Everything is bigger, in Texas. It's cliche, but, it surely applies to the sports car racing scene, as we are here, for the Lone Star Le Mans, the first of two races in the United States for the FIA World Endurance Championship, and this one is being run in lieu of an event that was supposed to have taken place in Interlagos, Brazil at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace. We join at the race today, the commentary team of Jim Roller, and Allan McNish in the broadcast booth, and in the pit lane, Duncan Vincent. Martin Haven, the usual play-by-play man for WEC is covering bobsledding this weekend, and Louise Beckett, who is usually in the pit lane, Duncan is covering for her, in the lane.
So, we move to qualifying first of all, to set the field for the Lone Star Le Mans. This is round five of the 2019-2020 FIA World Endurance Championship. The first cars on track for qualifying, as always, the GTE-Am machines. Third quickest in the class, the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR in the hands of Matt Campbell, Christian Ried, and Thomas Preining. Second fastest, the #98 AMR Aston Martin factory Vantage GTE for Paul Dalla Lana, Darren Turner, and Ross Gunn. On the pole in GTE Am, another Porsche. The #56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR of Matteo Cairoli, Egidio Perfetti, and a new recruit for this weekend, young German driver, Laurents Horr.
Then it was time for the LM GTE Pro machines to do battle, cars that are of the same ilk and the same models/makes/years as the Am cars thanks to the new rules, but, with professional, factory drivers driving them. Third quickest was the #97 factory Aston Martin Vantage to be driven in the race by Briton Alex Lynn and Belgian Maxime Martin. The meat in the sandwich is Porsche, with the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Michael Christensen from Denmark and Kevin Estre from France. The top of tree in GTE Pro, and very much the top bun in this GTE Pro open sandwich (a barbecue brisket sandwich with plenty of flavor and sauce, here in Texas, if you know what I mean), is the #95 Aston Martin Vantage, "the Dane Train" of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim.
It was a fantastic average lap time for the pole sitting GTE Pro Aston Martin. Then, it was time for the Prototypes to come onto the track here at COTA, and put in their qualifying times to set the grid for the race today. In LMP2, the #36 SignaTech Alpine of Thomas Laurent, Andre Negrao, and Pierre Ragues ran third quickest. Second spot goes to the #22 United Autosports Oreca 07 for Phil Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque, and Paul di Resta, and on pole in the class, it is the #42 Cool Racing Oreca for Nicolas Lapierre, the Frenchman, and Swiss driver Antonin Borga. Now it was time for the big boys to tackle COTA, the LMP1 cars, and this session might just be predictable, seeing only three cars in it.
We have the two Toyota's vs. the one Rebellion this weekend. Brendon Hartley made a mistake and went wide. The #7 Toyota takes second. Rebellion recovered from a blown motor in FP2 and they take pole for the #1 Rebellion R13 Gibson. This team, is looking for the same result they had earlier in the year in the Shanghai 4 Hours that you read about here. They want their second win of the 2019-2020 campaign, does the trio of Gustavo Menezes, the American, teamed with Brazil's Bruno Senna, nephew of the late, great three-time Formula 1 World Champion Ayrton Senna, and French driver, Norman Nato. So, qualifying is done and dusted. It's in the bag, and now there's one more thing left to do and that is, race.
This is round five of eight in the championship, and so it marks the beginning of the second half of the season. Lots of pageantry and fun for the drivers and fans on the starting grid before the race on what must have been a cold, blustery day in Austin. We're ready for the green flag! The cars are on the grid, starting in waves. First the LMP1 and LMP2 cars, followed by the GTE machines. It's the green flag in the air, and away we go! The #1 Rebellion of Bruno Senna at the wheel of it. Now, the theme today will be Rebellion. They are pretty much going to have this race in hand for the whole way. Toyota's #7 and #8 fall in line behind the Rebellion, but we can see Paul di Resta in LMP2, look, aboard the #22 United Autosports Oreca, who is moving up through the pack already.
Paul di Resta may not be a factor in this race today and he wasn't, as later in the proceedings he will run into trouble with the car. Early in the motor race, in GTE Pro, we can see Aston Martin dominating the event. They are in another zip code right now, both the #95 Sorensen/Thiim car, "the Dane Train", and the #97 entry of Lynn/Martin. LMP2 pit stops see the top three in class come in together. That's the #22 United Autosports Oreca, for Filipe Albuquerque, Phil Hanson, and Paul di Resta, pitting along with the #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca for Giedo van der Garde, Frits van Eerd, and Nyck de Vries, and the #42 Cool Racing Oreca. Meanwhile, in GTE-Pro, as Porsche pitted, it has continued to be an Aston Martin show.
We've seen no real signs today of the Porsche's or the Ferrari's for that matter. It's been Aston Martin uber alles for a good chunk of the motor race so far. Everything has been clean and green so far as we've been following this motor race. It's all well and good. Nothing to speak of, right? This race is kind of boring, following a pattern we'd expect. Wrong. Nope. Not so fast there, sunshine. Big trouble for the #36 Alpine as the car has an exploding brake disc right into the corner at the end of the long backstretch! You can see a plume of black smoke. That's not smoke. That's a plume of carbon dust from the brakes spewing its way out of the wheel opening! Egad! A locked brake, and all that dust means a brake disc has exploded big style, on that car.
The team takes the car back to the garage to affect repairs and yes, they were able to fix the issue really quickly, but it has put them behind the eight ball for the remainder of this motor race. Another close shave, look, among LMP2 cars as Frits van Eerd, the bankroll behind Jumbo Supermarkets and Racing Team Nederland, he gets rotated through a corner by the #38 Jota Sport LMP2 car, the identical Oreca 07 being shared by Antonio Felix Da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez, and Anthony Davidson. We are not clear whether it was the Portuguese pilot, the Mexican driver, or the British driver in that automobile when that fracas occurred.
Aston Martin is having a good showing here in Texas, as they have also come to the fore in LM GTE Am, not just in the Pro class with the factory cars. We see the bright red #90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage going around the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche. Not sure if it is Egidio Perfetti, Laurents Horr, or Matteo Cairoli at the controls, but they get a little rough treatment from the aforementioned #90 car of Jonny Adam, Charlie Eastwood, (the Irishman), and Salih Yoluc, their regular driver who is from Turkey. Until that pass was made, the #56 Porsche had had everything it's own way in the GTE Am class lead for a total of three hours and 38 minutes. That's a dominant performance no matter how you slice it. But, will they recover for the finish, or will it be Aston Martin's day in GTE-Am?
Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen. This motor race is not over by any stretch. So, in LMP2 it is still a scrap between #22 and #29. Those two cars have been at it hammer and tongs all day. But, a surprise is in store in LM GTE Pro! Porsche fans, you may want to put a strong drink on ice after this. The #91 factory Porsche 911 RSR-19 is slowing! Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz have not really been at the sharp end all day, and what is this spot of bother that one of those two drivers has gotten into? Gianmaria Bruni is struggling to select a gear. There are transmission issues in Porsche land. Deary me. Actually, the whole problem boils down to electronics. The Porsche mechanics called Gianmaria Bruni to the lane, and changed the battery on the car, and that cured the gearshift ailment.
We've seen the worldwide debut for the #63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R at the Rolex 24 but today at Circuit of the Americas in their WEC debut, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller, they've been in it, but have not been up at the sharp end of GTE Pro. They are feeling the car out, getting set to race it again in the next event at Sebring and you will hear more about that race in the closing of this race report, after we've waved the checkered flag, the podium celebrations are complete, and the trophies have been handed out to the winners. Screeching tires, and tire smoke, can only mean, a spin, and that's exactly what is happening to the #33 High Class Racing Oreca in LMP2!
The High Class team has had a very up and down day and it's been a race to forget for American based South African Mark Patterson, Danish driver Anders Fjordbach, and Kenta Yamashita of Japan. They have run well in this race, but have also had numerous off course excursions, spins, and a spot where they got airborne but landed on all four wheels without rolling the car! Yikes! Yours truly was going to assume that they'd had a minor clatter, but it seems it was more than that. An adventurous motor race to say the least for the blokes driving the #33 today. Side by side stuff down the back straightaway in GTE Pro! It's a bit of argy bargy for the #51 AF Corse Ferrari's and the #97 Aston Martin!
James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi are being monstered by Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn. I mention both drivers in each car as yours truly is not sure who is driving, but they are giving each other a tough run for their money here. The Ferrari gets the advantage. Meanwhile, an identical battle is simmering in GTE Am as well. For the final two hours of this motor race its a hotly contested duel between the #98 factory Aston Martin and the #90 TF Sport entry. Paul Dalla Lana, Darren Turner, and Ross Gunn, have battled mightily with Salih Yoluc, Charlie Eastwood, and Jonny Adam. They've been swapping the class lead back and forth. Nicki Thiim will not be headed in GTE Pro and give Aston Martin another victory!
TF Sport does likewise in LM GTE Am. So Aston Martin sweeps the table in the GT classes here in Texas. In LMP2, it's the #22 United Autosport Oreca 07 Gibson of Paul di Resta, Phil Hanson, and Filipe Albuquerque winning LMP2 after di Resta had early issues with his tires. The overall winner, who had the race in control from the drop of the green flag, is the #1 Rebellion! Gustavo Menezes, Norman Nato, and Bruno Senna pick up their second win of the 2019-2020 FIA WEC season, and their first since the 4 Hours of Shanghai run last November. Gustavo Menezes brings the car home to take the victory!
Overall/LMP1: #1 Menezes/Nato/Senna Rebellion R13 Gibson
LMP2: #22 Albuquerque/Hanson/di Resta Oreca 07 Gibson
LM GTE Pro: #95 Sorensen/Thiim Aston Martin Vantage AMR
LM GTE Am: #90 Adam/Eastwood/Yoluc Aston Martin Vantage AMR
In just a shade less than a month, we have what will be the second American race in the 2019-2020 FIA World Endurance Championship, the second annual 1,000 Miles of Sebring that will be part of the weekend for the 68th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship that will be run the very next day. So, the 1,000 Miles of Sebring will be run on Friday, March 20th, and the 12 Hours of Sebring will be run on Saturday, March 21st. Stay tuned for an action packed sports car racing weekend and you will get wall to wall coverage of both events, right here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog.
Excited to bring it to you, live. So long, for now, everyone, from Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
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