The #83 AF Corse Ferrari has gained the sixth spherical of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). The privateer Ferrari crew secured a totally well-earned victory, combating off a storming cost by the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing automotive within the last phases of the race, with a profitable margin after 6 hours of racing of simply 1.780 seconds, the shortest profitable racing margin in WEC historical past. The manufacturing facility #50 Ferrari AF Corse automotive rounded off the rostrum in third place.
In LMGT3, it was a lights to flag victory for the #27 Coronary heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR Vantage LMGT3, the American crew wanting imperious from begin to end. Championship leaders Manthey PureRxcing completed 2nd, 20.538 seconds behind, with Manthey EMA coming house in third.
Driver Response
The profitable #83 driver squad gave their ideas instantly after the race. “For certain we may be completely satisfied” enthused Robert Kubica. “It wasn’t simple. We knew this race could be fairly crucial with tyres and site visitors administration, however the automotive labored tremendous effectively. Really, I believe we had one of the best steadiness of the weekend in the course of the race. It began effectively and completed even higher! We couldn’t hope for a greater Sunday.”
Robert Shwartzman, the person who introduced the automotive house beneath immense strain, admitted that “there was quite a lot of strain, particularly on the final laps as my tyres have been going away utterly and I used to be sliding all over. Any mistake may have price us something. I’m very completely satisfied I managed to maintain it on the observe! I wish to thank Scuderia Ferrari and the individuals who work right here. We pushed so exhausting to attain this consequence and at last we acquired it.”
“I’m tremendous grateful to my teammates” Ye Yifei added. “They completely delivered and Ferrari gave us a brilliant automotive. It’s an excellent reward to the blokes who’ve been working so exhausting this season. We delivered two Ferrari victories at this time, one in F1 and one in WEC, so it’s marvellous.”
Race Report
Following an exhilarating qualifying session, Ferrari locked out the entrance row of the grid with the #51 AF Corse automotive on pole. With air temperatures of a damp 35 levels Celsius, it was shaping as much as be an epic feat of endurance in each sense. Probably the most extraordinary begin was by Edoardo Mortara within the #63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx, leaping from 18th to tenth within the area of just some corners. The #5 Porsche dived into the pits on the finish of the primary lap as a result of a chunk of security gear being left on the automotive. In the meantime it was all smiles for Ferrari, with their automobiles #51, #83, and #50 within the first three positions.
In LMGT3, Coronary heart of Racing held onto their lead in the beginning, with the Iron Dames and the #55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari swapping positions as they battled for 2nd. In the meantime, in nice information for BMW, Marco Wittmann within the #15 automotive was chasing the #50 Ferrari, establishing a battle for third within the German marque’s best race of the yr to date. Deemed answerable for inflicting a collision on lap 1, the #35 Alpine was handed a drive by way of penalty, a disappointing begin to the race following an excellent qualifying session.
At half-hour in, the three Ferraris have been settled within the lead of the Hypercar class, with the 2 BMWs very near the again of the #50 Ferrari. Ian James had prolonged his lead in LMGT3 to round 7 seconds from Sarah Bovy within the Iron Dames Lamborghini. The one Texan on the grid, Ben Keating, rose as much as 4th within the #88 Proton Competitors Ford Mustang LMGT3. At 35 minutes in, the #83 Ferrari with Robert Kubica on the helm swept across the outdoors of the #51 automotive to take the general lead.
On the finish of the primary hour, René Rast within the #20 BMW in fifth place was essentially the most economical by way of gas and power ranges, permitting him to go for an additional couple of laps past his rivals. As soon as the pit stops have been accomplished, there was no change in place for the highest 5, however the gaps got here proper down between the three Ferraris and the 2 BMWs. The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport automotive quietly made its method up the sphere in the course of the stops, beginning the 2nd stint in ninth.
Bovy closed the hole between her and the chief of LMGT3 proper down at 1:20:000 race time, the pink Lamborghini starting to to fret the main Aston Martin. Over the crew radio, Bovy admitted to not fairly having sufficient grip to mount an assault, so she settled into her 2nd place. Within the #20 BMW, Rast was on a cost, pulling away from his teammate having overtaken the #15 automotive and, at 1:30:000, was virtually inside a second of the main trio of Ferraris. In the meantime, Wittmann within the #15 BMW developed an issue with the rear beginning to go uncontrolled. Earl Bamber within the #2 Cadillac Racing automotive dived up the within on the run as much as the steep incline of flip 1, earlier than Wittmann dropped even additional right down to eighth. Only a few laps later, he span popping out of flip 7, saying on the radio that he felt he wasn’t in a position to keep it up, whether or not that was relating to tyre points or his personal bodily exhaustion, and he got here into the pits, swapping with Raffaele Marciello.
The #2 Cadillac and the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing automotive have been now the automobiles battling for fifth behind the very quick Ferraris and the #20 BMW. Drama for the #51 Ferrari at flip 12. Having headed down the lengthy again straight, Giovinazzi dived up the within of the #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies automotive and span. Unable to get the automotive working correctly, the automotive plummeted down the order to final within the Hypercar class and limping again to the pit lane. The automotive required 4 mechanics to push it right down to the storage earlier than retiring the automotive, a complete catastrophe for the crew that certified on pole.
Whereas all of that was occurring, positions modified in LMGT3. The #46 Workforce WRT BMW, which began down in fifteenth at school, made an excellent transfer across the Iron Dames to maneuver as much as 2nd. In persevering with dangerous information for Ferrari, contact between one of many LMGT3 McLarens and the #50 Ferrari compelled the Italian automotive extensive and allowed Rast within the #20 BMW into 2nd place, with the #7 Toyota closing quick with Nyck de Vries on the helm. The #2 Cadillac additionally managed to get previous the #50 Ferrari, getting again up into third, their qualifying place.
Within the LMGT3 battle, Rahel Frey despatched her Lamborghini up the within of the #81 TF Sport Corvette of Rui Andrade and clattered into the aspect of the Corvette, inflicting harm to the again of the Lamborghini and her having to be wheeled into the storage for repairs. Championship leaders in Hypercar, the #6 Porsche, have been proving their value by having clawed their method methodically as much as seventh by 2:35:00 in race time having began in 14th.
After 2:50:00, an excellent battle for ninth was underway between Mikkel Jensen within the #93 Porsche and Michael Christensen within the #5 Porsche. After three laps of nice battles, the Porsche made it previous the French automotive, however Peugeot might be buoyed by their efficiency in comparison with one of many frontrunners. In LMGT3, the battle was between Grégoire Saucy within the #59 McLaren and Valentino Rossi within the #46 BMW. The Italian celebrity was placing on a implausible show, throwing his automotive sideways making an attempt to overhaul Saucy.
On the midway level, Ye Yifei was nonetheless main within the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, with de Vries chasing him down within the #7 Toyota. Daniel Mancinelli took over the wheel of the main Coronary heart of Racing automotive in LMGT3, main the category by over 21 seconds. Simply half-hour later, de Vries was proper on the again of the Ferrari, attacking for the lead because the pair headed in the direction of a thick block of LMGT3 site visitors. With considerably much less grip, Ye was in a position to defend magnificently from the Toyota’s assaults.
Toyota determined to herald de Vries in an try to undercut the Ferrari with 4 hours of racing gone. When the #83 Ferrari pulled out of the pit lane following their pit cease, the #7 Toyota got here out within the lead, with the Japanese crew finishing their pit cease an important 4 seconds faster than Ferrari managed. Reverse fortunes for the #8 Toyota. Sébastian Buemi was defending from the #6 Porsche on the run down the again straight and, in a second of recklessness, pushed the Porsche off the observe, in the end inflicting Buemi a puncture and an instantaneous return to the pits. Finally the #8 Toyota acquired a 30 second stop-and-go penalty and Buemi acquired 2 penalty factors on his license.
New Zealander Earl Bamber chased down the #50 Ferrari, getting inside 3 seconds of the Ferrari working in third with 1:18:00 race time left to run. Kobayashi in the meantime set the quickest lap of the race to date on lap 148, extending the lead on the entrance of the race. Because the race entered its last hour, the ultimate spherical of pit stops didn’t see any adjustments of place among the many frontrunners. Nonetheless, with 46 minutes to go, the race chief was dealt a blow, with the the #7 Toyota being handed a drive by way of penalty for not respecting yellow flags, which handed the lead again to the #83 Ferrari.
Having served that penalty, Kobayashi got here out 9.447 seconds behind the #83 Ferrari with 40 minutes to go. A couple of minutes later, Kobayashi, on most assault, lapped the main LMGT3 Aston Martin off the observe within the run right into a yellow flag space, inflicting nice dialogue among the many commentary crew about whether or not he would get one other penalty. Nonetheless, with quarter-hour to go, nothing was introduced by race management, and Kobayashi closed as much as 5 seconds behind the main Ferrari.
Behind the battle for the win, the #50 Ferrari was comfortably in third, as was the #2 Cadillac in 4th. The #35 Alpine had a really small hole forward of the #20 BMW, each of which have been new producers in WEC’s Hypercar class battling for his or her greatest results of the season to date. Sadly the BMW was given a 100 second stop-and-go penalty for a technical infringement, plummeting them down the order. Kobayashi gave it the whole lot for a last push however in the end couldn’t make it stick, guaranteeing an excellent victory for the #83 Ferrari.
Championship Replace
With two rounds to go in what has been an enthralling championship, the hole on the prime of the drivers’ championship has been lowered. The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport crew proceed to guide, however having completed a comparatively lowly sixth place, their lead has shrunk. They’ve 125 factors, simply 12 forward of each the #7 Toyota crew and the Le Mans profitable #50 Ferrari AF Corse drivers, establishing a completely scintillating 3-way title battle for the remainder of the season. Within the producer battle, Toyota have a slender 11 level lead over Porsche, with Ferrari an additional 8 factors behind the German crew.
In LMGT3, the 2nd place end helps safe Manthey PureRxcing’s place on the prime of the standing, a place they’ve held for the reason that very opening race of the season. Their haul of 118 factors sees them 28 factors forward of Manthey EMA. The #31 Workforce WRT automotive suffered one other dismal day and now lie 6 factors adrift in third, with at this time’s winners, Coronary heart of Racing Workforce, now simply 3 factors behind them in third.
Up Subsequent
The penultimate spherical of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship is Toyota’s house race, the 6 Hours of Fuji on Sunday 15 September. As anybody who watched at this time’s race can testify, it’s completely not one to be missed. Observe The Checkered Flag for full protection.
