Lone Star Le Mans - WEC back at COTA and 3 things to watch

-


Clear your schedules this Labor Day weekend cause we're going racing in the good ole U.S. of A.

The WEC makes its return to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas this Sunday for the first time since the international cluster that was the 2020 season and Covid-19. This is a proper scheduling and an absolutely perfect placement on the calendar - a three-day weekend for all of us at the tail end of summer, and right before NFL football kicks off and dominates every following Sunday from then until February.

Here are three quick things to keep an eye on as we prepare for Round 6 of the WEC season. 

Weather Report Right Now Stinks

So, the forecast looks pretty ass at the moment as of today - over 85% chance of rain Saturday and Sunday. We all know forecasts change and can change rapidly, and dealing with weather is part of the sport no doubt. But we're hoping for peak visual overload this weekend - the nearly 40 cars racing around 20 turns basked in the bright Texas sunshine and that gigantic ass flag flying in the background, etc. etc. Ideally the rain pisses off between now and we have clear skies from 2pm EST until 8pm.

It's Anyone's Game For Hypercar 

Through five rounds we've yet to see a repeat car/driver winner in the Hypercar class. Now, the wins have all been shared by the trio of manufacturers in Toyota, Ferrari and Porsche AKA the Original Axis of Evil, but no numbered car has managed to pull off a second victory through five tries. The question that naturally follows is, will we see that stretch to six different winners come Sunday night? My bet is yes, and I base that mostly off an insane bias to see the No. 2 Cadillac cross the finish line before anyone else. U-S-A!! U-S-A!! WTF IS A KILOMETRE??!!???!!!!?!!??

Ahem, putting that aside, if I was actually betting money on it, the smarter plays would be the No. 51 499P Ferrari or the No. 5 Penske 963. The Axis have simply developed their cars better than anyone else up to this point, and picking another of the manufactures to claim victory is taking a huge gamble. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see it, but the lot of Cadillac, BMW, Alpine, Peugeot and Lamborghini (RIP Isotta Fraschini) have yet to produce even a podium finish between the five/six of them. Hell, even the JOTA squad found a first place finish at Spa (albeit under some wild circumstances) before any of those guys did.

Regardless, it'll be a battle at the top and anything can happen. Here's to hoping the fightin' is good and proper. 

American made - Heart of Racing and the chances of a LMGT3 Championship 

It won't be easy and a lot would have to break their way, but the Heart of Racing has the opportunity in front of them to sneak in the backdoor and claim a world title with three rounds to go. 

The No. 27 has run strong all year in their debut WEC season, which is massively impressive (yet not surprising?) considering their sustained success in IMSA. They've secured a pair of second-place finishes in the opening round in Qatar and last month in Brasil, and an absolutely gnarly wreck took them out in the early morning Sunday at Le Mans, and up to that point of the crash into the barrier they were running P2 in class. Tough break but that's racing. 

They currently sit fourth in the table with 55 points, 45 back of first place Manthey PureRX. It'll be stiff competition with the two Manthey cars and the BMW of Team WRT in front of them, but with two more six hour races to go with COTA and Fuji, and the final 8 hours of Bahrain to come in November, the math works where a win here, another podium there and the HOR will be right on Manthey's ass when it comes to claiming a world championship. With Corvette Racing blowing doors last year to close out their international campaign by going out on top, if another American outfit can produce another world title, and doing so right before elevating themselves to the Valkyrie program, that would be all kinds of awesome, no other way to put it. 

Anyway, that's all I have for today, catch you on the track. 
 
Photo credit: fiawec.com






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WEC Hypercar Grades - Who has earned passing marks with one race to go?

-
Image
Unfortunately there's only one race remaining in the 2024 WEC season, it's crazy how quickly time flies when you're having a shit ton of fun. After the checker flag waves in the desert on November 2 it'll mark the conclusion of arguably the best WEC season since this new iteration of the championship was introduced back in 2012 when factoring in the health and size of the grid, the level of competition between manufactures and record attendance numbers across the globe.  Following the 6 Hours of Fuji, it's time to hand out the penultimum report card for each Hypercar team, and remember, we're tough graders here so sit back and let the hot takes singe your eyebrows. A - Porsche Penske Motorsport, Toyota Gazoo Racing  The only two manufacturers that still have a realistic shot at winning the constructors' title (sorry Ferrari). It'll be a dogfight between these two legendary racing programs, and one of two things will happen once the dust (sand?) settles i
Read more

Battle on the Bricks - 3 Up, 3 Down for GTP and GTD

-
Image
Mother Nature tried her best to ruin the 2024 Battle on the Bricks, but once the wet stuff was truly gone and passed we were treated to four long hours of pure adrenaline and top notch motor racing drama. Said rain made things extraordinarily complicated for the first two hours of the event, as heavy downpours flooded parts of the track and resulted in lengthy yellow flag intervals. There were honestly too many spin outs, beached cars and close calls to even try to cover them all but we'll touch on some of them below.  In the aftermath, I have mixed feelings about the race, I think? 56 cars on track between all four classes was just straight up insanity, to the point where it's hard to understand how more of these cars didn't completely wipe out through the constant action, especially in the wet stuff early. Watching a dozen-plus prototype and GT machines all screw down the main straight or seeing them barrel through turns eight, nine and ten was truly remarkable to witness
Read more

6 Hours of Fuji - Porsche plant their Hypercar flag, Manthey claim their LMGT3 title

-
Image
The WEC is so on fire this season you wonder how things can get better. For those of us in the States that were able to power through the 10PM start and eventual 4AM finish, we were treated to yet another banger of a race in the 6 Hours of Fuji that saw more of the same drama and cinema that would make Mr. Scorsese stand up and clap for minutes on end. Let's get into the racing recap with our 3 Up and 3 Down for both classes. And...ACTION! Hypercar 3 Up - PPM, BMW, Alpine/Peugeot  No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport -  It's one hand (and just about four fingers) on the trophy for the trio of   Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor. The No. 6 became the first Hypercar team to repeat as winners this season, and in doing so they firmly planted themselves on the brink of securing the Hypercar championship heading into the final round in Bahrain, which puts Toyota's years-long dominance at the top on life support (we'll get to them soon). The usual and expected chaos
Read more