The privately entered #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzmann took the win at the 6 Hours of COTA in Texas. The yellow-liveried 499P held off strong challenges from Toyota and Ferrari to take its first ever FIA WEC win.
Ferrari the car to beat all weekend
Ferrari began the weekend strongly by locking out the front row in Hyperpole, with the #51 Ferrari AF Corse of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi starting from pole along the #83 crew.
The #51 machine lead the field away at a blisteringly hot Circuit of the Americas, keenly pursued by the #83 in second. Antonio Fuoco also made a great start in the #50 Ferrari to slot into third position.
The first chink in the Ferrari armour came just before the two-hour mark. Giovinazzi span his 499p and was unable to get the car going again. The Italian limped back to the pits but was forced to retire.
The #51’s demise handed the advantage to the #83 machine, which Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye piloted expertly as the race crossed past the halfway point. Quick and consistent lap times meant that the AF Corse car still held the advantage over the chasing pack as the race neared towards its conclusion.
Hard-charging #7 Toyota in hot pursuit
The main threat to Ferrari’s lead came from the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries. In the second half of the race, the #7 crew gradually closed the gap to Israeli driver Robert Shwartzmann – to just a handful of seconds at times.
In Kobayashi’s hands in particular it appeared to be just a matter of time until the Toyota caught and passed the Ferrari. However, a controversial drive-through penalty after Kobayashi was found to have ignored a yellow flag gave Shwartzmann a healthy 20-second lead again with just 45 minutes remaining.
Despite the Japanese driver’s best efforts, the #83 held on to the lead and took the win by just under two seconds – giving the FIA WEC its sixth race winner in six races in 2024.
#50 podium heats up championship battle
Third place went to the #50 Ferrari, with the Maranello-based squad and Toyota benefitting from a poor showing from Porsche, who could only finish in P6.
The results at COTA mean that Toyota now lead the FIA Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers Championship by 11 points with two rounds remaining. Porsche remain in second place, while Ferrari are just 8 points further back in third.
Strong showings from Cadillac and Alpine
Cadillac Racing and Alpine Endurance Team posted their best results of the season so far at the Circuit of the Americas. The #2 Cadillac V-Series.R came home in fourth position, while the #35 Alpine A424 was fifth.
Sixth and seventh were the pair of works Porsches, with BMW, the second Alpine and Hertz Team Jota rounding out the top 10.
Domination for Heart of Racing in LMGT3
Heart of Racing put together a flawless performance in LMGT3 to record their first win of the season. The #27 Aston Martin Vantage of Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas qualified on pole position and rarely looked troubled throughout the six-hour race.
Second in the class was the championship-leading Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Malykhin/Sturm/Bachler. The final spot on the podium went to the sister Porsche of Manthey EMA.
Images © Maksym Lobachov