Although it is often said that the weekend in May when the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco Grand Prix coincide is one of the biggest Sundays of the year in motorsport, it must be said that this first day of September was no less exciting. And if there was excitement on practically all fronts, starting with the World Motorcycle Championship races in Aragon, the battle of Monza with Ferrari winning the final and the excitement of the crazy race of the IndyCar Series, the WEC also shined in its own light in what was its return to COTA after leaving Sebring.
It was once again a top-notch fight, in which the good performance of the Alpine stood out, capable of fighting for the Top5 on the Texan track, where we had The second victory of the year for a private prototype after the one achieved by JOTA in Spa-Francorchamps and in which we had some other theatrical twists such as the one between the Toyota #8 and the Porsche #6 leader of the World Championship in their contact, or the unfortunate retirement of the Ferrari #51 with which the Prancing Horse firm is almost saying goodbye to fighting for the WEC, at least with that unit.
Still, Austin’s big stars were the trio made up of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzmanwhich gave AF Corse its first win as a fully-fledged team in this era of Hypercars, as well as becoming the sixth winners of the season, being the first time that a Ferrari 499P has won an event other than the 24 Hours of Le Mans in these two seasons. However, it was an exciting finish as The yellow Ferrari 499 LMH could only breathe easy after a penalty was handed to Toyota, which it had to accept when it saw the #7 GR010 Hybrid LMH (Kobayashi, de Vries and Conway) take second place on the podium.
The start was spectacular, with the two Ferraris that started in the front positions consolidating their positions and unit #50 gaining many positions thanks to a magnificent exit from Miguel Molina, which pulled out all the stops to launch itself into the first corner and escort its sister cars. However, as the laps went by we found Antonio Giovinazzi stopping in the middle of the track due to a transmission problem after contact with an LMGT3.
The Italian made multiple efforts to try to reach the pits, but even had to be rescued in the pit lane by Ferrari mechanics after stopping again in front of the Lamborghini box. With one of the official prototypes out of the race, The one that gained the most prominence would be number #83placing itself at the front of the race and gradually standing out from the Porsches, BMWs and a Toyota that, after a poor qualifying, once again brought its lead back into the race.
He especially highlighted the good work of the Chinese pilot Ye, which held up well to Nyck de Vries’ attacks when the Ferrari was on the hard compound. Even so, when Kamui Kobayashi took control of the Toyota, he did not hesitate to overtake him and escape to the front, however, a drive-through penalty for a yellow flag violation/passing This caused the Toyota to fall behind and allowed Shwartzman to regain the lead in his turn, thus seeing the checkered flag and achieving his first victory in the top class of endurance racing alongside Kubica and Yifei.
The #50 Ferrari of Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen and Antonio Fuoco completed the final podium ahead of the Cadillac of Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber and the #35 Alpine A424 driven by Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin. Porsche 963 #6 of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer leading the World Championship could only finish sixth after serving a drive-through penalty also for an infringement during a yellow flag period and after being hit by the Toyota #8 in an incomprehensible action by Sébastien Buemi who strangled Estre against the protections, an action that ended with the GR010 punctured and with a 30-second penalty. Stop&Go at his pit stop.
In LMGT3, great news as there was a Spanish victory the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from Heart of Racing driven by Alex Riberas, Daniel Mancinelli and Ian Jamesahead in this case of the #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Manthey PureRxcing and his teammates Klaus Bachler, Alex Malykhin and Joel Sturm in third position. It was another bitter weekend for Dani Juncadella, who found himself last when his stint began and complained bitterly on social media once again about his teammate.
