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 FIA World Endurance Championship 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.

"We knew that it was going to be difficult to fight Toyota, and I managed to do some lap times that were a bit faster, but they leveled that quickly," Nielsen admitted. "They had an issue though, and we were kind of a bit lucky, but on the other hand I think this has been a long time coming. We did a fantastic job all round; it was not an easy 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 45 seconds at a pit stop, with James Calado explaining to RACER that driver error, then later on the team's struggle on the hard tires, ultimately cost the team dearly.

"It was an error in Giovi's stint," he said. "When he came into the pits, it meant I had to do a full power cycle, there was confusion and we lost a lot of time. From then onwards, it didn't go to plan; it was messy, we had FCYs that set us back, and it was game over.

"It's frustrating. We went into the race thinking we could win. But at the same time we've been lucky with the misfortune of car 7. It's not nice to see these things happen, but we didn't lose anything in the fight except one more race to get the points back."

"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.

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.

“It is a really fantastic result," Aitken said. "It was a very up-and-down race with quite a few interventions, a lot of yellow and safety periods on track. We kept yo-yoing back and forth from the lead to further down in the top 10, and it was hard to see where we were going to end up. But we managed to fight through and secure a fantastic podium on home soil.”

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, with Victor Martins charging through the pack from outside of the top 10 on the final restart.

Further back, the No. 8 Toyota was sixth, ahead of the No. 17 Genesis, with the Korean marque achieving its best result to date. The No. 15 BMW, No. 12 Cadillac – which finished seventh on the road but had a five-second time penalty – and No. 94 Peugeot completed the top 10.

Despite finishing outside of the points in 12th overall after a difficult day for their No.20 BMW, the No. 7 Toyota's late drama means that Robin Frijns and René Rast have retained the lead of the drivers' world championship on countback.

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 team made a good call to help us undercut the Porsche in front, then utilize clean air and new tires to set up the win. Then, after the last safety car, there was a Hypercar behind me, so at the restart it created a gap which made my life easier. But it was hard as the AC stopped working; I wouldn't suggest driving in heat like that to anyone!"

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, which leads the points standings, struggled for pace in part due to success ballast, lost time to contact that saw Ben Keating turned around at Turn 1 and finished 12th.

"We knew it was going to be a tough day; we lost a lap earlier than we expected and there was not a lot we could do," championship leader Jonny Edgar admitted.

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.

The result pushes the No. 21 Ferrari crew climb to second in the teams' standings, 22 points off the No. 33 Corvette.

Next up for the FIA WEC is the 6 Hours of Fuji on Sept. 27.

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