The start of the FIA-WEC race in Austin. [Photo by Jack Webster]
Well, we saw a bit of everything at the Lone Star Le Mans weekend at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. The weather was hot and humid, followed by torrential downpours. It even rained so hard and suddenly during the FIA-WEC race that the race had to be red flagged for over an hour.
In the TUDOR United Sports Car race, the all new Ligier JP P2/Honda of Yacaman and Brundle was fast out of the box, taking pole and running quickly all week. However, Pruett and Rojas took the overall victory in their Ford EcoBoost/Riley, getting outstanding fuel mileage and finishing just 2.33 seconds ahead of the Ligier. Pruett then ran out of gas on the cool down lap.
In GTLM the Dodge Viper SRT took victory, while in PC the pole sitting Oreca FLM09 of Diaz and Rayhall won.
It was a Dodge Viper SRT also taking victory in the GTD class, with the driving duo of Bleekemolen and Keating at the wheel.
Literally as soon as the TUDOR race was completed the massive restructuring of the pit lane took place to get prepared for the FIA-WEC race. The pit wall used by IMSA was removed, all the IMSA teams removed their pit equipment and fueling rigs and in a very efficient operation the pits were converted to FIA specs in record time.
The FIA-WEC race was all set to go at 5pm, under hot and sunny skies. We were all looking forward to a spirited battle among the factory P1 cars of Toyota, Porsche and Audi over the next 6 hours.
Toyota grabbed pole position with their TS 040 – Hybrid, with the Porsche 919 Hybrid right behind. Audi had a bit of a disappointing qualifying run, with their R18 e-tron quattro cars lining up 4th and 6th on the grid.
The race unfolded with Toyota in the lead, but by the time we got to the 2 hour mark, Audi was at the top of the charts. About 90 minutes into the race all hell broke loose as a sudden and torrential rainstorm caused quite a number of the cars who were all on dry tires to spin off the track. The rain was coming down hard and the cars were literally littered all over the track, so the race was red flagged to let the track drain and permit the stranded cars to be retrieved.
The rain let up and the race was restarted with just over 3 hours remaining. While the track was still wet Neel Jani in the Porsche 919 put in a stellar drive, putting his Porsche on the top of the charts by upwards of 30 seconds. However, the Audi R18 of Andre Lotterer reeled him in drying conditions and in the end, the Joest Audi squad did what it does best, with a fine 1-2 finish. Fassler. Lotterer and Treluyer took the win in the #2 car, followed by Di Grassi, Duval and Kristensen in the #1 car.
In LMP2 the KCMG racing Oreca 03R-Nissan took top honors, while in LMGTE Pro the Aston Martin Vantage V8 won, while in LMGTE Am Aston Martin also won, completing the GT class sweep.
All in all it was a very interesting race, with a lot of drama and excitement for the fans. The crowd was much larger than last year’s race and I am sure we can look forward to seeing the sports car crowd return to Austin in the future.