Lone Star Le Mans - AF Corse and Heart of Racing take victory in Texas

After six hours of racing the 2024 Lone Star Le Mans produced a wild finish for the Hypercar class, while the Heart of Racing put in an utterly dominating performance in LMGT3, leading wire-to-wire to continue their stellar debut season in the WEC.

As was detailed previously only on this blog and absolutely nowhere else, the potential to see a sixth-different winner in six races for Hypercar this season came to fruition as the No. 83 AF Corse 499P held off a late-charging No. 7 Toyota in the final laps to finish just 1.7 seconds ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and securing their first-ever win in Hypercar.

The trio of Robert Kubica, Ye Yifei and Robert Schwartzman become the second private-entry to win this season after the No. 12 Hertz Team Jota 963 at Spa back in May.

For LMGT3, it was the Heart of Racing in the No. 27 Aston Martin EVO that kicked everybody's ass from start to finish, beginning the race on pole and managing to stay out in front lap after lap after lap through the insane Texas heat - the hottest track temperatures to date we've seen this season. Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas and the entire HoR squad put in a flawless day of work and continued their stellar maiden WEC campaign with their first victory to go along with a pair of previous P2 finishes.

As is always the case with endurance races, there's so much to unpack in the aftermath of the six hour race, so we'll do our best to highlight the key moments from Sunday. Strap in.

Hypercar - 3 Up & 3 Down

3 Up - 

No. 83 AF Corse - No surprise here, the Hypercar winners capitalized on a late drive-through penalty by the No. 7 TGR to jump in front with just about 40 minutes to go, and as the clock crept closer and closer to the six-hour mark Kobayashi was gaining about a lap per second on Robert Schwartzman. Yet some well-placed GT traffic clogged the driving lanes up at just the right time, giving Schwartzman the breathing room he needed to navigate the last few turns and stay ahead in front. If we're being honest, five more minutes on track and the 7 likely catches and passes the 83, but this was a six hour race and not a six-hour-and-five-minute race, so AF Corse comes home the winners. 

Alpine - Don't look now, but YOUR Alpine Endurance Racing Team currently sits P4 in the manufacturer's championship standings! How funny it is that through the harshest racing conditions of the season thus far, out of all teams it was Alpine that put together easily their best result of the season as both A424s finished in the points, with the No. 35 crossing the line P5 (P5!) and the No. 36 coming in at P9. Not only that, both cars (as well as the No. 7 TGR) were the only cars in class to break a top speed of at least 176 MPH. They had speed, they kept their noses clean and to end the day with no retirements and with both cars scoring a points finish, that's about as good as you could realistically ask for with a team that's faced a lot of questions in their first year back in the top tier of endurance racing. 

No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport - Now a 6th place finish isn't the greatest result in the world for a car competing for a driver's championship, and the trio of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer didn't have the *greatest* day on track, however by securing points and closing out Round 6 unscathed they still managed to maintain their championship lead over the No. 7 Toyota, which is now down to just 12 points. In truth the 6th place finish is their worst result of their campaign thus far, and although Toyota retook the lead in the manufacturer's championship lead, if we're focusing strictly on the driver's side of the coin the No. 6 is still in control with two races to go. 

3 Down - 

Toyota Gazoo Racing - It was a nightmare end of the day for the TGR team as both cars saw crippling penalties cut into their chances of pulling off a double podium finish. First, Sébastien Buemi in the No. 8 popped his tire and was assessd a stop and go penalty for running the No. 6 off the line on the back straight. The damage requried attention from the pit crew and set them back far enough to finish P15 in class. As was mentioned before, the yellow flag penalty handed to the No. 7 as they were leading the race tanked what would have been a pretty comfortable victory if things played out as they were tracking. Althought P2 is still good on paper, the win was there for Toyota and the lapse of judgement from both cars cost them. 

BMW M Team WRT - Oh BMW, what happened out there fellas? After a strong Hyperpole qualifying for both the No. 15 and 20, and after running most of the day towards the top half of the grid and at times in first overall, it all came undone late in the race when the 20 was assessed a penalty for energy infringement while the 15 ultimately crossed the finish line a lap down in P8. The best finish this season for either cars has been a P6 result in Imola for the No. 20, and for a weekend that started with a good amount of promise to ultimately end with only a handful of points, there's no doubt the M Team feels they deserved more out of this race.  

No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse - A retirement for the No. 51 has effectively ended their bid for a driver's championship in 2024, a hard pill to swallow for a team that has been one of the three best outfits since last season next to Toyota and Porsche.  Through six rounds the 51 car has produced just a single podium finish, a P3 result at Le Mans. After the triumph at Le Mans last season they've found it difficult to challenge for a world championship in 2024. 

Honorable Mention - Peugeot. I mean, what is there to be said about the boys running the 9x8? A P12 finish for the No. 93 and a retirement for the No. 94, and for the season Peugeot have claimed just 22 points total, putting them only head of the Iron Lnyx Lambo and Isotta Fraschini and they folded two weeks ago.  

LMGT3 - 3 Up & 3 Down 

3 Up - 

Heart of Racing - An absolute dream win for the Seattle-based squad, winning on their home soil and totally dominating while doing so. Leading wire-to-wire is impressive in any race, nevermind one that has the best talent in the world across six hours in track conditions exceeding 120 degrees. Two second place finishes and now this victory at COTA has put the HoR in contention for the LMGT3 championship, although it'll take the guys ahead of them to falter to see it happen.

Manthey Racing - Speaking of those guys - Manthey Racing are putting on an absolute clinic in 2024, banking podium finishes like you read about. The No. 92 bagged second place and the No. 91 secured third. Collectively it's the 8th podium between the two cars this season. The only two 911s running on track are amazingly consistent, which should be no surprise for a team that has so much experience in the game.

United Autosports - Worldwide the McLaren 720S EVO hasn't seen much top-tier success, but in Texas both United McLaren's finished in the top 10, with the No. 59 securing another P4 (their third in the last four races, weird, huh?) while the No. 95 with Marino Sato, Nico Pino and Josh Caygill followed up their P3 finish in Brasil with a P7 finish here. Things are trending upward for the UA crew and a podium is surely right around the corner.

3 Down - 

Iron Dames/Lynx - The Iron Ladies just can't catch a break on the track, truly. A P2 qualifying run set the Dames up for a strong day on track, yet contact with the No. 81 TF Sport Corvette delivered damage to their Lambo that took them off the lead lap and they weren't able to recover from there, finishing P13 in class. It's been such an up-and-down season for the Dames as they've ran strong for the majority of the races this season yet seemingly always run into trouble at the worst time. They've yet to secure a win or a podium this season, and if any outfit deserves it it's the ladies in pink.

Vista AF Corse - The No. 54 had a mechanical issue right at the start of the race, forcing the car behind the wall for repairs as the formation laps were underway. The No. 55 received a 100 second penalty for a weight infringement, dropping them from third place to 10th. Tough go for the 296s, and maybe their fortunes will turn the right way when they ditch that terrible silver livery for something red, black or yellow. 

Akkodis ASP Team - The first year of the Lexus RC F in WEC has come with a lot of growing pains, with the latest round here at COTA producing a decent P9 finish for the No. 78 but a P11 finish for the No. 87. For as much success as Vaser Sullivan churns out in IMSA, the Akkodis team is still figuring out their ride through six rounds in WEC. 

Next up is the six hours of Fuji in just a two weeks time, it's a super quick turnaround for all of these teams to jet over to Japan, and we'll be here to cover it all. 

Anyway, that's all I have for today, catch you on the track.

(Photo courtesy of www.gmauthority.com)