In a race plagued by heavy rains Sunday (Sept. 7), Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Kevin Estre was able to slip past Ferrari AF Corse’s Alessandro Pier Guidi with 105 minutes to go. Contact was made that ultimately resulted in a left front tire for Pier Guidi.
From there, Estre was able to handle a drying Circuit of the Americas and hold off the pack to win the Lone Star Le Mans with teammates Matt Campbell and Laurens Vanthoor. It is the first victory of the year for the defending world champions.
“This one feels sweet since we didn’t come here with any expectations [of victory],” Vanthoor told the WEC’s Shea Adam after the race. “The changeable weather conditions showed that no matter what the pace that we have, the No. 6 [team] still knows how to execute the race. We had a perfect race and [took the victory].”
The margin of victory was 8.625 seconds over Ferrari AF Corse’s Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen. Peugeot TotalEnergies’ Loic Duval, Malthe Jakobsen and Stoffel Vandoorne were third, earning the first podium of the year for Peugeot. The second Peugeot of Paul di Resta, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne was fourth, while the No. 51 Ferrari of Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado were fifth.
Due to steady rain falling at Circuit of the Americas that created conditions reminiscent of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Texas Grand Prix, WEC officials made the decision to start the race behind the safety car. AF Corse’s Phil Hanson led the field around the 3.427-mile course at a reduced pace.
Even at a reduced pace, COTA is treacherous in the race. Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Julien Andlauer found that out the hard way as he spun in turn 13. He didn’t hit anything and continued, but lost multiple positions.
Race-ending issues can also occur in this scenario. 40 minutes into the race, BMW M Team WRT’s Rene Rast pulled over in the Esses with a Hybrid issue.
This was a situation in which the car was not considered safe to touch, or at least it wasn’t from inside the car. As a result, Rast was forced to bail. That ended his race.
After an hour behind the safety car, the conditions did not improve, resulting in race director Eduardo Freitas calling for the red flag. The race was interrupted for 40 minutes.
After two laps behind the safety car, the green came out for the first time nearly a third of the way into the race. Hanson was still in the overall lead with Calado and Vanthoor giving chase.
Unfortunately, the green was not out for long. 15 minutes after the restart, Signatech Alpine’s Frederic Makowiecki and The Heart of Racing’s Tom Gamble both hit a patch of standing water in the Esses and spun. Makowiecki ended up hitting the Tec-Pro barrier. The safety car came out after Makowiecki’s Alpine littered the track with debris.
While Gamble was able to continue and got himself into the top 10 before a mechanical failure ended his race, Makowiecki was able to drag his car back to the pits, but ended up four laps down after getting necessary repairs. He would end up 15th.
The race’s third safety car period came out when Proton Competition’s Nico Varrone spun out in turn 17 and got stuck in the gravel. During that interruption, the rain began to pick up in intensity again.
Antonio Giovinazzi was leading in the No. 51 Ferrari, while Matt Campbell was second and struggling with standing water and briefly went off the road. He wasn’t the only driver who had issues.
BMW M Team WRT’s Raffaele Marciello spun out in the Esses, as did Toyota’s Ryo Hirakawa. Hertz Team JOTA’s Sebastien Bourdais spun out of seventh after hitting standing water exiting turn 10.
The race turned significantly when Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Jose Maria Lopez spun into the gravel and brought out the safety car with a little more than two hours to go. That brought everyone back together.
On the restart, Pier Guidi had the aforementioned contact with Estre in turn 1. That resulted in Campbell taking the lead and Pier Guidi cutting a tire.
Once in the lead, Estre was able to open up a respectable lead over Molina. The Peugeots climbed into the picture, as did Aston Martin’s Harry Tincknell, who got up as high as fifth before clutch problems put him out.
After hours of rain, the precipitation stopped with a little more than an hour to go. With 30+ cars lapping the 3.427-mile course, it didn’t take long for the track to begin to dry out. The final hour saw a few teams chance it with slick tires, but the track wasn’t good for Hypercars to use them.
As the slicks activated, the LMGT3 cars were actually something of a match for the Hypercars and were faster than them in the curves. Estre was able to hold on to take the win.
In LMGT3, Proton Competition pulled a one-two in qualifying for the Ford Mustang GT3. Stefano Gattuso started from pole in his Mustang and led until he made his first stop.
A couple of teams had issues under the yellow that led to brief stints in the garage. Iron Lynx’s Martin Berry had an off-course excursion and damaged his splitter, resulting in some repairs. Akkodis ASP Team’s Petru Umbrarescu ended up having to the garage due to his primary headlights not working.
Proton Competition dominated much of the race, but not with Gattuso’s No. 88. Instead, it was the No. 77 Ford Mustang of Ben Barker, Bernando Sousa and Ben Tuck that was up front of the vast majority of the race.
The race came down to a decision to go with slick tires or stick with wet tires on the final stop. Barker and Manthey 1st Phorm’s Richard Lietz chose to stay on wet tires while the rest of the class went with slicks.
At first, staying on the wet tires seemed like the right move. In the last 15 minutes of the race, the teams on slick tires came to life.
Vista AF Corse’s Davide Rigon was able to turn in laps four seconds faster than either Barker or Leitz. As a result, he was able to run the leaders down in no time.
With just under six minutes to go, Rigon was able to make the move at turn 12 to take the lead away from Barker. Once out front, Rigon was able to pull away and take the victory on the road with teammates Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr.
Or, so they thought. After the race, the stewards assessed a five-second penalty to the No. 54 Ferrari for avoidable contact. That was enough to take the win away and give it to the McLaren of United Autosports’ Sean Galael, Darren Leung and Marino Sato. It is the team’s first win of the year.
The margin of victory was .256 seconds over Team WRT’s Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi and Kelvin van der Linde. The second United Autosports McLaren for Sebastien Baud, James Cottingham and Gregoire Saucy were third, followed by Rigon, Castellacci and Flohr after their penalty. The Heart of Racing’s Mattia Drudi, Ian James and Zacharie Robichon were fifth. Barker ended up sixth on his wet tires.
FIA World Endurance Championship Lone Star Le Mans Unofficial Results
Next up for the WEC is the 6 Hours of Fuji at Fuji Speedway. That race is scheduled for Sept. 28. Given the time difference between the United States and Japan, the race is scheduled to go green on Sept. 27 at 10 p.m. ET with live coverage on HBO Max.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.