Alpine Endurance Team reserve driver Jules Gounon is set to make his third FIA WEC start of the 2024 season at next weekend’s 6 Hours of Fuji. Gounon has been called up to race in the No. 35 A424 Hypercar in the seat normally filled by Paul-Loup …
Alpine Endurance Team reserve driver Jules Gounon is set to make his third FIA WEC start of the 2024 season at next weekend’s 6 Hours of Fuji.
Gounon has been called up to race in the No. 35 A424 Hypercar in the seat normally filled by Paul-Loup Chatin and race alongside Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg. Alpine made the decision before the season began that Gounon would drive at Fuji in place of Chatin as part of his development within the team.
The original plan would have made this his first Hypercar start, but Gounon was called up to race in the No. 35 at both Imola and Spa to stand in for Habsburg. The Austrian was unable to take part after sustaining an injury during a testing incident in March.
Chatin, meanwhile, will rejoin Alpine’s Hypercar crew for the final race of the season in Bahrain.
Alpine’s future in the top class of sportscar racing appears bright as the 2024 FIA WEC season comes to a close. Just last weekend it achieved its best finish yet in the FIA WEC when its No. 35 A424 finished fifth overall, and in the background, …
Alpine’s future in the top class of sportscar racing appears bright as the 2024 FIA WEC season comes to a close. Just last weekend it achieved its best finish yet in the FIA WEC when its No. 35 A424 finished fifth overall, and in the background, work is ongoing to secure a future for the brand long-term, not only in the FIA WEC, but in IMSA too.
First off, Alpine welcomes the recent Hypercar ruleset extension to the end of the 2029 season, as its commitment to the category is open-ended. Beyond that, it is still exploring an expansion to IMSA GTP and holds continued interest in the forthcoming hydrogen regulations that are set to be introduced in 2028.
Regarding IMSA, it sees GTP as a potential platform to expand its commitment to top-end sportscar racing and help give the brand visibility in North America at a crucial time.
This is something that IMSA president John Doonan spoke with RACER about earlier this summer. He believes the French manufacturer is a prime example of a brand which could utilise an IMSA program to assist the launch of its road cars into the U.S. market.
“They want to come to the U.S. and sell road cars,” he said “If you bring the racing program as part of the brand launch, it’s an authentic way to launch a brand.
“To do that you need lots of elements, retail locations and a distribution network, but you need awareness more than anything else. What better way to get that than via showing the public what you can do on track?”
And it appears that Alpine is indeed taking a long, hard look at what going GTP racing with the A424 would look like, with Alpine Motorsports vice president Bruno Famin telling RACER at COTA last week that an expansion to IMSA remains on the table.
“We always said there would be no limit to our (WEC) program. We have no problem with the Hypercar rule extension and we have no limit,” he said.
“And IMSA is a potential scenario we are considering. But for the time being it’s just potential. What is not a secret is that the Alpine brand wants to return to the US in the coming years and the development of the Alpine brand awareness is based on its motorsport programs.
“So considering an IMSA program is something we may think about. Nothing is done yet regarding schedule, but we are considering it.”
Famin added that any GTP program would likely be a collaborative effort with a private team rather than a pure factory effort funded and managed entirely by the OEM.
“It would be a US-style program, where the factory is involved but the cars would be managed by a private team. It’s the business model in the USA and IMSA.
“We have been in a few talks but nothing very recently,” he added “We need to confirm first when Alpine would be ready to come back to the U.S. Once we have certainty about that we will come back to talking to the team.”
This evaluation coincides with the formation of the future regulation set for hydrogen-powered prototypes, which after its most recent delay is expected to come into play in 2028.
Stars, stripes, and French sports cars could become a more familiar combination. JEP/Motorsport Images
Alpine, Famin explained, remains interested in competing with the new technology but recognises that any transition from its current Hypercar program to an effort with hydrogen would need to be managed carefully.
“What we need to consider is whether you make a new car or not and with which category and with technology,” he said. “But we are happy. Hypercar is developing and has stability with potential newcomers in 2026.
“(Hydrogen) It’s something we are considering. We are working on the hydrogen technology. In Le Mans we had the Alpenglow complete a lap before the start and we are working hard on that. At the Paris Motor Show, we will show off a new version of that car.
“And if the regulations are clear and affordable we would be happy to consider it. No decision has been taken but everyone, the ACO, the FIA, knows we are very active on this technology and we may consider it for sure.
“What we know is that we won’t be able to do both programs in parallel. It will be a traditional car with traditional technology or a Hydrogen car. We will not do both.”
Alpine isn’t the only current Hypercar manufacturer facing this dilemma. Toyota is also invested in hydrogen technology and recently reaffirmed its intentions to compete with it in the future.
However, unlike Alpine, it would plan to compete with the GR010 Hypercar and a hydrogen prototype simultaneously when the two regulation sets first overlap.
In the meantime, Alpine is fully committed to improving the A424 and building momentum for its second season of Hypercar competition in 2025.
A big part of that has been to work on a permanent solution to the engine issue that led to a double retirement on its first Le Mans 24 Hours with the car back in June.
Signatech (Alpine’s WEC Hypercar service provider) boss Philippe Sinault told RACER in São Paulo that the problem was being ‘managed’ and that a permanent fix was being worked on.
And with the summer break over and the season’s final stretch in progress, Famin now confirms it is close to a permanent solution.
“We have implemented some modifications and we will keep working on it,” he explained to RACER.
“We have reduced the level of risk but we still have to work on it. We are still negotiating to see if it will be an Evo (Joker) or not. We have (new) parts on the car, but not all of them.”
Famin wouldn’t been drawn into the specifics of what the fix entails, but he did confirm that the ultimate solution is not to introduce an entirely new engine.
Sept. 1, 2024 will surely go down in Ferrari’s racing history as a particularly memorable day, but perhaps not for the reason you may expect. Winning both the Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix and the FIA WEC’s Lone Star Le Mans race at COTA in the same …
Sept. 1, 2024 will surely go down in Ferrari’s racing history as a particularly memorable day, but perhaps not for the reason you may expect.
Winning both the Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix and the FIA WEC’s Lone Star Le Mans race at COTA in the same 24-hour stretch was a remarkable achievement even for a manufacturer that has countless significant accolades to look back on, and multiple rooms in Maranello with trophies stacked to the ceiling.
The No. 83 Ferrari 499P’s victory at COTA on Sunday night after Charles Leclerc dazzled the tifosi in Monza earlier in the day produced a laundry list of impressive statistics, including the fact that it now has an overall win in two separate FIA world championships on the same day for the first time in its history.
Ferrari also has three WEC Hypercar wins to its name now, with three different cars and driver crews after the No. 51 won the centenary Le Mans 24 Hours and the No. 50 won the 2024 running of the event back in June.
As for the drivers, Robert Kubica, Ye Yifei and Robert Shwartzman scored their first WEC victories and became the second crew driving a privately-funded Hypercar to win a race this season, after Hertz Team JOTA’s dramatic triumph in Spa back in May.
But beyond the key stats, this is a result that may be looked back on as a significant moment for Ferrari’s factory driver roster.
AF Corse and Ferrari pushed to field a third 499P in the WEC this year because it wanted to have a platform at the top end of sports car racing to trial young drivers that it believes have a bright future ahead of them.
Step forward the No. 83’s pair of 24-year-olds: Yifei – who was poached from JOTA over the off-season – and Ferrari Academy graduate Shwartzman, are improving with each passing race weekend with the help of mentorship from Robert Kubica
Prior to yesterday’s race, the No. 83 had its moments and famously led the Le Mans 24 Hours for multiple hours before receiving a costly penalty for wiping out the No. 15 BMW during the night and retiring late in the race with a hybrid system issue.
Lone Star Le Mans therefore felt, as Yifei put it, like “redemption” for June. It certainly looked like a true turning point for this effort, too. It was a complete performance from qualifying through to the end of the race. All three drivers were rapid, stayed mistake-free, and in the case of Yifei and Shwartzman, soaked up major pressure during their stints.
Yifei spent the middle portion of the race leading while managing a set of hard Michelin tires over two stints, and endured a lengthy sequence with Toyota’s Nyck de Vries on his bumper on fresher medium rubber. The Dutchman couldn’t find a way through, cooked his tires and was forced to pit early for an undercut.
Toyota’s attempt to get by via its pit strategy worked, but the pendulum swung back in the final hour. A drive-through for a yellow flag infringement by Kamui Kobayashi dropped the No. 7 behind Shwartzman, creating a chase to the finish.
Kobayashi, who was a combination of frustrated and motivated to make up for lost time, reeled in the Israeli-flagged driver but couldn’t get close enough to make a lunge. Shwartzman’s consistency and ability to manage tire wear were undeniably impressive with the win on the line.
“This is a big moment. They made a mistake, it cost them the win and we used that to our advantage to get the win we were pushing for in Le Mans,” Shwartzman told RACER.
“The last laps were super tricky with Kamui coming, he was flying and I was sliding all over the places because my tires were gone. But I am happy I managed to pull it out.”
Yifei and Shwartzman have now proven their worth in the most competitive top-class field in WEC history on a day in which the factory cars fell away after running as part of a Ferrari 1-2-3 formation in the race’s opening laps.
The pole-sitting No. 51 retired before the halfway mark with a drivetrain issue caused by a damaged wheel rim and the No. 50 crew, who struggled for outright pace, ultimately ran a more conservative strategy to ensure they finished ahead of the championship-leading No. 6 Porsche to close the gap ahead of Fuji. This left the No. 83 to fight for Ferrari’s second win of the season, which it did admirably.
That brings us to the ultimate question: what does the future now hold for Yifei and Shwartzman? Further movement in the Hypercar and GTP driver market is expected in the coming weeks and months ahead of the 2025 season and beyond, and these two are now red-hot property.
All signs point to the No. 83 returning next season with the same line-up, and this would seem to be a smart choice as part of their ongoing development. But they’ll surely be looking to move up to the top table at some point in the not-too-distant future and right now there’s no room at the inn. Both of the current Ferrari AF Corse factory trios look strong and stable.
Will they ultimately stick it out with Ferrari in the long term, or will they switch if other factories come knocking? It will be fascinating to find out…
The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Robert Kubica, Ye Yifei and Robert Shwartzman became the sixth car in six FIA WEC races in 2024 to claim an overall victory Saturday evening at Circuit of The Americas in Texas. AF Corse’s privately-entered car …
The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Robert Kubica, Ye Yifei and Robert Shwartzman became the sixth car in six FIA WEC races in 2024 to claim an overall victory Saturday evening at Circuit of The Americas in Texas.
AF Corse’s privately-entered car took the Lone Star Le Mans win in dramatic circumstances after a drive-through penalty in the final hour cost the No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID the lead.
Toyota’s drive-through, handed to the No. 7 crew when Kamui Kobayashi was found to have not respected yellow flags while marshals recovered a stranded Peugeot, ultimately cost the Japanese manufacturer its third win of the season.
Kobayashi and his teammates Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway were forced to settle for second, as the Japanese ace was unable to reel in Shwartzman in the final 40m. He pushed his GR010 to its limits and managed to reduce the deficit from 9.5s to 1.7s by the end — making it the second-closest green flag finish in championship history — but couldn’t quite get close enough to make a move.
The race was highly entertaining in the closing stages and made for a truly momentous occasion for the both No. 83 crew and Ferrari. It was the first WEC overall victory for all three drivers and the first win for the 499P in a WEC race outside of the Le Mans 24 Hours. The race also added to a special weekend for the Prancing Horse, which won the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza earlier in the day.
It was a strategic war that went through multiple stages. In the first half, the Ferraris looked dominant, sitting 1-2-3 after a fast start, before BMW and Cadillac climbed into contention 2h in. It then turned into a strategic battle, as both the medium and hard Michelin compounds were utilized in the race. The teams at the front were split, some chose to experiment with different combinations, and others stuck to the mediums as the trackside temperature fluctuated.
The winning Ferrari switched between running three mediums and a single right-rear hard, and hards on all four corners in the race while the best Toyota and Porsche stuck to mediums the whole way through. This tactic would be key to the final result, as it kept Kubica at the start, Ye in the middle and Shwartzman at the end of the race permanently in the top three.
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“We can be happy. It’s been a tough race and we knew it would be critical with tires and traffic management, but the car worked super well. It started well, it finished even better. We couldn’t hope for a better Sunday,” Kubica said.
“There was a lot of pressure in the final laps because my tires were going away. I was sliding all over the place, and any mistake could have cost us the victory,” added Shwartzman.
Behind the No. 7 Toyota, the podium was completed by the Le Mans-winning No. 50 Ferrari which started fourth and ran a consistent, clean race en route to making it a double podium for AF Corse.
Cadillac earned its best result of the season in fourth but will leave slightly frustrated on a day in which it had the pace to claim a podium finish with a clean race.
Alpine, too, enjoyed a standout performance, the No. 35 A424 completing the top five with a performance that suggests the French marque has taken a significant step forward.
“It wasn’t a perfect weekend, but we improved. We got into Hyperpole and finished P5. It was not the result we expected after a tough start to the race and a drive-through, but we recovered and in the end, we can be proud and build on this,” No. 35 driver Charles Milesi told RACER.
BMW, on the other hand, wasted a chance to come away with its first podium in the class. The M Hybrid V8s looked transformed early, with pace that matched the Ferraris. As the race wore on both cars faded through a combination of penalties and errors. The No. 15, which suffered a spin that cost a chunk of time early on, was the better placed of the two at the end, off the lead lap and eighth.
The final result of Lone Star Le Mans was both historic and critical for the championship battle. The No. 7 Toyota and No. 50 Ferrari made gains Saturday, finishing ahead of the championship-leading No. 6 Penske Porsche, which struggled for outright pace, survived a heated clash with the No. 8 Toyota and fell from fifth to sixth after a late drive-through.
By salvaging a points finish, Porsche’s Andre Lotterer, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor still hold the lead going into the race at Fuji, but its margin has been reduced to 12 points over the two chasing crews who now sit on equal points in second.
“It’s not ideal,” Lotterer said. “I think we could have finished fifth, we finished sixth, we didn’t use our maximum potential. We were able to move forward though from 14th on the grid which was important.”
Further down the order, it was a tough race for the Lamborghini which lacked ultimate pace and finished 14th. The No. 8 Toyota also failed to fight at the sharp end like the sister car and eventually dropped down the order when it was dealt two costly penalties, the first for the aforementioned contact with the No. 6 Porsche, the second for not respecting yellow flags like the No. 7 and No. 6. It came home 15th.
The No. 50 would be the only factory Ferrari 499P to make it to the finish, as the No. 51 retired in the second hour while sitting second. The car retired as contact with the No. 78 AKKODIS Lexus damaged a wheel rim and led to a terminal drivetrain issue.
Giovinazzi was unable to get the car fired and up to full speed, returning to the pits under electrical power only before stopping on the pit apron. The car was then pushed into the garage and withdrawn from the race, the specific reason not yet disclosed.
It wasn’t the only car to hit mechanical trouble, as the No. 12 JOTA Porsche spent most of the race in and out of the garage with niggling issues. The No. 94 Peugeot also failed to make the finish, the car pulled off to the side of the circuit down the back straight 4h into the race, after a tough race that began with a puncture on the opening lap caused by contact with the No. 12.
Meanwhile, LMGT3 was utterly dominated by Heart of Racing, which claimed a lights-to-flag win from pole with its Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 EVO driven by Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas.
Maybe it was a home-field advantage. Maybe it was perfect execution. JEP/Motorsport Images
The trio were absolutely faultless in the punishing heat and completed the race almost entirely unchallenged, finishing with a winning margin of 20s. It was a maiden WEC LMGT3 victory for the team, all three drivers and the 2024-spec Vantage GT3, and came on home turf for Heart of Racing. It is also a 10th WEC class win at COTA for Aston Martin.
“Everyone worked in unison. I couldn’t be happier to do this in America,” James said.
“We won at home and for us, an American team, it’s great,” Mancinelli added.
Behind, the championship-leading No. 92 Pure Rxcing Porsche extended its points lead to 28 points with yet another strong finish, the car growing stronger as the race wore on.
Joel Sturm, Klaus Bachler and Alex Malykhin — on the weekend which Malykhin described as the toughest of the season due to the weather, lack of circuit knowledge and success ballast applied to the car — dug deep and again came away with another massive result. They not only finished second, but crossed the line ahead of their title rivals too.
“Our team is just so good and we make such good strategic decisions that we end up in good positions. I’m really happy with second. It’s not a win but it’s not mega bad!” Sturm reacted. “Pace wasn’t the key today. We just stayed out of trouble and didn’t make mistakes.”
By pulling away even further in the points battle, the Lithuanian-flagged team has edged ever closer to claiming the LMGT3 drivers’ and teams’ championship.
“We didn’t have the pace for P1,” Sturm said. “It’s been tough, but we are picking up the points and that’s important.”
Completing the podium and securing a double podium for Porsche was the Manthey EMA 911. Yasser Shahin, Richard Lietz and Morris Schuring, like their Manthey teammates in the No. 92, fought through the field and were rewarded handsomely for staying out of trouble. In championship terms, it was damage limitation, finishing just behind Pure Rxcing keeps them in the fight.
It was a worse situation for WRT’s No. 31 crew of Augusto Farfus, Darren Leung and Sean Gelael, who finished fifth behind the No. 59 United Autosports McLaren and now head to Fuji 34 points adrift.
Will Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas produce a sixth winner in six races in FIA WEC Hypercar? It certainly feels that way. This weekend in Texas the competition has been hotter than the local climate, with the Hypercar field …
Will Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas produce a sixth winner in six races in FIA WEC Hypercar? It certainly feels that way.
This weekend in Texas the competition has been hotter than the local climate, with the Hypercar field seemingly as close as it’s ever been. Throughout practice and qualifying multiple contenders have emerged, all quietly confident they’ll be in the mix tomorrow.
Ferrari has been the most bullish about its prospects. The double Le Mans winners expected to be competitive before FP1 got underway, the characteristics of the COTA circuit seemingly a good match for the 499P’s strengths.
And its high expectations, as it’s turned out, are not unfounded. The No. 51 and No. 83 combined for a front-row lockout this afternoon with rapid times in the 1m50s. The No. 50 crew — who are in the running for the drivers’ title — were not far off either, their fast time within half a second of the sister car.
Antonio Fuoco, who qualified the No. 50, admitted to RACER that he didn’t quite put it all together in the Hyperpole session, but added that he feels comfortable ahead of the race. The No. 50 will start fourth, with the other 499Ps around it and ahead of its championship rivals from Toyota and Porsche who could only muster times good enough for ninth and 14th respectively.
If either of the two cars that made it onto the front row wins tomorrow, it will be their first victory of the season. For the No. 51, the associated stats may come as a surprise. If Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi convert their first WEC Hypercar pole into a victory it would mark their first trip to the top step of the podium since the centenary Le Mans 24 Hours last year. To achieve that they’ll need to produce a metronomic run and hope team orders don’t come into play.
But Ferrari isn’t the only marque that impressed in qualifying. Yet again Cadillac was strong and will start third with its V-Series.R. It’s been a frustrating season for the American-flagged, Ganassi-run team, which all too often has shown pace on qualifying day only to struggle in the race.
With the No. 2 qualifying in the top four for a fourth race in a row, no questions remain about the V-Series.R’s ability to produce pace over a single lap. Instead, the spotlight is on race pace. In the post-session mixed zone, Alex Lynn appeared as motivated as ever to score a breakthrough result for the team.
“I said in the debrief to the team, ‘We’re good at having a good Saturday, well done, we’ve done it again, but let’s focus on banking a result tomorrow.’ That’s all we want, we want to nail a result on the table tomorrow night that we can be happy with, whether that’s P5, P6, a podium or a win,” he said. “We need to execute tomorrow because so far this season we haven’t done that, we need a result we deserve on home turf.”
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What about Alpine? Charles Milesi was red hot in Hyperpole and put the No. 35 A424 fourth on the grid. For the first time, the French constructor looks poised for a big result, and just two races on from its disastrous outing at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Both A424s could have ended up in the mix for pole too had Mick Schumacher not found himself blocked by other cars and distracted by a wasp in the cockpit during his qualifying run aboard the No. 36.
“I had a wasp and two Ferraris blocking me — not a smooth session,” he told RACER. “On my fastest lap, I had the No. 51 in front, and on my first push, I had the No. 83 in front.
“As for the wasp, it appeared on the lap I got blocked — it was flying around and ended up sitting on the windscreen for a bit. Then it came towards my face so I opened the door and slapped it and it flew out. I got yelled at! And I’ve never had that before… It was unfortunate because we had good pace.”
A wasp kept Mick Schumacher from showing the Alpine’s full potential. JEP/Motorsport Images
Then there’s BMW, for the first time since qualifying at Le Mans, WRT’s M Hybrid V8s look like they’ve taken a step forward in performance terms. They will start seventh and eighth and could find themselves coming away with the Bavarian brand’s best results of the season if everything goes to plan.
As the Hypercar field matures and the BoP process evolves, digging deep for hauls of points on weekends where everything isn’t going your way has never been more important. It would not be a shock to see either the No. 6 Porsche, No. 50 Ferrari or No. 7 Toyota find a way to win tomorrow because there are no safe bets anymore. It’s becoming more and more challenging to get a true read of the form book pre-race with every passing race weekend and the WEC’s top class is all the better for it.
“I think it’s still a very open race, with some weather which can come into play — thunderstorms, I think, there is still a chance,” Hypecar points leader Kevin Estre noted.
It’s a similar story in LMGT3. With Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin on pole for the first time and the three cars locked in the race for the title fourth, 10th and 16th, a repeat of the Manthey and WRT show that’s been stuck on a loop since Qatar feels unlikely here in Austin.
Championship leader Alex Malykhin, who put the Pure Rxcing Porsche on the second row of the grid, seemed as relaxed as Fuoco, despite the team being in the weeds of what he describes as the toughest race of the season so far.
“The pressure is on our rivals — they have a 25-point gap to close and will need to take more risks than us. If we score points, we will leave here happy,” he said. “This is the next stage in the title battle.”
With that, the stage is set for Lone Star Le Mans and all the ingredients are in place for another memorable race.
Ferrari AF Corse locked out the front row for Sunday’s FIA WEC Lone Star Le Mans at COTA, with the factory No. 51 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi setting the best time of the week in Hyperpole Saturday afternoon to claim the best grid spot. Alongside the …
Ferrari AF Corse locked out the front row for Sunday’s FIA WEC Lone Star Le Mans at COTA, with the factory No. 51 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi setting the best time of the week in Hyperpole Saturday afternoon to claim the best grid spot.
Alongside the Italian on the front row will be the privately entered No. 83 499P, which ended up just under 0.2s shy after Robert Kubica’s best effort in the 10-minute dash.
“I am really happy. Since the beginning of the weekend, we’ve had a strong car and we have put it all together. We have good race pace too,” Giovinazzi said after scoring his first WEC pole.
The fight for pole was a thriller, with multiple manufacturers seemingly in with a shout until Ferrari’s drivers found a way to take command and turn up the wick.
Of the drivers in the mix, Cadillac Racing’s Alex Lynn turned heads, as did Charles Milesi from Alpine.
Milesi sat on provisional pole briefly before Giovinazzi’s best lap came in, his best tour a 1m50.751s in the No. 35 A424. While it wasn’t quite enough for a front row spot, it did ensure that the French marque will start on the second row in fourth. Lynn’s effort produced a similar result, a late flyer put the No. 2 V-Series.R third.
The Le Mans-winning No. 50 Ferrari ended up fifth, ahead of the fastest factory Porsche — the No. 5 — that will start sixth. It was a solid effort from BMW Team WRT, its M Hybrid V8s making it to the shootout and claiming seventh and eighth.
The No. 7 Toyota ended up qualifying second of the three title-contending cars in ninth, ahead of the No. 12 HERTZ Team JOTA Porsche that failed to get within a second of the pole time.
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Before Hyperpole, qualifying was extremely tight, the battle for shootout spots as fierce as it has been all season.
The No. 93 Peugeot just missed out after ending up 0.02s off the cutoff time in 11th after Mikkel Jensen’s best effort. The No. 8 Toyota also failed to make it in and ended up 12th, Sebastien Buemi left scratching his head after he too was less than 0.1s shy.
Perhaps the biggest storyline was the championship-leading No. 6 Porsche Penske 963 not making it through into the top 10. Kevin Estre struggled and his best time of 1m51.984s was only enough for 14th.
“The car was difficult to drive. I didn’t put a lap together, I didn’t figure out how to go fast without a mistake. I couldn’t put it together so we will have to see if we can make it better for the race. We will see what we can learn from the sister car. It’s very difficult,” a disappointed Estre said after climbing out the car.
The No. 6 wasn’t the only Porsche that didn’t make the final shootout. Proton’s 963 ended up 16th and JOTA’s No. 38 would finish the session 17th after Jenson Button suffered a spin on his final flyer.
Before the Hypercar drivers took to the circuit, Heart of Racing scored Aston Martin’s first LMGT3 pole with the new evo-spec Vantage.
New spec, plus some hometown form for Ian James and Heart of Racing. JEP/Motorsport Images
Ian James’ best time in the No. 27 Aston was a 2m05.587s, set with 3m to go in Hyperpole. Confident it was good enough for a front-row spot, the Briton then parked up with 1m to go and watched the final times come in.
“I feel great for the team on home soil; it’s our first pole and a great achievement,” James said.
Sarah Bovy came closest for Iron Dames. A late improvement from the Belgian put the No. 85 Lamborghini second with a 2m05.759s.
“It’s a good team effort. We worked hard to get the car more competitive. We could go for it but I lost power steering so I couldn’t improve. P2 is not a bad position to start from; we just need to fix that issue to start the race,” Bovy said.
Her flyer initially pushed championship leader Alex Malykhin in the Pure Rxcing Porsche to third, though the No. 92 911 would eventually fall to fourth after Francois Heriau set a rapid 2m06.011s. That put the No. 55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari third and on the second row. The top five was completed by TF Sport’s No. 82 Corvette of Tom van Rompuy.
Many eyes were on the returning Ben Keating in the No. 88 Proton Ford Mustang during Hyperpole. The Texan looked to replicate his strong form in GTE Am Qualifying last year, but he could only manage ninth.
His time was just over 1s off pole and slower than the No. 54 Vista AF Ferrari, No. 59 United Autosports McLaren and No. 777 D’Station Aston Martin which will occupy positions sixth, seventh and eighth on the grid come Sunday.
With eight of the nine brands in the class making it into Hyperpole via the qualifying session, several significant cars didn’t make the cut.
The No. 95 United Autosports McLaren was the fastest of the cars that didn’t make the top 10, with Josh Caygill missing out by under 0.1s.
“Disappointed not to make it through; [We] did briefly but we got called for track limits. We will have to take it sensible tomorrow and see how it goes,” Caygill said between the two sessions.
The Manthey EMA Porsche which won at Spa and Le Mans also didn’t make it through, qualifying 16th.
Lexus ended up the only brand that didn’t make the cut. French team AKKODIS ASP will start the race 12th and 17th with its pair of RC F LMGT3s.
Sunday’s race is set to get underway at 1 p.m. CT.
Final practice for the Lone Star Le Mans six-hour race at Circuit of The Americas began under the cover of clouds with the coolest conditions we’ve seen all weekend. Alex Lynn in the No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R finished with the fastest time of …
Final practice for the Lone Star Le Mans six-hour race at Circuit of The Americas began under the cover of clouds with the coolest conditions we’ve seen all weekend. Alex Lynn in the No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R finished with the fastest time of the weekend so far.
In the first ten minutes, a flurry of fast times rolled in, beginning when Kamui Kobayashi in the No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid set the fastest time of the weekend at that time, a 1m51.533s.
A minute later, Lynn would come through in the blue Cadillac with a 1m51.471s to take and keep the top spot in Hypercar.
It sets up the tantalizing prospect of the American marque taking pole position for its home race, but the leaderboard was very close and much could still change once qualifying gets underway.
“Yesterday, on theoretical lap time, we were P1 as well,” Lynn said. “I think we’re very competitive on long run as well as short runs. I think we’ve got the car to get a good result and now we just have to stay focused and bank that result.”
Antonio Fuoco was second-fastest in the No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P with a 1m51.511s, and Kobayashi’s best lap stood as the third-fastest.
Fourth was Robert Kubica in the yellow No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari, with Sebastien Buemi in the No. 8 Toyota in fifth.
Norman Nato’s No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 was the fastest of his marque in sixth, ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi in the No. 51 Ferrari and Mick Schumacher in the No. 36 Alpine Endurance Team A424 in eighth.
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Just 0.324s covered the top eight — 0.383s covered the top ten – and less than two seconds covered the entire 18-car Hypercar field.
Hypercar Championship leader Kevin Estre sat just outside the top ten, 11th in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, hampered by a damper problem.
Meanwhile, in LMGT3, Corvettes dominated FP3 after leading FP2 on Friday. Daniel Juncadella again set the fastest time in the No. 82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R (2m05.178s) during the final moments, 0.2s faster than the sister car, the No. 82 of Charlie Eastwood (2m05.351s).
The No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 driven by Davide Rigon was third fastest, some 0.4s behind the fastest Corvette (2m05.542s). Fourth fastest was the No. 59 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo (2m05.549s).
Further down the order the LMGT3 Championship leading car, the No. 92 Manthey Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R, had another quiet run. Klaus Bachler’s best time landed him 10th in class (2m06.656s).
Elsewhere in the class, Sean Gelael received a 5m stop-and-go penalty for constant abuse of track limits during Friday’s second free practice session. His car, the No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3, was the slowest of the LMGT3s Saturday morning (2m06.565s).
The session was drama-free, otherwise, even when accounting for a brief yellow for debris on track.
NEXT UP: Qualifying begins Saturday at 3:00 p.m. CT.
Ben Keating expected to be a spectator this weekend for the FIA World Endurance Championship race at his home track. Living only an hour and a half from Circuit of The Americas and having a free weekend, the reigning WEC GTE champ and IMSA …
Ben Keating expected to be a spectator this weekend for the FIA World Endurance Championship race at his home track. Living only an hour and a half from Circuit of The Americas and having a free weekend, the reigning WEC GTE champ and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship LMP2 racer wouldn’t miss a chance to hang out with friends that he doesn’t get to see much of now that he’s not racing in the series full time. But then Proton Competition’s Christian Ried gave the Texan an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“I was expecting to come as a spectator to harass all of my friends from the World Endurance Championship,” Keating said. “I was delighted that it happened to be on a weekend that I did not have anything else going on, so I was planning to be here anyway. Christian Ried, who I competed against for the last four years, is also a good friend. He called me and asked if I wanted to compete in the race, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. It’s it’s fun to be back in the series with these people. It’s fun to be back at this particular track. I haven’t raced here since 2019, but I’ve had a lot of a lot of success here.”
Unexpected COTA outing with Proton’s Ford Mustang LMGT3 is a special treat for Keating. Jakob Ebrey/Motorsport Images
So, Keating is racing the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 at the Lone Star Le Mans weekend with Mikkel Pedersen and Dennis Olsen. Which is probably just as well, because racers don’t make very good spectators anyway. And the Ford is a good fit for Keating.
“When Christian called and said, ‘Hey, do you want to drive the Mustang?’ It was exciting. It’s awesome. I have four Ford dealerships in Texas. I’m a third generation Ford dealer. Because of my experience in the Ford GT at Le Mans in 2019 I have a lot of relationships, people who are still around in Ford Performance racing,” he said.
“And, it’s fun to to be able to come back and compete again. It’s one level just to come back and see everybody and be a part of the family; it’s another thing to really be back in the seat and and compete.”
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When Keating talks about being part of the family, he means it. Having competed in WEC and IMSA with several different teams, he’s made a lot of friends over the years. And while he competed in LMP2 at Le Mans, Le Mans is a a different atmosphere than a normal WEC race.
“I really love the people of this series. I love the family that this series is,” he said. “I was super excited to come back. Whether it’s whether it’s TF Sport that I raced with for two years, or United [Autosports] that I’m teamed with this year in IMSA, Proton… there are so many different relationships. I have really good, solid relationships that I have in this paddock through the years so I’m hugging all the pit officials and stewards and all of that stuff. It’s just awesome.”
For his first outing in the Mustang GT3, the first time in a GT3 car in a while, and it being a year since he raced any kind of GT car, Keating says that he has pretty low expectations of himself this weekend. That’s despite his past success in the series, and he recognizes that others may have more confidence in him. But he’s at COTA, and he’s going racing, which is enough.
“I’m just happy to be here,” he said. “Even if I’m running in the middle of the pack, there’ll be people to race with, and I’ll have a good time.”
Ferrari AF Corse’s pair of factory 499P Hypercars finished Friday’s practice running at COTA 1-2 in the times as heat continued to climb trackside and the lap times continued to fall. Leading the way was the No. 51 Ferrari of last year’s 24 Hours of …
Ferrari AF Corse’s pair of factory 499P Hypercars finished Friday’s practice running at COTA 1-2 in the times as heat continued to climb trackside and the lap times continued to fall.
Leading the way was the No. 51 Ferrari of last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, Antonio Giovinazzi, who placed his car atop the time sheets just 10m into the session with a 1m52.268s. A few minutes later, the No. 50 Ferrari of reigning Le Mans champion Antonio Fuoco crossed the line to set a 1m52.320s, good for second place on the board.
The No. 20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 showed some speed early on as Robin Frijns set the third-fastest time (1m52.383s), but just before halftime, Sheldon van der Linde was four laps into a stint when he spun exiting Turn 15 and lost his right rear wheel.
The incident brought out a red flag — the only interruption of the session — but a bizarre one for the often beleaguered Bavarian machine which was towed back to the garage otherwise intact.
Alex Lynn was fourth fastest in the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R, which continues to show good one-lap pace around COTA. In fifth was AF Corse’s privateer Ferrari, the No. 83 of Robert Kubica, ahead of the No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid of Sebastien Buemi in sixth.
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The best of the Porsche 963s was not one of the Porsche Penske Motorsport works cars, but rather the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA car of defending Lone Star Le Mans winner Norman Nato in eighth.
Matt Campbell was only 13th fastest in the No. 5 Penske Porsche but, as the session progressed, long-run development became more of a focus over one-shot speed.
LMGT3 was led by TF Sport with its No. 82 Corvette, its best time a 2m05.630s from Daniel Juncadela
It was tight up top, though, as the two Vista AF Corse Ferraris completed the top three with times in the 2:05s and within 0.1s of the quickest Z06.
NEXT UP: Free practice three, Saturday morning at 11:00am CT.
Urs Kuratle, the director of factory LMDh racing at Porsche, says the German brand will be sad to see Hertz Team JOTA switch to competing with Cadillac at the end of the current season. While Porsche was aware of the British team’s switch to …
Urs Kuratle, the director of factory LMDh racing at Porsche, says the German brand will be sad to see Hertz Team JOTA switch to competing with Cadillac at the end of the current season.
While Porsche was aware of the British team’s switch to becoming Cadillac’s service provider for its two-car factory Hypercar effort long in advance of the news becoming public, Kuratle admits that the marque is still disappointed that JOTA’s time as a 963 customer team is coming to an end.
“We are extremely sorry to lose JOTA from the customer stable,” he told RACER. “They put in great performances, which was good for Porsche, won the race at Spa and achieved more positive results. It’s a shame to lose them but the step they are taking is understandable.
“On a personal note, I will miss going into the JOTA garage on race weekends. They are a really great bunch of people and it’s a shame that we will lose those guys and access to that garage.”
JOTA’s departure comes at an interesting time for Porsche’s 963 program. On one hand, the factory effort with Penske is going from strength to strength. On the other, the customer program looks set to shrink due to the level of budget required serving as a barrier to entry for aspirant teams and a lack of space on the grid in the FIA WEC.
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“We are in discussions on how we want to replace, or if we want to replace JOTA’s cars going forward,” Kuratle said. “The difference between the WEC and IMSA in this instance is that there are more spots available in IMSA’s GTP class. That makes IMSA the place to be for customers and there’s not much we can do about that.
“We will see how it goes. We have Proton and JDC and we are in contact with different people. It’s still not a huge market; there are not 10 teams asking for a car.”
Interestingly, with fewer customer cars in circulation, the task of rolling out updates for the 963 going forward will become be easier, but the loss of JOTA coincides with a change in stance from the German marque on implementing “joker” updates for its car.
With Penske leading both the IMSA and WEC manufacturers’ championships, Porsche isn’t quite as eager to bring substantial changes to a car which is winning races regularly, in its second year of competition and still maturing.
“The [planned] crankshaft change is done (not happening), and that’s clear, and we are discussing other things, but there will be no major updates on the car for next year,” Kuratle confirmed.
“In the off-season, we will focus on rest for our people, though there are still things we need to work on operationally. We need to build up cars, too, ahead of January and Daytona.”
