you are discussing a lot less about putting four wheels on the other side of white lines [because there is generally less run-off than at the Formula 1 tracks visited  by WEC].”

Racing Porsche’s 911 GT3-R is “also definitely an option”, according to a driver who enjoyed success at the wheel of GT3 machinery during his nine-year stint with Audi.

His credits in GT racing with Audi include victory in the Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2015 as well as a pair of podiums and a further two top-six finishes in the Spa 24 Hours.

The Nurburgring race clashes with the Jakarta FE round next year, but Muller would be free to do Spa, -the blue-riband round of the GT World Challenge Europe.

Muller also revealed that racing in the Supercars touring car series in Australia was on his bucket list.

“I would love to go down to Australia and try one of those Supercars,” he said.

“I definitely hope to do some cool stuff besides FE next year.”



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WEC unlikely to implement 2025 two-driver line-up ban

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The push to prevent teams in the World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class running two-driver line-ups from next season appears to have failed.

A proposal to that effect put forward by the WRT BMW squad has not met with favour from the other participants and is likely to be abandoned.

The calls were led by WRT boss Vincent Vosse in reaction to Cadillac’s decision to run only two drivers in the six-hour races this year, but he has conceded that the status quo allowing teams and manufacturers to decide whether to run two or three is likely to be maintained.

It is understood that there will be no change in the sporting rules without the unanimous support of the teams.

“I would be surprised if there is a change,” Vosse told Motorsport.com. “It seems that most of the manufacturers are against imposing a new rule.”

The complications of mandating three-driver line-ups and the raft of rule changes it would require explains why the majority appear to be against a shift.

At the moment there are no drive-time regulations in Hypercar and there is also no provision for a team to nominate a reserve on a race weekend, even at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid said: “It would create a lot of complexity in the regulations.

“We carry a spare driver at some races but not every one. Right now if one of our drivers got sick we could make it through the weekend [with two].

“If we start enforcing three drivers it will start causing problems, particularly with event conflicts where we can’t have a spare driver.

“Also these are complicated cars to drive, so you don’t want to be putting in drivers who are under-prepared.

“I don’t like to throw around the S-word — safety — but this is probably something that falls into that category.”

Peugeot Sport technical director Olivier Jansonnie presented a similar argument for keeping the regulations as they are, pointing out that the French manufacturer ran only two drivers in each of its cars at Spa in May when Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne were on Formula E duty in Berlin.

“The solution we found in Spa was a good compromise and we would like to keep the regulations the same,” he explained.

“If you have three drivers and something happens to one you can always do the race with just two. We are pushing to keep the rules as they are.”

#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, Loic Duval

#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, Loic Duval

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Batti Pregliasco, team manager of the factory AF Corse team, also said that the rules “should be kept as they are”.

Also on the table is a second proposal aligned to the one concerning two and three drivers.

This would involve preventing teams and manufacturers from changing drivers over the course of the season, which could have a serious impact on those with drivers also competing in the FE world championship.

“It is important to leave the door open,” said Pregliasco. “We are happy with our six drivers, but I understand that a manufacturer might want to bring in a name driver for Le Mans. Or perhaps a driver might lose performance over the season.”

Vosse argued that it should be mandated in the rules whether a team runs two or three drivers in the shorter WEC races because using two offers a clear benefit in those events.

“Two drivers clearly offers an advantage in terms of track time and team strategy, but we choose to run three because that is how many drivers you need for the Le Mans 24 Hours, the biggest race of the year,” he told Motorsport.com in July.

“I would like it to be clear in the rules how many drivers you have to run, whether that is two or three.”



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Ferrari set for Spa WEC appeal hearing

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The FIA International Court of Appeal will rule on the appeal made by the factory Ferrari AF Corse team after it unsuccessfully challenged the decision of the race stewards to restart the Spa 6 Hours on 11 May beyond the scheduled finish time of the race and therefore the provisional results of the third round of the 2024 WEC.

The protest was rejected by the stewards, but Ferrari’s factory Hypercar team exercised its right of appeal the following week. 

The two factory Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars were running 1-2 when the race was red-flagged four hours and 13 minutes into the race. 

The need for extensive barrier repairs prevented the race from being restarted within the original six-hour timeframe but the stewards decided to resume the event beyond the scheduled 19:00 finish. 

A further one hour and 44 minutes of racing — the remaining time on the clock at the stoppage minus the time it took for the cars to line up on the start-finish straight — began at 17:10.

Ferrari ended up finishing third and fourth with its #50 and #51 entries after the winning #12 Jota Porsche 963 LMDh and the second-placed #6 factory Porsche Penske Motorsport entry gained time because they had pitted just before the stoppage. 

Ferrari has re-iterated the position outlined by its sportscar racing boss, Antonello Coletta, when it confirmed it was pushing ahead with the appeal. 

He said that he wanted clarification of the rules for the future.

FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams Podium: Race winner #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott, second place #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963: Neel Jani, Julien Andlauer, third place #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye

FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams Podium: Race winner #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott, second place #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963: Neel Jani, Julien Andlauer, third place #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Batti Pregliasco, team manager of the AF factory Hypercar team, told Motorsport.com at this weekend’s Austin round of the WEC: “Why are we making an appeal? Because we want to understand if this can happen again because it can affect sporting matters.”

Extending the timeframe in which the Spa race took place was unusual if not unprecedented in the history of the WEC since its rebirth in 2012, but was allowed under the series sporting regulations. 

They state: “If the circumstances so require the stewards may take the decision to stop and/or modify the race time set. 

“This may not exceed the time of the competition [meaning six hours in the case of Spa].”

An explainer sent out by the FIA in the wake of the race stated that the decision to complete the full duration of the race at Spa “ensured sporting fairness for the competitors, who set their strategies for a six-hour race”. 

Ferrari’s protest was ruled inadmissible because the steward’s decision cannot be protested, according to the international sporting code. 

The Jota team has confirmed that it will be represented at the hearing.



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Austin WEC win redemption for Le Mans heartbreak, say Ferrari crew

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The drivers of the winning Ferrari in Sunday’s Austin World Endurance Championship round described the victory as a redemption for their near-miss at the Le Mans 24 Hours. 

Robert Kubica and Robert Shwartzman, who shared the winning AF Corse-run Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar with Yifei Ye, both used the word in reference to the first victory for the Italian car outside of the French enduro. 

“I think we can call it redemption for Le Mans,” said Shwartzman after the Ferrari’s narrow victory over Toyota in round six of the 2024 WEC. 

“That was a big loss for us; it hurt a lot. 

“After our retirement at Le Mans where we were big contenders for so long, I’ve been waiting for a moment like this.

“We were hungry for that win and finally we got it here.”

Kubica called the victory “something special” after the win at Le Mans “slipped out of our hands”. 

The customer or satelitte Ferrari was a frontrunner at Le Mans in June for much of the race, leading a total of 83 laps. 

It was still in contention into the 20th hour despite the 30s penalty Kubica received for his controversial clash with BMW driver Dries Vanthoor during the night when the car retired with a hybrid system failure. 

#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye

#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Ferrari admitted that it needed luck to take the victory in the Lone Star Le Mans event at the Circuit of The Americas, but, said Ye, «we made no mistakes today».  

The yellow privateer Ferrari looked destined to finish second behind the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH shared by Mike Conway, Nyck de Vries and Kamui Kobayashi until the last-named was penalised for a yellow flag infringement. 

Kobayashi resumed nine seconds behind Shwartzman after taking a drive-through penalty with 40 minutes to go and was able to close to within two seconds by the end of the six-hour race. 

Shwartzman conceded that the closing laps were “really difficult” for him as he strove to stay ahead.  

“I was starting to lose the grip and the car was quite difficult to drive and sliding around,” he explained.

DID YOU KNOW?

Ferrari took overall victory in two FIA world championship races for the first time last weekend. The AF Corse crew followed up on Charles Leclerc’s Formula 1 victory on home ground in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza earlier in the day. 

Ferrari won 63 races in the original iteration of what can be termed the world sportscar championship and two prior to last weekend, but one had never coincided with an F1 championship triumph before Sunday. 

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Ferrari AF Corse sneaks past Toyota for win

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In a thrilling finish to Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans six-hour race on the Circuit of The Americas, a customer AF Corse-run 499P driven by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Robert Shwartzman at Austin took the win after a battle with Toyota. All mere hours after Charles Leclerc’s Italian Grand Prix victory at Monza earlier in the day.

Shwartzman inherited the lead from the No. 7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH with 40 minutes of the race to run when Kamui Kobayashi took a drive-through penalty for a yellow-flag infringement. The Japanese driver, teamed with Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries, came out of the pits nine seconds behind the Ferrari but quickly made up ground. Kobayashi was still closing at the end, but ran out of time, ending up just 1.7 seconds behind at the checkered flag.

That closeness emphasized a pulse-pounding late stage of the race. Toyota appeared to have a win in the bag as the race entered its final stages, having managed to get the undercut on the yellow Ferrari, which had led the majority of the first two thirds of the Lone Star Le Mans. 

Kobayashi took the wheel for the final two hours and pulled way from Shwartzman, building up a lead of 10 seconds only to lose it as penance for ignoring yellow flags at Turn 11.

The No. 83 AF CORSE Ferrari 499P Hypercar

The No. 83 AF CORSE Ferrari 499P Hypercar

Photo by: JEP

Third place at COTA went to the Le Mans-winning factory Ferrari crew of Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, and Antonio Fuoco. They lacked the pace of the sister works 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessasndro Pier Guidi — but the second 499P posted a rare retirement for the factory team. Driveline issues (that followed a collision with an LMGT3 runner that had damaged a wheel rim) and then a spin while Giovinazzi was lapping one of the Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs conspired against the team.

Cadillac took fourth — its best result of the season — with the Ganassi-run V-Series.R shared by Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn.

Alpine followed in fifth in the A424 LMDh shared by Ferdinand Habsburg, Paul-Loup Chatin and Charles Milesi. They fought back from an early penalty after Habsburg locked up on the first lap and was penalized for the contact with Bamber at Turn 12 at the end of the long back straight.

The Signatech-run Alpine benefitted from a late penalty for Kevin Estre in the championship-leading Porsche 963 LMDh for a yellow-flag infringement, which left the Penske-run car co-driven by Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer sixth at the flag.

The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar of Earl Bamber, and Alex Lynn

The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar of Earl Bamber, and Alex Lynn

Photo by: JEP

Vanthoor, Lotterer, and Estre fought through the field from 14th on the grid — with Estre surviving a clash with Sebastien Buemi in the second Toyota in the race’s fifth hour. Buemi, on an outlap, made contact with the Porsche as he moved over on the back straight to protect his position. He continued to move to the left, resulting in a second contact. The Toyota sustained a rear puncture and bodywork damage, before being given a 30-second stop-go penalty for causing a collision that left the car 15th and last of the classified finishers in Hypercar.

The best of the WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDhs — the No. 20 car driven by Rene Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde — was also hit with a late penalty of 100s for an energy in infringement. It lost a top-six position as a result, ending up in 13th at the finish.

The LMGT3 class was dominated by the American-flagged Heart of Racing Aston Martin squad. Its Vantage GT3 crewed by Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli, and Alex Riberas crossed the line with almost half a minute in hand over its nearest competitor to take the victory. Bronze-rated James, who’s also Heart of Racing’s team principal, laid the foundation for the squad’s first WEC victory since joining the series last year. The Briton converted pole position in the race lead and raced away from Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan EVO2.

The No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P failed to finish

The No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P failed to finish

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Heart of Racing’s run to victory was made easier when a clash between the Iron Lynx-run Lamborghini (which Bovy shared with Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting) and the best of the TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R (the No. 81 entry driven by Tom van Rompuy, Rui Andrade, and Charlie Eastwood) took both cars from contention.

That allowed the two Manthey-run Porsche 911 GT3-Rs — running 1-2 in the class points coming into the Austin race — to come through to claim second and third positions. All in spite of receiving a Balance of Performance hit and carrying significant success balance.

Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm, and Klaus Bachler took second with 30 kg of success ballast, while the sister car of Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, and Richard Lietz took third with 25 kg after the Shahin received a drive-through for a track limits violation.

Vanthoor, Lotterer, and Estre still lead the championship on 125 points; Molina, Nielsen, Fuoco and de Vries and Kobayashi tied on 113 points.



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Austin our best chance of a podium in WEC 2024

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Cadillac driver Alex Lynn believes that the US marque has its best chance of the season of making it onto the World Endurance Championship podium at Austin this weekend.

The Briton expressed confidence that the Caddy V-Series.R LMDh run by Chip Ganassi Racing he shares with Earl Bamber can post its most competitive showing this year after qualifying third behind two Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars. 

Asked by Motorsport.com if he thinks Cadillac is closer to the pace than at any time this season in the WEC, he replied: “I think we are. 

“Our long-run pace is up there with Ferrari and Toyota. 

“I say yes with caution because in previous races we’ve seen good pace over a stint in practice and then it hasn’t worked out that way in the race. 

“But we feel very good about the race: the car has a good flow about it, and we can brake late and overtake. 

“Our straightline speed seems good, better than at Interlagos [in July], which is important, big time.”

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Alex Lynn

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Alex Lynn

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Lynn stated that it was time Cadillac “nailed a good result” in the WEC this year after qualifying in the top four in the previous three races.  

The solo Ganassi entry’s best result came with fourth place first time out at Qatar in March which was lost when the car was disqualified as the strakes on the rear diffuser were found to be higher than was homologated and misaligned as the result of manufacturing irregularities. 

That means the Cadillac’s top result of the season so far came at the Le Mans 24 Hours when Lynn, Bamber and Alex Palou, who joined them for the double-points WEC round, ended up seventh. 

“We want to have a raceday we can be proud of; we haven’t done that this season.”

Lynn’s third place on the grid behind factory Ferrari driver Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Kubica in the 499P run as a satellite entry by the factory AF Corse team came after he went for a second run in the Hyperpole session. 

He initially set 1m50.836s before getting down to 1m50.680s to jump up from fifth. 

Lynn admitted that he was “happy with my lap until I saw that the Ferrari had done 1m50.3s”.

“I did a cool down lap and threw everything I had at it, full risk, and luckily found about a tenth and a half,” he said.

The Lone Star Le Mans six-hour race at Austin kicks off at 13:00 local time in Texas.

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