Laurin Heinrich and AO Racing’s ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3.R charged to GTD Pro class victory at the 73rd running of the IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring.

‘Rexy’ the fan-favourite T-Rex and the #77 Porsche driver crew conquered the GTD Pro category at a hot and humid Sebring International Raceway in a spectacle.

Heinrich earned their way to victory following an intense sprint at the end, much assisted by the work of his co-drivers Klaus Bachler and Alessio Picariello.

The race start was hectic and gripping in both GTD Pro and GTD but one which began without much drama across the two fields.

Pole-sitter Albert Costa in the #81 Dragonspeed Ferrari 296 GT3 retained his lead on Heinrich in the #77 AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3.R who swerved slightly to defend his second position.

The primary change was Neil Verhagen in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO who fell from P2 to P6 on the race start.

GTD pole-sitter and Ferrari works driver Alessandrio Pier Guidi established an early lead, unsurprisingly, in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 before suffering a brake failure into Turn 10.

He escaped further damage apart from the front-left brake unit which was replaced following an imminent pit stop.

A short yellow caution period for contact between Tobias Lutke (#18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 LMP2) and Luis Perez Companc (#88 AF Corse Oreca 07 LMP2) passed and the lead battle resumed, although Verhagen climbed back into the fight.

The second caution period came from controversial circumstances after Ricky Taylor (#40 WTR Cadillac V-Series.R) seemingly tapped Charles Scardina’s #023 Triarsi Competizione into the wall at Turn 13.

Proceedings continued with 10-hours and 45-minutes remaining and it was the #77 Porsche of Picariello in the lead on Verhagen’s #1 BMW.

Verhagen takes GTD Pro lead from ‘Rexy’

Verhagen demonstrated eager spirit to take the lead as the pair went door-to-door in their gripping fight as ‘Rexy’ kept the top spot.

It was until the next restart, after the third caution, when Verhagen made a reactive move to the lead on the restart.

As the race entered its third racing hour, Alexander Sims had to pit his #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R for an unscheduled pit stop to change failing Tyre Pressure Management System sensors.

The #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jose Maria Lopez endured contact with Jesse Krohn’s #48 Paul Miller BMW which led to an extensive front-right suspension repair job for the Lexus, even if the contact was brief.

Miraculously, or rather through the lack of further dramas and utilising cautions, the #21 Ferrari climbed its way back into the GTD class lead with Pier Guidi turning swift pace at the wheel.

After four hours of running, the top-runners in the GTD Pro class consisted of Corvette, Paul Miller Racing and Ford Multimatic.

After a fifth caution, Daytona pole-sitter Mike Rockenfeller led a thrilling charge in his #64 Ford Mustang GT3 on the #1 BMW being driven by Connor De Philippi, followed by Max Hesse’s #48 BMW, the #4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg and Heinrich.

Over the following hour, the lead battle evolved slightly so that Verhagen had 1.4 seconds on Picariello’s #77 Porsche which was marginally ahead ahead of Krohn’s #48 BMW.

Then, in the eighth racing hour, Christopher Mies headed a fight for P3 against Verhagen and Picariello.

Lilou Wadoux led heartbreak for the #21 Ferrari team when a mechanical issue halted their comeback effort.

BMW vs Porsche heading into Hour 10

The 12 Hours of Sebring entered the 10th hour with less fortunate news for Corvette, who were out of the running with issues on their #3 machine as Nico Varrone’s #4 fell out of lead contention due to a non-functioning scrutineering logger.

Last year’s British GT champion Dan Harper steadily turned on the pace so that he eventually fought past Dennis Olsen’s #65 Ford for the GTD Pro lead.

Since Harper took the lead, he quickly established a gap to three seconds on Olsen as #1 Snow kept him company in third place.

WIth 1-hour and 10-minutes remaining, Heinrich made his key move for the lead on Hesse as their fight intensified in the final hour.

Paul Miller Racing initially gambled with the prospect of another eighth imminent caution period by underfueling and running a slightly lesser stint-lap count in order to foresee the gamble.

Unfortunately, it never came around though they kept at the sharp end of the GTD Pro battle. The eighth caution did come as a result of Scott Andrew’s #80 Lone Star Mercedes-AMG and its puncture debris on the back-straight.

It came down to a 31-minute sprint to the finish with Heinrich ahead of Hesse, De Philippi, Costa, and Sebastien Priaulx’s #64 Ford.

With 23-minutes remaining, the tension was hot as Heinrich set a GTD Pro lap record, a 2:00.500.

In fact, Heinrich and Hesse were setting near identical lap times as just 1.2s separated them, before Hesse then set the fastest race lap of his #48 BMW.

Heinrich indirectly responded with his own lap record again, a 2:00.451 as ‘Rexy’ ran decently ahead of Hesse at a 1.3s margin.

Reigning champions win in GTD Pro and GTD

After 329 laps, the #77 Porsche crew sought victory and reaffirmed their mark as reigning GTD Pro champions.

At 4.371 seconds behind, the #48 BMW of Max Hesse and co-drivers Dan Harper and Jesse Krohn took second ahead of the other #1 BMW of Connor de Philippi – and his co-drivers Madison Snow and Neil Verhagen.

Alberto Costa took fourth for Dragonspeed’s #81 Ferrari crew and his teammates Giacomo Altoe and Davide Rigon.

Sebastien Priaulx rounded out the top-five in the #64 Ford with the help of co-drivers Mike Rockenfeller and Ben Barker.

Simultaneously into the final 31 minutes – in GTD – six different manufacturers held the top-six positions.

It became a task for Philip Ellis and the reigning GTD champions Winward Racing (#57 Mercedes-AMG) on whether they would be able take the lead from Jack Hawksworth’s #12 Lexus.

Hawksworth led the final restart ahead of Ellis, Daniel Serra’s #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari, Charlie Eastwood’s #36 DXDT Corvette, Tom Gamble’s #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and Frederick Schandorff’s #70 Inception Racing Ferrari.

Ellis eventually tried a move outside of Hawsworth for the lead, before again outside at T10 but Hawksworth held his ground before the pair touched nose-to-tail and shortly after overtaking the lapped #3 Corvette of Sims.

Winward Racing’s #57 Mercedes-AMG crew took victory with Ellis and his co-drivers Russell Ward and Indy Dontje after 327 laps.

At 3.265 seconds behind in P2 was Hawksworth and his #12 Lexus co-drivers Franke Montecalvo and Parker Thompson, followed by Gamble’s #27 Aston Martin and co-drivers Casper Stevenson and Zach Robichon.

See here for the unofficial race results and here for the unofficial race results ordered by class.

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Tag Heuer Porsche driver Antonio Felix da Costa has said his team suffered a “kick in the butt” at the Jeddah E-Prix, and has warned its rivals that they are catching-up quickly as Formula E enters a mid-season break.

The Portuguese suffered a tough weekend at the city’s inaugural E-Prix, finishing ninth in Race 1, and then retiring in Race 2 after an early collision with Maximilian Guenther.

Having entered the weekend first in the championship, da Costa now sits in third behind leader Oliver Rowland and Taylor Barnard, 29 points adrift of the Nissan driver.

The Nissan powertrain – which also powers Barnard’s NEOM McLaren team – looked strong over both races, proving the Japanese marque’s progress and the works team’s credentials as a title favourite.

After the race, in which he retired after a first-lap collision with Maximilian Guenther, da Costa told media including Motorsport Week that the weekend was one that showed the German giants must not rest on its laurels.

“I think the biggest takeaway from this weekend is that our competitors are waking up and getting close, so I think that’s also good for us,” he said.

“It’s a kick in the butt in the good sense of the expression, and we’re definitely going to work even harder, I’m not worried about that.”

Seemingly da Costa views Rowland as his – and the Porsche team’s – main championship challenger, the Brit having already equalled his Season 10 win tally, and said the break between Jeddah and the Miami E-Prix – scheduled for April 12 – will provide the team an ample opportunity to reset itself and work hard towards maintaining its reputation as the fastest overall package on the grid this season.

“We have some time between now and Miami, so I think that’s good for us, but as you’ve seen, the others are not sleeping either, so everybody’s going to improve, we just have to make sure we keep on improving as well.

“I’m sure we have a strong enough package to give Nissan and Oliver a run for their money.”

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Cupra Kiro Team Principal Alex Hui has praised the “quality” of the Porsche powertrain, as the team adapts to being a customer for the German marque after many years of being a standalone manufacturer.

The team, now operating under an American licence, has undergone a big rebrand, its sixth since its days as China Racing back in Season 1 of the all-electric series.

Acquired by the American investment firm, The Forest Road Company, Kiro, since this interview, has announced an expansion of its ownership with the introduction of the Powerhouse Investor Group, which includes Hollywood actor Idris Elba amongst its personnel.

One key change has been, for the first time, moving away from being an OEM into being a customer operation, and there was perhaps no better place to look than to Porsche, which produced the powertrain that took Pascal Wehrlein to title glory last season for the works team.

The change has seemingly shown the benefits already, with longstanding driver Dan Ticktum taking eighth place at the opening round in São Paulo.

Despite the second round in Mexico being a non-points finish, there was reasons to be cheerful, with Ticktum’s new team-mate David Beckmann running in the top 10 for large parts of the race.

Speaking to Motorsport Week, Hui said that whilst some aspects of running the team have largely stayed the same, there are some differences to the overall operation.

“In terms of operation, it’s not really hugely changed – you’re still operating two race cars,” he said. “The main difference compared to being a customer and manufacturer is when you are a manufacturer, you know your car inside out in terms of what you have done, the software, you have done much more testing. 

“With a customer like now, the main difference is we got less testing. We basically are the user instead of a developer of the car, but the key, like taking a manufacturer’s partner like Porsche, who won the last two Drivers’ Championships [Wehrlein and Jake Dennis, Andretti], we believe the quality of the package is really high.

“And I would say it seems amazing for us. It’s a lot of things we have seen so far in the car that we’re not able to develop ourselves with our own resources in the past, so that’s hugely positive.”

‘Good relationship’ with Porsche key to landing ‘best prepared’ option Beckmann

When the team transitioned into Kiro, speculation was rife as to who would partner Ticktum, who always seemed destined to retain his drive.

Opting to not retain Sergio Sette Camara – now Nissan’s reserve driver – the team went for Porsche’s reservist David Beckmann, and Hui said that the links between the two teams enabled the union to go ahead.

“He’s integrated really well to the team,” Hui said. “He is very easy to work with, really hard-working, really professional. One of the reasons we’ve got him in is when we decided to look for someone outside of Formula E pool, considering we got the relationship with Porsche, he had been prepared by Porsche for two seasons at the reserve.

“So he is the best prepared driver in the Formula E grid at that point.”

‘Quick and competitive’ Ticktum ‘needs to prove himself’

Ticktum is often regarded as a polarising figure, a straight-shooter with his views in and out of the car, perhaps accentuated by some sections of the media as a ‘bad boy’ by some sections of the media.

The reality is that Ticktum is a hugely-popular figure with fans and is often affable and friendly with the media, but Hui recognises that whilst he is a talent, this might be the season the step up needs to be made.

“We always try to get your best possible driver, and to be honest, we were the ones bringing Dan from F2 to a ‘professional career’. We knew Dan’s junior category was always quick and competitive. 

“Obviously, he’s got a bit of character that we have to manage, which we are fully prepared for, and I’ve got used to it for a while already, for how to work with him, so we get on quite well. 

“But I think for Dan and for us this season, it’s a year to prove ourselves as a team and he needs to prove himself as a driver. 

“Obviously, we got the chance to be a bit on a catching-up understanding of a car that is brand new for us, but I think he will need to prove himself this year, basically.”

READ MORE – Formula E: Jeddah E-Prix Preview

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Premier League football legend Sergio Aguero has been signed by Tag Heuer Porsche for the Formula E Evo Sessions event in Miami next month.

The Argentinian, who is the third-highest Premier League goalscorer of all-time and the highest for Manchester City, will be coached by reigning FE champion Pascal Wehrlein.

Formula E Evo Sessions is an influencer and celebrity-based event which will take place over March 5-6 at the Miami International Autodrome, home to the Miami Formula 1 Grand Prix.

In a statement released by Porsche, Aguero said: “This is absolutely crazy: from footballer to racing driver in one of the fastest racing cars in the world.

“Every child is familiar with Porsche. The brand represents an iconic heritage, particularly in motorsport. With this in mind, I am absolutely delighted and would like to thank everyone involved for this unique opportunity.

“I want to learn as much as possible on my journey to Miami, and to represent the team as well as possible when we get there.”

Aguero will be joined by the likes of Brooklyn Beckham and Harry Potter star Tom Felton, the former already announced as being attached to Jaguar TCS Racing, and will be coached by Mitch Evans.

10 of the 11 participants have already been announced, with one more due to be announced in the coming days.

The drivers will also receive fitness training and simulator work in the build-up to the event, which will be filmed for a television documentary to be screened later in the year.

The event was planned amid the cancellation of an E-Prix in Thailand, which was due to be held in March, but was withdrawn from the calendar due to political unrest in the country.

This left a two-month hole in the schedule, akin to the one last season caused by cancellation of the Hyderabad E-Prix for similar reasons.

READ MORE – Formula E announces recent US TV ratings surpasses F1

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Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Laurens Vanthoor leads the 24 Hours of Daytona with just over four hours remaining, just under 10 seconds ahead of Kevin Magnussen in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8.

The #7 car pitted in the 18th hour with Vanthoor’s teammate, Nick Tandy taking the reins from Felipe Nasr, following the fellow Porsche – the #6 – with Matt Campbell taking the seat vacated by Kevin Estre.

Scott Dixon in the #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing then led, with Tandy and Campbell duelling for position behind. Running side-by-side into the horseshoe, Campbell prevailed into the second horseshoe, who then took the lead when Dixon pitted, the IndyCar man rejoining in fourth place.

Philipp Eng, in the #24 BMW, was able to reduce the gap to the Porsches to 25s, but Campbell was able to stretch a further 10 seconds out on that.

At the start of lap 19, Campbell pitted, and on his first flying lap out, spun at T1, spin-turning the car to get himself back onto the course.

Dixon was now leading on the track, with Tandy net leader as a result of the Kiwi not yet pitting.

With the yellow flags now out, Campbell and Dixon would pit, followed by Kevin Magnussen, now in Eng’s place.

Tandy retained his advantage as the cautionary period reached 20 minutes, as green flags would eventually wave with a shorter yellow period coming soon after.

After the caution, Magnussen caught and passed Campbell. He then closed the gap to Tandy in the lead, with it standing at under 2 seconds when Tandy pitted to hand over to Vanthoor.

With Magnussen gradually closing in on L. Vanthoor, Mathieu Jaminet in the sister #6 Porsche is just under 5 seconds behind the Dane. In fourth is the #60 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06 of Colin Brain, but he’s around 40 seconds or more off the lead group.

Herta in the wars as Cameron takes ascendency in LMP2

Job van Uitert in the #8 Tower Motorsports car was in-front at the start of this period, around 10 seconds ahead of the #4 CrowdStrike Racing car of Toby Sowery.

With the gap between the pair closing to just over seven seconds, Sowery pitted and was replaced by another IndyCar driver in Colton Herta, followed by the #99 AO Racing, with Kevin Rasmussen beginning a new stint, and in the process, taking over the lead.

Herta then endured a disaster with a crash, causing his rear wing to detach. Able to limp back to the pits, the car was repaired, but dropped to eighth spot with #99 retaining top spot, with Dane Cameron now at the wheel.

In GTD, Marvin Kirchhofer led in the #13 AWA after Scott Andrews [#80 Lone Star Mercedes] Pier Guidi [#21 Ferrari] and Misha Goikhberg [#78 Forte Lamborghini] all spun off separately of each-other at T1, the trio all hitting the barriers.

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Porsche looked fast in the deep overnight hours, but was still pressured at times by Meyer Shank Racing for the overall top position.

Colin Braun put the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura GTP out front just past the 12-hour mark, continuing the manufacturer shuffle at the head of the field.

Matt Campbell pulled his #6 Porsche into the lead with a strong braking maneuver into the backstretch chicane, and quickly pulled out a few seconds advantage.

The Acura was able to close the gap a few times, specifically in the first few laps after each restart, but was not able to regain the top spot.

The other Porsche also continued to show pace during the cool overnight hours, with Laurens Vanthoor pulling off a textbook pass on the outside of Turn 1 to make it a Porsche 1-2.

The cool weather seems to suit the Porsche prototypes well, and they currently have a hold on the top two positions with Kevin Estre leading Felipe Nasr.

Felix Rosenqvist acquired some damage on the #60 entry just after taking over driving duties, which dropped him 30 seconds further behind the two Porsche prototypes.

The fan favorite #99 AO Racing LMP2 entry was given a drive through plus 10 second hold penalty for improper service on the car.

The penalty dropped it momentarily out of contention for the lead in class, but Jonny Edgar kept the car on the lead lap and ‘Spike’ still has a chance to make a run for a podium.

Toby Sowery currently leads the LMP2 category in the #04 Crowdstrike Racing Oreca, followed by Sebastien Bourdais driving the Tower Motorsports #8 and Paul-Loup Chatin in the Era Motorsports entry.

Lauren Heinrich currently holds to top GTD Pro spot in AO Racing’s other entry, the #77 Porsche GTD Pro, and Lucas Auer leads GTD in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes.

A few incidents in the dark

Just a few minutes past the halfway point in the event, a full course yellow was displayed for an incident with the #36 DXDT Racing Corvette GTD.

Charlie Eastwood was able to bring his car to a halt on the apron, where it promptly released plumes of heavy smoke into the air.

Flames were not seen outside the car, but the team will have no further opportunity to make up the three laps it was down to the leaders.

Just one lap after that caution was another, this time for a wayward tire carcass that was deposited on the track by the #22 United Autosport LMP2 entry.

Rasmus Lindh kept control of his car through the flat tire incident and the caution was lifted quickly to get back to action.

A few of the GTD cars took advantage of the caution periods to make a quick brake change on pit lane, including the #13 AWA Corvette, the #45 WTR Lamborghini, and the #20 Proton Porsche.

There was one more caution period a couple hours before the sun was due to rise, the tenth total of the race, for Tom Dillman who brought his #43 LMP2 to a stop with a mechanical problem.

A full third of the race still remains, and stamina will be tested on pit lane as well as behind the wheel.

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Nick Cassidy believes Tag Heuer Porsche will be “the reference” team in Mexico at this weekend’s resumption of the FIA Formula E championship.

The Jaguar TCS Racing man arrives at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez looking to kickstart his season, after retiring in the incident that also sent reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche out in horrifying fashion.

The second Jaguar of Mitch Evans would go on to take victory, having started last on the grid, and Cassidy told Motorsport Week that, given he was “going to fight for the win” had he not retired, his mentality is to see the bright side from his own perspective.

“Yeah, look, I’ve just got to take a lot of positives from that, right? We were in the fight all the race,” he said.

“[It’s a] new generation of car, we were still in the fight. Just take the positives.”

Cassidy finished was third in Mexico last season, which helped set him up for a season-long title charge which saw him narrowly lose-out to Wehrlein, who won the race,

“I think, you know, on past results, I’ve struggled a little bit here, but I can make the podium last year, which gives me a bit of confidence. 

“You know, Porsche are very, very good in Mexico, so I expect them to be the reference, but if we can get close and put up a fight this weekend, I’ll be pretty happy.”

Cassidy also said that despite the circuit being a permanent felicity, there is a suggestion that qualifying is less important, as is the way with a lot of similar venues in Formula E, but Cassidy disagreed, saying: “I would say the opposite. On qualifying, it’s the hardest part, but we’ll see.”

GEN3 Evo has ‘changed’ the order

The Kiwi also reflected on being the “blameless party” in the incident that ended his race in Brazil, and seeing Wehrlein’s car go halo-first into the barrier.

“At the time, I didn’t want to make any comment or review what happened,” he said. “The first priority was to make sure he was OK – it’s not nice to see any car in the wall or upside down, and as you heard over the radio, that was my first concern. I’m fully relieved that he’s OK.”

Nissan and Oliver Rowland in particular looked competitive before drive-through penalties compromised their race, suggesting that perhaps the level of competition is more open this season, but Cassidy feels the new GEN3 Evo cars have merely opened-up the opportunities for some teams to reach the front of the pack than others.

“I don’t know if it’s more open. I just think the order’s changed a little bit.

“It’s clear that Porsche and Nissan are the reference right now, but we’re working super hard to close that gap, and in São Paulo we still came away with the win and a strong performance on my side, so there’s every confidence we will get there, however it’s true the order has changed a little bit with this generation of car.”

Race one saw Formula E’s first race of the new car, the GEN3 Evo, and Cassidy praised the “exciting” new machine.

“I mean, it’s extreme. Some of the races come down to a little bit of a luck factor, which I’m not 100% sure about just yet. But only from a performance point of view, it’s fantastic, and from a story point of view for the championship to showcase its technology, it’s pretty fantastic as well.”

Just like Season 10, political issues have condemned Formula E to suffer through another two-month gap, but Cassidy says that the weeks between the debut of the Jeddah E-Prix – “Oh man, I was such a fan of Riyadh [the previous venue] and it feels a bit weird, but we’ll see how the event is” – and the return of Miami to the calendar [albeit at a new venue] will be an added tonic for the team to reconvene.

“Yeah, we’ve been looking forward to that quite a bit yet with the top two manufacturers and we’ve got quite a bit to do, but I hope come the end of that break we’ve closed the gap and be pretty strong for the rest of the season.”

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Antonio Felix da Costa has said that he and his Tag Heuer Porsche team ‘have the ingredients’ to win Season 11 of the FIA Formula E World Championship.

The Portuguese veteran is entering the new campaign off the back of a renaissance in Season 10, winning four races after nearly losing his seat midway through it.

Da Costa told Motorsport Week that pushing for the championship – which was won by team-mate Pascal Wehrlein – this year will come down to consistency, and for the team, not resting on its laurels.

“I feel sometimes it can be quite common in human beings that when you have an achievement, like winning a championship like Pascal and the team did, sometimes it’s a natural instinct to kind of take your foot off the accelerator a little bit and everybody kind of relaxes and that hasn’t been the case at all,” he said.

“They’re pushing as hard as ever if not more so it’s been it’s been cool to see that. It’s been a big push and a lot of work in the background to get this [GEN3] Evo car, you know up to speed and then to for us to make sure that we’re happy with it and we are and for me, obviously it was a very frustrating year last year because I felt like I accomplished more than the year that I won the championship, but you know, we just have to kind of clean things up on my side.

“It cannot be that I mean I had five podiums last year and they were all wins [he includes his harsh Misano disqualification as a win]. I either I win or I’m not scoring points, you know so that’s not the way to to win a championship and we just got to clean things up and finish fifth and fourth and seventh when we have to and win the races that we can and I think that’s the way to win this championship.

“We all know how to do it and a lot of lessons learned – last year was a serious amount of learning as a human being, as an athlete, as a team player and I know we have the ingredients to to perform and to to put a good season together now.”

‘I’m told I drive better when I’m angry’

The aforementioned renaissance came from the dramatic story that emerged in the seven-week gap after São Paulo, when it was revealed Porsche had tested Nico Müller with a view to potentially replacing da Costa.

The reaction he showed was one of defiance – going out and proving everyone wrong in Misano, and following it up with four wins he was allowed to keep, in Berlin, China and both races in Portland.

Prior to the Monaco E-Prix last season, da Costa told MW that his mindset had changed around this time, saying: “Whenever I was having a bad day I was more concerned of what are my bosses thinking what are my sponsors thinking and actually I did change that a little bit and think ‘let’s race for myself and if I do that well then everybody else will win as a consequence’.”

He says now that he will continue in his way, albeit with mindfulness of keeping the respect that comes with driving for a name like Porsche.

“A very good friend of mine that follows everything the other day told me: ‘I know you don’t like it but when you’re angry you perform better.’

“You know me a little bit and I hate to be angry and I don’t want to that to be the way but yeah, I just need to worry about myself, put myself first sometimes and I don’t worry too much about what people will think or say.

“But you know equally you’re racing for such a big brand that needs to be respected, rules to be followed and you know, I’m not saying that that I am an outlaw or anything but it’s finding the right balance between those things, and I think what happened last year really united us.

“I think everybody now is a lot more ready for a bad day. You know last year, from being deep down in a very dark hole, if I’m able to come back from that I think if this year a bad day happens and it will happen – 100% everybody here gets them – we will react to them in a much better way.”

New tyres are ‘a nutcracker’

Our chat with da Costa took place over the Jarama testing week, and one of the big takeaways from the four days of running was the getting to grips – quite literally – with the new Hankook tyres.

“I think our biggest headache in the good way is understanding the tyres – they’re not straightforward at all,” da Costa said.

“I mean we I don’t think we’ve ever had a straightforward tyre in Formula E but It’s really a nutcracker this one, like it’s hard to to understand.

“It’s got various types of behaviors throughout its life. It’s amazing when it’s new then it gets super understeer-y then we’re just trying to understand it and what compensations we need to do for what tyre life we’re facing.

“But at the same time I think obviously we’re stressing the tyres a lot more in a test day where we’re putting a lot more mileage than what we’ll see during a race weekend. So we just have to be a bit clever on how we work with it and doing the mock-up race is very useful for that.

Pit Boost ‘brings a cool dynamic’

With Season 11 now just weeks away, the implementation of the long-standing Attack Charge – now named Pit Boost – idea is close to being finalised.

MW hears opinions are divided amongst the drivers and teams as to whether inclusion of it into the sporting regulations is worthwhile or not, but da Costa is a fan.

“I think on the sporting side I think it will be awesome,” he says. “Like it really brings a cool dynamic to the race and a variable that hard to control as a team.

“You know like like today [testing day three], I was the last car to box, everybody in the in the front group had boxed.

“I was literally alone on track, it felt like I was in a free practice session and then you do a couple of laps like that, then you end up boxing you come come back out in the huge mass of cars, so I think it brings a very cool dynamic to the race and for the fans, so on in that respect I am very much up for it.

” I think in terms of technology and the message we want to pass to the electric mobility world, it makes absolute sense. You know, there is this stigma where if I buy an electric car, I’m gonna have to stop for an hour. That’s no longer the case and the technology available out there… you can add 600 kilowatt speeding charging speed, you can charge a car in five minutes.

“I mean it needs to work and we can’t be having races that are ruined and wins that are being taken away from somebody because the charge didn’t go in or because the car broke down or whatever, so I think that’s the priority.

“I don’t know, it’s not my part to say what they should do but maybe we can find a middle ground somewhere and try and stress the batteries or whatever a little bit less by doing charging at slower speeds or whatever, but I am fully up for it, yes.”

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Ferrari AF Corse’s Alessio Rovera claimed LMGT3 victory at the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season finale, the 8 Hours of Bahrain.

The #55 AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 crew – Francois Heriau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera – finished out on top in the final race of the season.

Manthey’s #92 PureRxing Porsche 911 LMGT3.R concluded their dominant title charge which left them largely unchallenged.

Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler earned the first-ever LMGT3 Drivers’ and Teams’ championship titles as a result of their consistent form across each of the eight rounds.

In spite of the #91’s guaranteed title chances in Bahrain, the race itself was characterised by various exciting battles.

As the green flags fell, the front-running United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 EVOs held their 1-2 formation.

Behind them, Tom Van Rompuy began his charge from behind the wheel of the #81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R.

His first rival was Ian James, team principal of Heart of Racing, whose #27 Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 Evo he overtook with a move on the inside line at Turn 1.

Hiroshi Koizumi in the #82 TF Sport Corvette incurred a five-second stop and go penalty for hitting the Hypercar race leader Sebastien Buemi into a spin at T1.

Van Rompuy got himself into third after 34-minutes of racing with dive inside at T1 on Heriau.

The #55 AF Corse Ferrari driver fought back all the way to T4, but was not successful in returning the favour.

McLarens’ 1-2 formation broken by TF Sport

The seemingly good lead by the two McLarens became under pressure by Van Rompuy’s #81 Corvette.

James Cottingham (#59 McLaren) stuck a move for the lead on teammate and pole-sitter Josh Caygill (#95 McLaren).

Van Rompuy and Heriau’s #55 Ferrari then proceeded past Caygill.

During the second racing hour, the #81 Corvette expanded their lead gap and the action took place behind them.

Nico Pino took over the #95 McLaren and passed Sarah Bovy’s pink Iron Dames #85 Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 EVO2.

Heriau also passed her into the final corner, Turn 14.

Thomas Flohr, however, turned up the pace in his #54 AF Corse Ferrari.

He passed both Cottingham and then Pino into third position, as Charlie Eastwood (#81 Corvette) led by nine seconds.

TF Sport’s #81 climbed seven positions since the race start, initiated by Van Rompuy’s strong opening stint.

After Rui Andrade drove a stint, Van Rumpuy got back in to complete the rest of his minimum drive time as a Bronze-graded driver.

Arnold Robin (#78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3) suffered a wheel issue earlier on and later parked up behind the barrier at T3 after only 2 hours and 22 minutes completed due to broken suspension.

At the halfway point, Van Rumpuy held a 15-second lead on Nico Costa’s #59 McLaren.

The gaps spread between competitors, although a fight emerged for third between #54 Ferrari’s Andrea Castellacci and #91 EMA Porsche’s Richard Lietz.

Troubles for Proton’s Ford Mustangs

Ben Barker (#77 Proton Ford Mustang) made contact with the #81 of Van Rumpuy after he was lapped in the fifth racing hour.

A brief full-course-yellow was called to retrieve the stranded piece of debris at T12 which was left-rear bodywork hung off the #77 Ford.

Both Manthey Porsches asserted solid pace as they fought together, but not so to compromise their form.

In the fifth racing hour, Giammaro Levorato’s #88 Proton Ford suffered a terminal reliability issue.

The engine caught fire though Levorato quickly parked up at a marshal’s post. This triggered the first virtual safety car period.

Although, the field was tightened up again and reset TF Sport’s Andrade and his 32-second lead gap just as the gaps settled down.

Two-hours and 12-minutes remained as the race returned to green flag conditions.

Iron Dames’ Sarah Bovy put a move on Andrade’s lead on the outside line at T4, before Alex Riberas (#27 Aston Martin) followed through before taking the lead into T1.

Frey tried to overtake Riberas for the lead on the outside of T1.

This caused her to lose momentum for T2 and she slipped back behind the Ferraris and – now Charlie Eastwood – in the #81 Corvette, on the run down to T4.

Frey and the Dames’ hopes of winning in Bahrain were ended with a drive-through penalty for a VSC infringement.

Esteban Masson stopped on the left-side run-off after T10 after his #87 Lexus retired due to the same issue as the #87.

During the FCY, Zach Robichon’s #77 Ford also stopped on track albeit between T2 and T4, showcasing similar engine issues as the #88.

Tension into the final hour

An hour remained and the race resumed when Eastwood interrupted Ferrari’s 1-2 running.

After Eastwood passed the #54 Ferrari of Davide Rigon, he challenged Rovera’s #55 for lead as the pair fought nose-to-tail.

The #55 and #82 jostled before finally, Eastwood wrestled past at T12 into the lead with 49m remaining.

A drive-through from a full-course-yellow infringement put Rigon out of the lead battle, as the #82 TF Sport quietly climbed back up in the hands of Daniel Juncadella.

After the final pit stops, Rovera found himself at the front of Eastwood, who was busy fending P3 from Matteo Cairoli’s #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini.

Rovera has a five-second gap on Eastwood though both were setting fastest race laps.

After 214 laps, the #55 AF Corse Ferrari team took victory having been unable to convert their pole position last time out at Fuji.

Three-seconds back, the #81 TF Sport Corvette crew of Tom Van Rumpuy, Rui Andrade and Charlie Eastwood finished in second place.

The sibling #82 TF Sport took the final podium spot owing to drivers Hiroski Koizumi, Sebastien Baud and Daniel Juncadella.

Iron Lynx finished in fourth place with their #60 Lamborghini as Morris Schuring’s #91 Manthey EMA Porsche rounded out the top-five.

The post Ferrari AF Corse wins in LMGT3, Manthey champions in Bahrain appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Three-time Le Mans winner Andre Lotterer told Motorsport Week that he has ‘many options’ for next year, after it was announced the German would be leaving his FIA World Endurance Championship factory Porsche Penske Motorsport seat for 2025.

 “There are many options,” said the 42-year-old.

“If you think, okay the news comes out and I’m not going to be with the team, you think “what will I do?”. Obviously I’ve been with Porsche a long time, so the loyalty is there to stay together and do other projects together.”

While leaving a race-winning — and, potentially, a world championship winning team if Lotterer and hisPorsche teammates, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, triumph this weekend in the drivers’ championship — might be hard, Lotterer sounds like he’s looking forward to the next step in his career.

“It can be exciting,” he said.

“We need to see and understand what’s possible to do, whether it’s that [racing for a Porsche 963 customer team] or in GTs, or taking an ambassador role, or do something completely different with someone else.”

Lotterer, who won Le Mans in 2011, 2012 and 2014 with Audi Sport Team Joest, is still keen on taking a fourth Le Mans win. However, this will have to be with a team other than the factory Porsche outfit. That said, he could still find a seat at one of Porsche’s 963 customers, such as Proton Competition, who also race in the WEC.

GT racing ‘could eventually become an option’ for Lotterer

Furthermore, racing in a GT category is also an option. Although he hasn’t competed in a GT category since 2017, he has raced in the Spa and Nurburgring 24 Hours, which use GT3-based machinery, plus in Super GT in Japan.

“You have to differentiate what Super GT is in Japan and general GT racing elsewhere in the world,” said Lotterer. The German has a lot of experience racing in Japan, where he competed in both Super GT and Super Formula for many years.

“Super GT cars in Japan are pure prototypes, and with downforce and tyres they run they’re actually faster than the WEC cars. So I would call them more prototypes than GTs,” he continued.

“I don’t have much experience in the GT3s and it’s not something I’ve been putting my eyes on. I did 24 Hours of Spa a few times because I grew up in Belgium and I love the race.

“Eventually it could become an option. But at the moment, I’m not too sure if it’s something I want to. Especially since you don’t have the pro class anymore. So it’s it’s a concept that I need to to think about a bit,” he concluded.

For now, though, in the final lead up to the season finale, Lotterer’s focus is fully on winning the world championships – the aforementioned drivers’ and the manufacturers championship too, which Porsche lead by 10 points from Toyota.

“But at the moment, I’m going to focus on on this race. And give it some time a little bit after and then decide what I really want to do,” finished the 2012 world endurance champion, smiling.

The post Andre Lotterer: ‘Many options’ for next year for Porsche driver appeared first on Motorsport Week.