WEC COTA: AF Corse Ferrari sneaks past Toyota for win

Ferrari took its first victory in a regular World Endurance Championship race with the customer AF Corse-run 499P driven by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman at Austin.

The Italian manufacturer, a two-time winner at the Le Mans 24 Hours with the 499P Le Mans Hypercar, followed up on Charles Leclerc’s Monza Grand Prix victory after a thrilling finish to Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans six-hour race on the Circuit of The Americas. 

Shwartzman inherited the lead from the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH with 40 minutes of the race to run when Kamui Kobayashi took a drive-through penalty for a yellow-flag infringement.

The Japanese driver, teamed with Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries, came out of the pits nine seconds behind the Ferrari but quickly made up ground.

Kobayashi was still closing at the end, but ran out of time, ending up just 1.7 seconds behind at the chequered flag.

Toyota appeared to have a win in the bag as the race entered its final stages, having managed to get the undercut on the yellow Ferrari, which had led the majority of the first two-thirds of the race.

Kobayashi took the wheel for the final two hours and pulled away from Shwartzman, building up a lead of 10 seconds only to lose it for a penalty for ignoring yellow flags at Turn 11.

The #83 AF CORSE Ferrari 499P Hypercar (Photo by: JEP)

Third place at COTA went to the Le Mans-winning factory Ferrari crew of Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, and Antonio Fuoco.

They lacked the pace of the customer Ferrari and the sister works 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessasndro Pier Guidi which ended up retiring from the race.

Driveline issues that followed a collision with an LMGT3 runner left it with a damaged wheel rim and then a spin while Giovinazzi was lapping one of the Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs conspired against the #51 crew.

Cadillac took fourth — its best result of the season — with the Ganassi-run V-Series.R shared by Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn.

Alpine followed in fifth in the A424 LMDh shared by Ferdinand Habsburg, Paul-Loup Chatin and Charles Milesi. They fought back from an early penalty after Habsburg locked up on the first lap and was penalised for the contact with Bamber at Turn 12 at the end of the long back straight.

The Signatech-run Alpine benefitted from a late penalty for Kevin Estre in the championship-leading Porsche 963 LMDh for a yellow-flag infringement, which left the Penske-run car co-driven by Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer sixth at the flag.

The #2 Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar of Earl Bamber, and Alex Lynn (Photo by: JEP)

Vanthoor, Lotterer, and Estre fought through the field from 14th on the grid, with Estre surviving a clash with Sebastien Buemi in the second Toyota in the race's fifth hour.

Buemi, on an outlap, made contact with the Porsche as he moved over on the back straight to protect his position. He continued to move to the left, resulting in a second contact.

The Toyota sustained a rear puncture and bodywork damage, before being given a 30-second stop-go penalty for causing a collision that left the car 15th and last of the classified finishers in Hypercar.

The best of the WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDhs, the #20 car driven by Rene Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde, was also hit with a late penalty of 100s for an energy infringement. It lost a top-six position as a result, ending up in 13th at the finish.

Aston triumphs in LMGT3

#27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3: Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli, Alex Riberas (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

The LMGT3 class was dominated by the American-flagged Heart of Racing Aston Martin squad.

Its Vantage GT3 crewed by Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli, and Alex Riberas crossed the line with almost half a minute in hand over its nearest competitor to take the victory.

Bronze-rated James, who's also Heart of Racing's team principal, laid the foundation for the squad’s first WEC victory since joining the series last year. The Briton converted pole position into the race lead and raced away from Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan EVO2.

Heart of Racing’s run to victory was made easier when a clash between the Iron Lynx-run Lamborghini (which Bovy shared with Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting) and the best of the TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs (the #81 entry driven by Tom van Rompuy, Rui Andrade, and Charlie Eastwood) took both cars from contention.

That allowed the two Manthey-run Porsche 911 GT3-Rs — running 1-2 in the class points coming into the Austin race — to come through to claim second and third positions despite receiving a Balance of Performance hit and carrying significant success ballast. 

Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm, and Klaus Bachler took second with 30kg of success ballast, while the sister car of Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, and Richard Lietz took third with 25kg after the Shahin received a drive-through for a track limits violation.

Vanthoor, Lotterer, and Estre still lead the Hypercar championship on 125 points; Molina, Nielsen, Fuoco and de Vries and Kobayashi tied on 113 points.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Retirement	Points
1	AF Corse HYPERCAR	83	R. Kubica R. Shwartzman Y. Yifei	Ferrari 499P	183	6:00'23.755		5
2	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	7	M. Conway K. Kobayashi N. de Vries	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	183	+1.780 6:00'25.535	1.780	6
3	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	50	A. Fuoco M. Molina N. Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	183	+26.282 6:00'50.037	24.502	5
4	CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR	2	E. Bamber A. Lynn	Cadillac V-Series.R	183	+46.924 6:01'10.679	20.642	5
5	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	35	P. Chatin F. Habsburg C. Milesi	Alpine A424	183	+1'10.513 6:01'34.268	23.589	6
6	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	6	K. Estre A. Lotterer L. Vanthoor	Porsche 963	183	+1'36.873 6:02'00.628	26.360	6
7	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	5	M. Campbell M. Christensen F. Makowiecki	Porsche 963	183	+1'41.494 6:02'05.249	4.621	6
8	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	15	D. Vanthoor R. Marciello M. Wittmann	BMW M Hybrid V8	182	+1 Lap 6:00'24.494	1 Lap	5
9	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	36	N. Lapierre M. Schumacher M. Vaxiviere	Alpine A424	182	+1 Lap 6:00'30.686	6.192	5
10	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	38	J. Button P. Hanson O. Rasmussen	Porsche 963	182	+1 Lap 6:01'25.104	54.418	6
11	Proton Competition HYPERCAR	99	H. Tincknell N. Jani J. Andlauer	Porsche 963	182	+1 Lap 6:01'29.398	4.294	6
12	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	93	M. Jensen N. Müller J. Vergne	Peugeot 9X8 2024	182	+1 Lap 6:01'42.339	12.941	5
13	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	20	S. Van Der Linde R. Frijns R. Rast	BMW M Hybrid V8	182	+1 Lap 6:01'49.454	7.115	7
14	Lamborghini Iron Lynx HYPERCAR	63	M. Bortolotti E. Mortara D. Kvyat	Lamborghini SC63	182	+1 Lap 6:02'29.117	39.663	6
15	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	8	S. Buemi B. Hartley R. Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	181	+2 Laps 6:00'33.605	1 Lap	8
16	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	27	I. James D. Mancinelli A. Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	164	+19 Laps 6:01'05.796	17 Laps	6
17	Manthey PureRxcing LMGT3	92	A. Malykhin J. Sturm K. Bachler	Porsche 911 GT3 R	164	+19 Laps 6:01'26.334	20.538	6
18	Manthey EMA LMGT3	91	Y. Shahin M. Schuring R. Lietz	Porsche 911 GT3 R	164	+19 Laps 6:01'57.655	31.321	7
19	United Autosports LMGT3	59	J. Cottingham N. Costa G. Saucy	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	164	+19 Laps 6:02'05.137	7.482	6
20	TEAM WRT LMGT3	31	D. Leung S. Gelael A. Farfus	BMW M4 GT3	164	+19 Laps 6:02'27.867	22.730	8
21	Proton Competition LMGT3	77	R. Hardwick Z. Robichon B. Barker	Ford Mustang GT3	163	+20 Laps 6:00'24.931	1 Lap	7
22	United Autosports LMGT3	95	J. Caygill N. Pino M. Sato	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	163	+20 Laps 6:01'12.465	47.534	8
23	TF Sport LMGT3	82	H. Koizumi S. Baud D. Juncadella	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	163	+20 Laps 6:01'42.770	30.305	8
24	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	78	A. Robin C. Schmid K. van der Linde	Lexus RC F GT3	163	+20 Laps 6:01'50.973	8.203	7
25	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	55	F. Heriau S. Mann A. Rovera	Ferrari 296 GT3	163	+20 Laps 6:02'19.502	28.529	7
26	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	87	T. Kimura E. Masson J. Lopez	Lexus RC F GT3	162	+21 Laps 6:00'39.831	1 Lap	7
27	IRON LYNX LMGT3	60	C. Schiavoni M. Cressoni F. Perera	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	162	+21 Laps 6:01'27.409	47.578	8
28	IRON DAMES LMGT3	85	S. Bovy R. Frey M. Gatting	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	160	+23 Laps 6:01'55.004	2 Laps	7
	TEAM WRT LMGT3	46	A. Al Harthy V. Rossi M. Martin	BMW M4 GT3	155	+28 Laps 5:43'26.210	5 Laps	7	Retirement
	Proton Competition LMGT3	88	B. Keating M. Pedersen D. Olsen	Ford Mustang GT3	146	+37 Laps 5:22'02.350	9 Laps	5	Retirement
	TF Sport LMGT3	81	T. Van Rompuy R. Andrade C. Eastwood	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	137	+46 Laps 5:12'25.346	9 Laps	7	Retirement
	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	94	P. di Resta L. Duval S. Vandoorne	Peugeot 9X8 2024	121	+62 Laps 4:00'03.662	16 Laps	5	Retirement
	D'Station Racing LMGT3	777	C. Mateu E. Bastard M. Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	81	+102 Laps 3:20'35.420	40 Laps	4	Retirement
	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	12	W. Stevens C. Ilott N. Nato	Porsche 963	71	+112 Laps 5:45'30.417	10 Laps	8	Retirement
	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	51	A. Pier Guidi J. Calado A. Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	55	+128 Laps 1:49'30.062	16 Laps	2	Retirement
	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	54	T. Flohr F. Castellacci D. Rigon	Ferrari 296 GT3	54	+129 Laps 2:39'07.409	1 Lap	4	Retirement
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