The #83 AF Corse Ferrari has won the sixth round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). The privateer Ferrari team secured a thoroughly well-earned victory, fighting off a storming charge by the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing car in the final stages of the race, with a winning margin after 6 hours of racing of just 1.780 seconds, the shortest winning racing margin in WEC history. The factory #50 Ferrari AF Corse car rounded off the podium in 3rd position.

In LMGT3, it was a lights to flag victory for the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR Vantage LMGT3, the American team looking imperious from start to finish. Championship leaders Manthey PureRxcing finished 2nd, 20.538 seconds behind, with Manthey EMA coming home in 3rd.

The winning #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P. Credit: Clément Luck / DPPI

Driver Reaction

The winning #83 driver squad gave their thoughts immediately after the race. “For sure we can be happy” enthused Robert Kubica. “It wasn’t easy. We knew this race would be quite critical with tyres and traffic management, but the car worked super well. Actually, I think we had the best balance of the weekend during the race. It started well and finished even better! We couldn’t hope for a better Sunday.”

Robert Shwartzman, the man who brought the car home under immense pressure, admitted that “there was a lot of pressure, especially on the last laps as my tyres were going away completely and I was sliding all over the place. Any mistake could have cost us anything. I’m very happy I managed to keep it on the track! I want to thank Scuderia Ferrari and the people who work here. We pushed so hard to achieve this result and finally we got it.”

“I’m super grateful to my teammates” Ye Yifei added. “They absolutely delivered and Ferrari gave us a super car. It’s a great gift to the guys who have been working so hard this season. We delivered two Ferrari victories today, one in F1 and one in WEC, so it’s marvellous.”

Race Report

The first charge up the hill to turn 1. Credit: Clément Luck / DPPI

Following a thrilling qualifying session, Ferrari locked out the front row of the grid with the #51 AF Corse car on pole. With air temperatures of a humid 35 degrees Celsius, it was shaping up to be an epic feat of endurance in every sense. The most extraordinary start was by Edoardo Mortara in the #63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx, jumping from 18th to 10th in the space of just a few corners. The #5 Porsche dived into the pits at the end of the first lap due to a piece of safety equipment being left on the car. Meanwhile it was all smiles for Ferrari, with their cars #51, #83, and #50 in the first three positions.

In LMGT3, Heart of Racing held onto their lead at the start, with the Iron Dames and the #55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari swapping positions as they battled for 2nd. Meanwhile, in great news for BMW, Marco Wittmann in the #15 car was chasing the #50 Ferrari, setting up a battle for 3rd in the German marque’s most competitive race of the year so far. Deemed responsible for causing a collision on lap 1, the #35 Alpine was handed a drive through penalty, a disappointing start to the race following a superb qualifying session.

The two BMW M Team WRT BMWs showed great pace throughout the race. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

At 30 minutes in, the three Ferraris were settled in the lead of the Hypercar class, with the two BMWs very close to the back of the #50 Ferrari. Ian James had extended his lead in LMGT3 to around 7 seconds from Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Lamborghini. The only Texan on the grid, Ben Keating, rose up to 4th in the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3. At 35 minutes in, the #83 Ferrari with Robert Kubica at the helm swept around the outside of the #51 car to take the overall lead.

At the end of the first hour, René Rast in the #20 BMW in 5th position was the most economical in terms of fuel and energy levels, allowing him to go for an extra couple of laps beyond his rivals. Once the pit stops were done, there was no change in position for the top five, but the gaps came right down between the three Ferraris and the two BMWs. The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport car quietly made its way up the field during the stops, starting the 2nd stint in 9th.

The #2 Cadillac was very fast at home in Texas. Credit: Charly Lopez / DPPI

Bovy closed the gap between her and the leader of LMGT3 right down at 1:20:000 race time, the pink Lamborghini beginning to to worry the leading Aston Martin. Over the team radio, Bovy admitted to not quite having enough grip to mount an attack, so she settled into her 2nd position. In the #20 BMW, Rast was on a charge, pulling away from his teammate having overtaken the #15 car and, at 1:30:000, was almost within a second of the leading trio of Ferraris. Meanwhile, Wittmann in the #15 BMW developed a problem with the rear starting to go out of control. Earl Bamber in the #2 Cadillac Racing car dived up the inside on the run up to the steep incline of turn 1, before Wittmann dropped even further down to 8th. Just a few laps later, he span coming out of turn 7, saying on the radio that he felt he wasn’t able to carry on, whether that was regarding tyre issues or his own physical exhaustion, and he came into the pits, swapping with Raffaele Marciello.

The #2 Cadillac and the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing car were now the cars battling for 5th behind the very fast Ferraris and the #20 BMW. Drama for the #51 Ferrari at turn 12. Having headed down the long back straight, Giovinazzi dived up the inside of the #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies car and span. Unable to get the car running properly, the car plummeted down the order to last in the Hypercar class and limping back to the pit lane. The car required four mechanics to push it down to the garage before retiring the car, a total disaster for the team that qualified on pole.

The #51 Ferrari is pushed into retirement. Credit: Javier Jimenez / DPPI

While all of that was going on, positions changed in LMGT3. The #46 Team WRT BMW, which started down in 15th in class, made a superb move around the Iron Dames to move up to 2nd. In continuing bad news for Ferrari, contact between one of the LMGT3 McLarens and the #50 Ferrari forced the Italian car wide and allowed Rast in the #20 BMW into 2nd position, with the #7 Toyota closing fast with Nyck de Vries at the helm. The #2 Cadillac also managed to get past the #50 Ferrari, getting back up into 3rd, their qualifying position.

In the LMGT3 battle, Rahel Frey sent her Lamborghini up the inside of the #81 TF Sport Corvette of Rui Andrade and clattered into the side of the Corvette, causing damage to the back of the Lamborghini and her having to be wheeled into the garage for repairs. Championship leaders in Hypercar, the #6 Porsche, were proving their worth by having clawed their way methodically up to 7th by 2:35:00 in race time having started in 14th.

Iron Dames in the pits for damage repairs. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

After 2:50:00, a great battle for 9th was underway between Mikkel Jensen in the #93 Porsche and Michael Christensen in the #5 Porsche. After three laps of great battles, the Porsche made it past the French car, but Peugeot will be buoyed by their performance compared to one of the frontrunners. In LMGT3, the battle was between Grégoire Saucy in the #59 McLaren and Valentino Rossi in the #46 BMW. The Italian superstar was putting on a fantastic display, throwing his car sideways attempting to overtake Saucy.

At the halfway point, Ye Yifei was still leading in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, with de Vries chasing him down in the #7 Toyota. Daniel Mancinelli took over the wheel of the leading Heart of Racing car in LMGT3, leading the class by over 21 seconds. Just 30 minutes later, de Vries was right on the back of the Ferrari, attacking for the lead as the pair headed towards a thick block of LMGT3 traffic. With significantly less grip, Ye was able to defend magnificently from the Toyota’s attacks.

The #83 Ferrari defended the lead for a large portion of the race. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

Toyota decided to bring in de Vries in an attempt to undercut the Ferrari with 4 hours of racing gone. When the #83 Ferrari pulled out of the pit lane following their pit stop, the #7 Toyota came out in the lead, with the Japanese team completing their pit stop a crucial 4 seconds quicker than Ferrari managed. Opposite fortunes for the #8 Toyota. Sébastian Buemi was defending from the #6 Porsche on the run down the back straight and, in a moment of recklessness, pushed the Porsche off the track, ultimately causing Buemi a puncture and an immediate return to the pits. Ultimately the #8 Toyota got a 30 second stop-and-go penalty and Buemi received 2 penalty points on his license.

New Zealander Earl Bamber chased down the #50 Ferrari, getting within 3 seconds of the Ferrari running in 3rd with 1:18:00 race time left to run. Kobayashi meanwhile set the fastest lap of the race so far on lap 148, extending the lead at the front of the race. As the race entered its final hour, the final round of pit stops didn’t see any changes of position among the frontrunners. However, with 46 minutes to go, the race leader was dealt a blow, with the the #7 Toyota being handed a drive through penalty for not respecting yellow flags, which handed the lead back to the #83 Ferrari.

The Heart of Racing Aston Martin which dominated the LMGT3 class. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

Having served that penalty, Kobayashi came out 9.447 seconds behind the #83 Ferrari with 40 minutes to go. A few minutes later, Kobayashi, on maximum attack, lapped the leading LMGT3 Aston Martin off the track in the run into a yellow flag area, causing great discussion among the commentary team about whether he would get another penalty. However, with 15 minutes to go, nothing was announced by race control, and Kobayashi closed up to 5 seconds behind the leading Ferrari.

Behind the battle for the win, the #50 Ferrari was comfortably in 3rd, as was the #2 Cadillac in 4th. The #35 Alpine had a very small gap ahead of the #20 BMW, both of which were new manufacturers in WEC’s Hypercar class battling for their best result of the season so far. Unfortunately the BMW was given a 100 second stop-and-go penalty for a technical infringement, plummeting them down the order. Kobayashi gave it everything for a final push but ultimately couldn’t make it stick, ensuring a great victory for the #83 Ferrari.

Championship Update

The #6 Porsche did well to climb from 14th to 6th but suffered a knock in its championship lead. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

With two rounds to go in what has been an enthralling championship, the gap at the top of the drivers’ championship has been reduced. The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport crew continue to lead, but having finished a relatively lowly 6th position, their lead has shrunk. They have 125 points, just 12 ahead of both the #7 Toyota crew and the Le Mans winning #50 Ferrari AF Corse drivers, setting up an absolutely scintillating 3-way title battle for the rest of the season. In the manufacturer battle, Toyota have a slender 11 point lead over Porsche, with Ferrari a further 8 points behind the German team.

In LMGT3, the 2nd place finish helps secure Manthey PureRxcing’s position at the top of the standing, a position they have held since the very opening race of the season. Their haul of 118 points sees them 28 points ahead of Manthey EMA. The #31 Team WRT car suffered another dismal day and now lie 6 points adrift in 3rd, with today’s winners, Heart of Racing Team, now just 3 points behind them in 3rd.

Up Next

The penultimate round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship is Toyota’s home race, the 6 Hours of Fuji on Sunday 15 September. As anyone who watched today’s race can testify, it is absolutely not one to be missed. Follow The Checkered Flag for full coverage.