Ferrari’s delight, Toyota’s misery at Lone Star Le Mans

Ferrari AF Corse's No. 50 499P of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen claimed a shock victory at Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas The LMH prototype took the lead with just over 10 minutes on the clock after the No. 7 Toyota Racing TR010 Hybrid suffered a hydraulic failure that caused a loss of power steering, forcing the car into retirement.

It was the first victory for Ferrari in Hypercar since the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the No. 50 crew's first visit to the top step since last year's season opener at Qatar.

The surprise result, which had major championship implications, came after Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries looked set to power to their second victory of the season and take the lead in the Drivers' Championship.

"It was a very sad end to a great day. We really gave it our all, executed well. But unfortunately it's a technical sport and that let us down today," a sombre De Vries said.

It was a stunning end to a topsy-turvy encounter that culminated in a sprint finish with 46 minutes on the clock following the second of two safety cars. The neutralizations played a huge role in the outcome of the race, resetting the field as various fuel and tire strategies were playing out.

De Vries was strapped in at the end with the No. 7 in the lead, and opened up a comfortable second gap on the field after the final restart before the car hit trouble. The No. 7 crew grew nicely into the race, rising up the order from fourth at the first safety car (called for debris), taking the lead at Turn 1 off Earl Bamber in the No. 38 Cadillac with just over two hours to go and holding station through the second caution (called for the No. 78 Lexus stopping on track with front-end damage). But it was all for nothing.

Behind, Nicklas Nielsen took second with a late pass on Charles Milesi's No. 35 Alpine in the closing stages around the outside through traffic, before inheriting the lead. It was a move that ultimately ensured a huge result for the Prancing Horse, on a day which saw its pole-sitting, championship-contending No. 51 499P finish 11th.

"It was a more than dramatic finish; the whole race was dramatic and chaotic. We didn't expect to win. We'd settled for P2, but we were there and were lucky that the Toyota had a problem," Nielsen said post-race.

The No. 51 sister Ferrari, which started on pole, held the lead early on and looked destined to vault itself to the top of the standings for a time, but took home zero points. The car lost more than 20 seconds at a pit stop when James Calado couldn't get the car fired, which it ultimately failed to recover from.

Second went to the No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, which started on the front row after yesterday's dead-heat in Hyperpole. It was quick all day but was caught out by the timing of the first safety car, which was called when the team was double-stinting tires, leaving Earl Bamber fighting cars with fresher tires behind with the field's energy levels reset.

That didn't prove to be too much of a setback, though, as Jack Aitken found himself second after the race, with the Toyota suffering a mechanical failure and the No. 35 Alpine receiving a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release.

Milesi ended up dropping to third for the proud French marque, which was strong on pace all day with both its A424s, and on another day may have come away with a famous victory.

The No. 007 Aston Martin Valkyrie, which was one of only two cars that spent the first half of the race on hard Michelin rubber, took a fine fourth. The car had speed and spent much of the race locked in battles for points paying positions. The No. 36 Alpine ended up fifth.

Further back, the No. 8 Toyota was sixth, the No. 12 Cadillac that went off strategy early to get clear air, came home seventh, and the No. 17 Genesis scored more points for the Korean brand in its debut season with eighth.

In LMGT3 everything came together for The Heart of Racing, which scored a win and a third-place finish with its Vantage LMGT3s.

The No. 27 was the winning car, with a convincing performance built on strong runs from Ian James, Zach Robichon and Mattia Drudi, who had to deal with no air conditioning in the heat at the end. The No. 23 sister car took a fighting third.

It was Aston Martin's second LMGT3 win, after its first came at the same event two years prior. It was the first class wins for Robichon and Drudi.

"It's amazing," said Drudi. "It's been tough. We've been close to the victory a couple of times in the last season and a half, and finally everything worked out with a clean strategy and no mistakes."

The No. 91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche split the two Aston Martins, and was in the mix all day. The No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari collected valuable points with fourth. The No. 77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang came home fifth.

It was a tough day for almost all of the key cars in the title fight.

The No. 33 Corvette struggled for pace, lost time to contact that saw Ben Keating turned around at Turn 1 and finished 12th.

The No. 69 WRT BMW suffered a puncture early in the race and lost a lap, finished 11th, and the No. 92 Bend Manthey Porsche ended up in the garage with a steering issue when Riccardo Perra clattered a curb. Racing Team Turkey's Corvette, which won in Brazil, also ended up in its garage with a steering problem.

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