Sportscar365’s Race of the Year

Sportscar365 is recognizing its top competitors and moments from 2022, as selected by website staff. Next is Race of the Year, supported by three honorable mentions.

Race of the Year – 6 Hours of Monza

Toyota’s dominance of recent FIA World Endurance Championship seasons often inhibited blockbuster racing in the top class, however this year’s race at Monza was a notable exception.

Glickenhaus had the fastest car in Italy but a sudden turbo failure prevented the American squad from taking its first WEC win and paved the way for a titanic Hypercar scrap between Toyota and eventual winner Alpine.

Recalling past battles from the LMP1 hybrid days, the lighter LMP1-spec Alpine A480 Gibson was supreme in the corners but the Toyota GR010 Hybrid’s straight-line grunt enabled the Japanese manufacturer’s newer LMH car to riposte out of Parabolica.

That resulted in some thrilling side-by-side duels that came to a head when Kamui Kobayashi and Matthieu Vaxiviere made contact on the main straight. Kobayashi received a penalty, clearing the way for Vaxiviere, Nicolas Lapierre and Andre Negrao to win.

The race also yielded a thrilling finale in the GTE-Pro class, as Nick Tandy showed feather-foot abilities to out-last the No. 52 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo on fuel and deliver Corvette Racing’s first and only GTE-Pro win outside of Le Mans.

In the other categories, Dempsey-Proton Racing denied the Iron Dames in an excellent GTE-Am contest, while Realteam by WRT broke through in LMP2.

There was also high drama in the form of Henrique Chaves’ frightening airborne accident at Roggia, and high intrigue as Peugeot debuted its eye-catching 9X8 in Hypercar.

Very few WEC races since Porsche’s LMP1 exit in 2017 have been classics for the top category, but there’s a strong case to be made for Monza 2022 being the pick of the bunch from the last four seasons.

Honorable Mentions

***Team WRT’s inspired call to put slick tires on Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts’ Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II produced one of the year’s best finishes in the second Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup race at Valencia. Weerts lost positions after emerging from the pits on a damp track, but a drying line enabled him to re-enter the frame. The Belgian started the final tour five seconds behind Timur Boguslavskiy and Aurelien Panis who were on wets. As if from nowhere, Weerts interrupted an already pulsating lead battle and stole victory with two corners to go, triggering rapture in the WRT garage.

***IMSA’s popular DPi class bowed out in typically enthralling style at Motul Petit Le Mans where Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis clinched the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship by winning the 10-hour race alongside Helio Castroneves. Acura team Meyer Shank Racing prevailed after the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillacs took each other out and Wayne Taylor Racing’s Acura retired with suspension damage. It was a classic no-holds-barred contest that typified the level of competition that DPi treated us with throughout its six-year lifespan.

***After two years of COVID and red flag-affected editions, the Nürburgring 24 returned to full force in 2022 with an uninterrupted race and 230,000 fans packed around the Nordschleife. Their hunger for a ‘proper’ N24 was satisfied by an excellent race. There was the drama of early leader TF Sport crashing out after six hours, and the incident between brothers Laurens and Dries Vanthoor that spectacularly eliminated defending winner Manthey. The conclusion was a tight chess match between Phoenix and GetSpeed that ended with the former team winning for Audi.

***There are many reasons why the Rolex 24 at Daytona is worth a mention, but we’re choosing to highlight the brilliant fight for GTD Pro honors between Porsche teams Pfaff Motorsports and KCMG. With manufacturer orders out of the question, factory drivers Mathieu Jaminet and Laurens Vanthoor contested the final stint like a kart race, building up to the crescendo of Vanthoor spinning at the Le Mans chicane after a last-ditch passing attempt. Jaminet went on to win for Pfaff, laying the foundations for a title run.