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Ferrari Wins WEC Lone Star Le Mans After Late Toyota Failure

Autoweek · Jonathan Ingram · 2026-09-07T02:21:46+00:00 · nguồn gốc

Starting with qualifying, the Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of the Americas was a race of surprises. In the fifth round of the World Endurance Championship, it appeared the Toyota TR010 Hybrid of reigning Le Mans champions Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nyck de Vries would emerge victorious despite a lackluster qualifying and starting seventh on the grid. But just minutes before the finish of the six-hour race, the No. 50 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen took the lead and victory when the Toyota hit mechanical trouble, apparently due to a hydraulic failure. A strong effort by the Alpine Endurance Team resulted in a runner-up finish—until the team suffered a post-race penalty and was dropped to third. Charles Milesi, Antonio Felix da Costa, and Ferdinand Habsburg raced at the sharp end all day after qualifying their A424 third, trailing the winners by 1.116 seconds when the checkered flag fell. Tire strategy almost caught out the Jota Cadillac V-Series.R, which moved up to second after the Alpine team’s penalty. The No. 38 of Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais, and Jack Aitken was leading before it was forced to battle on worn tires after a virtual safety car had bunched the field at the halfway mark. That enabled the No. 7 Toyota to complete its charge to the front with the No. 50 Ferrari in its wake. A safety car bunched the field for a final restart with 46 minutes remaining due to the Akkodis Lexus of Esteban Masson going off course and unexpectedly discovering a service road’s uneven edge that destroyed his car’s radiator. The start of the race was taken behind the safety car due to rain on the far end of the 3.426-mile course. Clouds threatened throughout the race, keeping temperatures cooler than anticipated, but no significant rain fell after the cars took the first green. The No. 38 Cadillac matched the Hyperpole lap time of the pole-winning No. 51 Ferrari of Antonio Gianvinazzi, but was relegated to second on the grid because Aitken’s lap was set later in the session. In LMGT3, the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage of Ian James, Zach Robichon, and Mattia Drudi took a five-second victory over the No. 91 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of James Cottingham, Timur Boguslavskiy, and Ayhancan Guven. The No. 23 Aston Martin that Eduardo Barrichello took to the pole completed the podium. The No. 77 Ford Mustang GT3 of Eric Powell, Ben Tuck, and Sebastian Priaulx took the class lead shortly after the start, but was penalized for a yellow flag infringement and finished fifth. The TF Sport Corvette team, winners of the previous two rounds, apparently suffered from a Balance of Performance handicap, which are not published by the WEC, and struggled through qualifying and the race.