No. 6 Penske Porsche Emerges Victorious in Chaotic COTA Race

Porsche Penske Motorsport scored its first victory of the FIA World Endurance Championship season as Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell came out on top in a chaotic rain-affected Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of The Americas.

Estre dominated the final two hours aboard the No. 6 Porsche 963 after seizing control of the race from the No. 51 Ferrari 499P of Alessandro Pier Guidi at the penultimate safety car restart, the Frenchman thriving in the difficult conditions.

As Pier Guidi dropped down the order with a puncture, the legacy of contact with Estre as the Porsche driver passed at Turn 1, it was left to Miguel Molina in the No. 50 car to lead the Ferrari charge in the closing stages.

But in the final round of pit stops, which took place on a drying track inside the final 20 minutes, Molina was jumped by the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 of Stoffel Vandoorne.

However, with just ten minutes left on the clock, Molina was able to repass Vandoorne to grab second in the No. 50 car he shares with Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen, but ended up 8.625 seconds behind Estre at the finish.

Despite narrowly missing out on Peugeot’s best-ever WEC result, Vandoorne led home a 3-4 finish for the French brand, securing the final spot on the podium for himself and co-drivers Loic Duval and Malthe Jakobsen.

The sister No. 93 Peugeot of Mikkel Jensen, Paul di Resta and Jean-Eric Vergne was fourth, ahead of the championship-leading No. 51 Ferrari of a recovering Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi.

The best of the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA machines, the No. 38 car of Sebastien Bourdais, Jenson Button and Earl Bamber was sixth ahead of the pole-winning No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Ye Yifei.

It means that the No. 51 Ferrari will carry an expanded 15-point advantage into the final two races of the season.

Behind the second of the Cadillacs, the No. 12 car that had been in the fight for a podium before dropping down the order with a late off-sequence driver change, the best of the Toyota GR010 Hybrids, the No. 8 car, scored two points for ninth.

Completing the scorers was the No. 5 Penske Porsche, which lost time with a late change of rear deck at its final pit stop.

Heart of Racing Team lost a strong chance of a double points finish in the final hour, as Harry Tincknell pulled off circuit with a clutch issue in the No. 007 Aston Martin Valkyrie, and the sister car of Marco Sorensen hit trouble during the Full Course Yellow period prompted by Tincknell’s stoppage, dropping 13 laps off the pace.

AF Corse Penalty Gifts LMGT3 Victory to United Autosports McLaren

While few Hypercar runners gambled on slick tires on a drying track, the battle for LMGT3 honors was entirely decided by which crews opted for slicks, a gamble that propelled the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 to an on-the-road victory.

However, a five-second penalty incurred by Davide Rigon for contact with Proton Competition Ford driver Ben Barker meant that the class win ultimately went to Marino Sato, Darren Leung and Sean Gelael in the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

It marked both the team and manufacturer’s first win in LMGT3 competition.

The No. 77 Proton Ford Mustang GT3 had looked in command in the closing stages, but a slightly earlier final stop to allow Ben Barker to take over from Ben Tuck effectively sealed the team’s fate, as the car stuck with wet tires.

By contrast, the majority of the field opted for dry tires for the final stint, with Rigon at the forefront of that group aboard the No. 54 Ferrari.

Having run fifth with 30 minutes to go, Rigon sliced through the field, passing the wet tire-shod No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R of Richard Lietz and then Barker in quick succession to lead, albeit only after making contact with the latter that would ultimately cost the Italian and his co-drivers Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci the win.

The five-second penalty not only dropped the No. 54 Ferrari behind the No. 95 McLaren, which likewise took slicks, but also the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO driven by Kelvin van der Linde, Valentino Rossi and Ahmad Al Harthy.

Barker slipped all the way to sixth in the No. 77 Mustang GT3, while Richard Lietz had to be content with seventh place in the championship-leading No. 92 Porsche he shares with Riccardo Pera and Ryan Hardwick.

Both cars were promoted one position by a converted drive-through penalty assessed to the No. 31 BMW that had finished fourth on the road.

It means Lietz, Pera and Hardwick lead the LMGT3 standings by 16 points with the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari scoring a single point for tenth and the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R failing to score.

RESULTS: Lone Star Le Mans