WEC 6 Hours of Austin: Rebellion and Aston Martin Triumph

A clear race. While a few cars went off track, no safety car or full course yellow was deployed, and no car retired.

LMP1: Rebellion without worries

For an hour and a half, the situation seemed largely settled in LMP1. The order remained the same as it had since the beginning of the weekend. Rebellion was ahead of Toyota #8, then #7, with a significant gap each time. But Gustavo Menezes, driving the Rebellion, experienced difficulties during his stint, allowing Toyota to close in and maintain a distance of less than thirty seconds. A warning without consequence.

The Rebellion maintained its lead. The only remaining question was the strategy. Toyota consumed less. Would they manage one less pit stop? No, but their last stop was expected to be much shorter. Rebellion, with Norman Nato at the wheel, increased the gap to a minute to prevent a comeback by Toyota. In the end, Rebellion led the weekend from start to finish and claimed its second victory of the season ahead of Toyota #8 and #7.

LMP2: United Autosports as Strategists

For two hours, you couldn’t afford a bathroom break if you wanted to properly follow the LMP2. The category resulted in an exceptional battle, marked by incessant position changes. Occasionally at the cost of a few stunts.

Hostilities began after a quarter of an hour of racing. United Autosports, having started in the lead, slipped a bit and moved to third place. Its difficult first stint led it to adopt an offset strategy.

At the same time, Jackie Chan DC Racing, under pressure, spun out. It was Cool Racing that took the lead with Nicolas Lapierre at the wheel. After 35 minutes of racing, round two. With a risky maneuver that included going off track, Guido Van Der Garde secured third place for Racing Team Netherlands, overtaking Andre Negrao’s Alpine. The Dutch team then took the lead thanks to a quicker pit stop.

First major twist after 1h30 of racing. The Alpine, which had just taken the lead, saw its brake disc explode. By the time it returned to the pit and changed the part, it lost a lap. A good opportunity for Racing Team Netherlands, ahead. But the driver change allowed United Autosports to quickly find themselves leading the race, after 1h50.

A few minutes later, Ho Pin Tung and the Jackie Chan DC Racing took the lead in turn, while Frits Van Eerd at the wheel of the Oreca of Racing Team Netherlands was hit by Gonzalez and his Jota.

The pace then settled down. Jackie Chan DC Racing and Racing Team Netherlands exchanged the lead positions, while United Autosports took the lead in staggered intervals. It was ultimately the English team, led by Hanson, Di Resta, and Albuquerque, that had the final say thanks to their strategy. They are the first to claim two victories this season, ahead of Jackie Chan DC Racing and Jota.

	Drivers	Team	Car	Gap
1	Hanson/Albuquerque/Di Resta	United Autosport	Oreca
2	Tung/Aubry/Stevens	Jackie Chan DC Racing	Oreca	+24.152
3	Gonzalez/Da Costa/Davidson	Jota	Oreca	+1 lap
4	Borga/Lapierre/Coigny	Cool Racing	Oreca	+1 lap
5	Van Eerd/Van der Garde/ De Vries	Racing Team Nederland #29	Oreca	+1 lap
6	Negrao/Ragues/Laurent	Signatech Alpine	Alpine	+ 2 laps
7	Fjordbach/Yamashita/Patterson	High Class Racing	Oreca	+ 3 laps
8	Belicchi/Sernagiotto/Lacorte	Cetilar Vilorba Corse	Dallara	+ 4 laps
9	Hedman/Hanley/Braun	DragonSpeed	Oreca	+ 5 laps

GTE-Pro: Aston Martin on Top

At the top of the championship, Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen dominated the race. In GT language, that means about fifteen seconds ahead. The battle mainly took place behind them. The first four hours saw a duel between the two Porsches and the Ferrari #51 for third place, behind the two Aston Martins.

The Porsche #92 of Christensen and Estre then had a very strong stint to take second place, which it did not relinquish.

One hour before the end, the Porsche #91 abandoned all ambitions due to a gearbox problem, which led it to return to its pit.

James Calado in the Ferrari #51 made a strong final overtaking maneuver against the Aston Martin #97 at the end of the race to secure third place.

The Ferrari AF Corse #71, which experienced a bumpy ride over the curbs, did not weigh heavily and finds itself definitively left behind in the title race. As for the Corvette, it was out of the running. For the second outing of the new C8.R, it came primarily to prepare for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Victorious for the third time this season, the Aston Martin #95 driven by Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim further reinforces its dominance in the championship.

Aston fights

It was the duel that kept spectators on the edge of their seats for almost the entire race. Aston Martin vs Aston Martin, TF Sport vs Aston Martin Racing. The #90 and the #98 didn’t leave each other’s side for six hours.

In the first half of the race, their battle was for podium positions.

The #56 from Team Project 1 took off at the start and led quite comfortably. It lost ground after mid-race when its gentleman driver took over for his stints.

The two Aston Martins then resumed their battle, this time for the lead of the race. Wheel to wheel for an hour. It was ultimately the TF Sport #90 that clinched it, thanks to an overtake in traffic with twenty minutes to go. It finished with a three-second lead, securing its third victory of the season. The Porsche #56 from team Project 1 finished in third position on the podium.