Earl Bamber, in the No.2 Porsche 919 Hybrid, crossed the finish line just 0.276s ahead of stablemate Nick Tandy in the No.1 car to claim a fourth consecutive victory for he and teammates Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley. The trio extend their title advantage and helped Porsche to pull away further from Toyota in the Manufacturers' standings.

Held in challenging hot and humid conditions, the race was an epic strategic contest which saw the rhythm of the race swing from Porsche to Porsche.

The 2017 rule change, which brought down the allocation of six sets of tyres to four for qualifying and the race, saw the teams challenged with choosing when to double-stint their Michelin tyres in the hot temperatures.

After some frantic action throughout the six hours of the race, the destiny of the Lone star Le Mans was decided in the final laps when Porsche chose to synchronise the cars, allowing Bamber to overtake Nick Tandy on the main straight with just 15-minutes of the race remaining.

Toyota finished third and fourth in Texas and displayed much more competitive pace than in recent races. Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Stephane Sarrazin claimed the final podium position in the No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS 050 HYBRID after challenging the Porsches in the first phase of the six hours.

Signatech Alpine Matmut takes second consecutive LMP2 win

Reigning LMP2 champions, Signatech Alpine Matmut, took a North American victory, following up their Mexico City podium. For Lapierre and Menezes it was also a second victory in Texas in as many years.  Menezes, the sole American driver in the field this year, was especially delighted to claim another maximum score on home ground.

There was a late scare for Les Bleues though as they were forced to change the rear bodywork section with just 12-minutes of the race remaining.
Gustavo Menezes though had enough in hand and was able to take the chequered flag with a comfortable margin ahead of the Vaillante Rebellion pair of ORECA-Gibson entries.

The title leading No.38 Jackie Chan DC Racing of Oliver Jarvis, Thomas Laurent and Ho-Pin Tung took fourth position.

Ferrari fight hard through to GTE victory in COTA

Ferrari No.51 488 GTE won today’s 6 Hours of COTA in +33oC Texan temperatures, but it was no easy run for Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado on the way to their second victory of the season.   

The duo had a race-long fight with the No.95 Aston Martin Vantage, the No.92 Porsche 911 RSR and the sister No.71 Ferrari 488 GTE, with the lead changing between them due to tyre strategies.

The No.51 survived a scare with 11 minutes to go when Pier Guidi was forced to take the risk of returning at high speed to the pits due to a puncture.  The risk paid off and quick pit work by AF Corse saw the Ferrari driver come out just ahead of Michael Christensen’s Porsche which eventually finished 5.6s behind in second place – the No.92’s best result of the season so far.

In third place was the No.71 Ferrari of Davide Rigon and Sam Bird, with Aston Martin’s No.95 in fourth.  Ford Chip Ganassi Racing’s pair of Ford GTs had a torrid race but Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell’s 7th place was enough to ensure they retained the lead of the GT FIA World Endurance Drivers’ Championship by 6 points over Porsche’s Frederic Makowiecki and Richard Lietz.

In LMGTE Am, Aston Martin Racing’s No.98 Vantage of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda won for the second time this season, 50s ahead of nearest rival, the No.61 Clearwater Racing Ferrari.

After a dramatic first few hours to the race, the trio came through to a solid finish to keep the lead of the LMGTE Am Drivers’ championship battle, four points ahead of the No.77 Dempsey Proton Racing crew who had a difficult American race.

Clearwater Racing maintained its consistently strong form to take more valuable points, while Spirit of Race’s No. 54 Ferrari 488 GTE came home in third place in class.  For Francesco Castellacci, Thomas Flohr and Miguel Molina, it was their best result of the season and their first WEC podium.

The next round will be the 6 Hours of Fuji on the 15th October.

Results

- FIA WEC press release -

Photo (Pascal Saivet /VSA): Porsche secured a 1-2 in Texas thanks to the Le Mans winning #2 919 Hybrid.