Portimao Post-Race Notebook

***Brendon Hartley became the FIA World Endurance Championship’s second most successful driver in terms of overall wins by taking victory in the 6 Hours of Portimao alongside his Toyota Gazoo Racing co-drivers Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi.

***Hartley, who has driven for Toyota and Porsche in Hypercar and LMP1 respectively, has now won 20 WEC races – a quarter of all events held since 2012 — and sits behind only Buemi who increased his tally to 23 wins.

***Buemi blamed himself for losing the lead at the start of the race, being overtaken by both teammate Mike Conway and Ferrari’s James Calado. “I guess it was my mistake, I was not aggressive enough,” he said. It’s always difficult when you race the sister car into turn one. You don’t want to have any contact. Maybe I’ll need to change my approach a little bit for the next race if it happens again.”

***Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa took the lead of the FIA Hypercar Drivers World Endurance Championship, overtaking their Toyota teammates Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway in the standings. The No. 7 crew slipped to third behind Ferrari’s Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen.

***Toyota increased its lead in the Hypercar manufacturers’ world championship to 22 points over Ferrari, while Porsche drew level with Cadillac on 30 points each.

***Porsche Penske Motorsport changed multiple components related to the power steering on its No. 5 Porsche 963 after Michael Christensen pitted in the fifth hour. Factory LMDh director Urs Kuratle said: “We changed the pump and we changed the power unit to supply the pump with electricity because in the heat of the race we wouldn’t detect what the reason was, what the root cause was on this one. So we changed both.”

***The problem with the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8’s power steering was a new issue that the team had not seen before, according to technical director Olivier Jansonnie. “We were worried about these 10-15 minutes before the start of the [reconnaissance] lap,” he said. “There was a small chance that it could work [during that lap] but it did not, so we had to repair and start form the pit lane.”

***Despite that initial setback, the No. 93 Peugeot had a clean rest of the race and finished seventh. It appeared to be Peugeot’s strongest race outing for its LMH program to date, after significant reliability hits during each of its last four WEC outings.

***Alex Lynn suggested that the tire allocations for Portimao helped bring Cadillac closer to Ferrari. “They’re really good on new tires and can explode a lap time, and we’re very good on a double stint,” he said. “In a six-hour race, the allocation isn’t equal between an eight and a six, so it brings us closer in that sense.”

***Each Hypercar gets 18 Michelin tires for qualifying and the race in a six-hour, whereas an eight-hour carries a 26-tire allocation.

***Ferrari is set to have one more test at Monza between now and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Chip Ganassi Racing will return to Portimao for a three-day endurance test with its Cadillac V-Series.R in early May.

***United Autosports trio Josh Pierson, Giedo van der Garde and Oliver Jarvis carried on something of a Portimao tradition after winning the LMP2 class, celebrating their victory by jumping in the pool located in the paddock.

***Ben Keating revealed he was forced to take it easy during his second stint behind the wheel of the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R after coming close to a track limit penalty. “I got four track limit warnings in the second half of that first stint, knowing that I still had to do another full stint. I really had to back it off and let them go. That’s hard for a racer to do, but I was able to run consistent laps.”

***Keating’s co-driver Nicky Catsburg drew laughter during the post-race press conference when he revealed Corvette Racing was without one of its main mechanics at Portimao due to a peculiar injury. “He broke his collarbone playing table tennis,” the Dutchman quipped. “I just wanted to mention this. He will be back with us at Spa and then we’ll be even faster.”

***Roger Penske spent the weekend at Portimao, sitting in the Porsche Penske Motorsport box as the LMDh factory team claimed its first Hypercar podium. Penske chose to attend the WEC event over the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, where his team was in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and NTT IndyCar Series action.

***A ‘Virtual Energy Tank’ graphic was added to the WEC television broadcast at Portimao. Percentages and visualizer bars showed the live status of combined energy that each Hypercar had from its powertrain. The energy per stint for each car is defined in the Balance of Performance.

***Before its retirement due to a brake failure, the Vanwall Vandervell 680 Gibson was given a five-second stop-go penalty for exceeding its torque transfer limit twice. The No. 50 Ferrari 499P similarly went over the limit but was only reprimanded for a single offense.

***Glickenhaus, meanwhile, had a trouble-free run with its non-hybrid LMH car. It was the Glickenhaus 007 Pipo’s most reliable showing since its podium at last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, after retirements at Monza and Sebring.

***Team principal Luca Ciancetti told Sportscar365: “We have to improve the pace, of course, to be competitive. But it was way better than in Sebring. I think we are [going] in the right direction. Hopefully the next circuit will suit our car better.”

***Ciancetti added that the only snag for Glickenhaus was a shorter stint in the middle of the race to clear rubber that had gathered in the rear brake cooling and led to temperatures spiking.

***Aside from the Vanwall, the only other car to retire from the race was the D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE which encountered an engine issue.

***Alpine Elf Endurance Team battled with “inconsistent balance” on its LMP2 cars, according to team principal Philippe Sinault. “We took a gamble by changing the rear-end block to have a better aerodynamic setup and capitalize on it in case of a neutralization, he said. “The safety car came out quite late – too late – as the gaps were already too big.”

***Vector Sport encountered an issue with its Oreca’s fly-by-wire throttle motor that contributed to its 22-lap deficit to the LMP2 winner. Supplier Gibson fitted a new motor for Vector to reach the end. “It’s positioned under the gearbox, so it took time to find and another 20 minutes to change,” said Gabriel Aubry.

***Vector and Isotta Fraschini are planning to give the Tipo 6 LMH Competizione its next test in early May, following a return to the dyno rig after last week’s first rollout.

***United Autosports driver Ben Hanley won the second Goodyear Wingfoot award, presented to the LMP2 driver that registers the fastest double stint. Hertz Team JOTA’s Will Stevens picked up the accolade time around at Sebring.

***Michelin observed the Hypercar manufacturers adopting different strategies at Portimao. “Some teams didn’t hesitate to run different compounds concurrently, with mediums on the left and softs on the right – which is the side that suffers less from wear,” said Pierre Alves. “Certain teams chose to double-stint their right-hand tire and replace the lefts at every refueling stop, whereas others ran the Medium compound only, and changed their tires every two stops.”

***The top two finishing manufacturers – Toyota and Ferrari — used Michelin’s harder ‘medium’ compound throughout the race, although Toyota’s technical chief Pascal Vasselon said his team could have also used the softs but chose not to.

***Sportscar365 understands that could adjust its WEC tire compound nomenclature later this season. The French supplier currently names its compounds soft-cold, soft-hot and medium. However, Michelin is known to be looking at changing this arrangement to eliminate the temperature-based distinction of the softer specifications.

***The third round of the WEC season is the 6 Hours of Spa on Saturday, April 29.

Davey Euwema contributed to this report