Race report
WEC Portimao
WEC Portimao: Toyota beats Ferrari to continue winning run
Toyota continued its unbeaten start to the 2023 World Endurance Championship with a comfortable Portimao 6 Hours victory for its #8 crew of Sebastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley.
James Newbold
Edited: Apr 17, 2023, 8:33 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The polesitting crew’s GR010 HYBRID headed the #50 Ferrari 499P of Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco as Porsche became the first LMDh constructor to score a WEC podium with its #6 963 driven by Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer.
Cadillac matched its Sebring 1000 Miles finish of fourth with its Chip Ganassi Racing-run V-Series.R LMDh while Peugeot made it five different manufacturers in as many positions after late brake troubles delayed the second Ferrari.
The victorious Toyota trailed its sister #7 machine for much of the opening hour after Mike Conway passed Buemi around the outside of Turn 2 at the start.
Buemi’s loss of momentum also allowed James Calado to get ahead in the #51 Ferrari, but the Swiss regained second on lap four and set about closing a gap that had stretched to beyond six seconds.
By the end of the hour, Buemi had Conway in his sights and took the lead into Turn 5, Conway putting up little resistance when he was delayed through the previous uphill right-hander.
The Sebring-winning Toyota was running second in hour two when it was shown a black and orange flag to replace a torque sensor, which cost seven laps and left it to finish ninth.
The main beneficiary however was the #50 Ferrari in which Nielsen – who briefly dropped behind Vanthoor at the start – had passed Calado in the first hour.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Molina was never close enough to challenge the #8 Toyota, as Hirakawa continued to stretch its advantage, but the Ferrari enjoyed a trouble-free run to finish one lap in arrears at the finish.
Fuoco had just been lapped by Hartley when a right-front brake fire on Jacques Villeneuve’s Vanwall approaching the uphill Turn 10 caused the 1997 Formula 1 world champion to spin off at the next corner, bringing out the safety car with a little over an hour to go.
The #6 Porsche moved into third following Calado’s hand-over to Antonio Giovinazzi, when the Italian began to struggle with brake problems and dropped back into Estre’s clutches.
Estre took advantage of Giovinazzi’s caution in LMP2 traffic at Turn 13, with the Ferrari pitting just four laps later for its overheating brakes to be addressed.
Running out of sync meant it lost time stuck behind the second Porsche of Fred Makowiecki after Giovinazzi handed over to Alessandro Pier Guidi, but it was running fourth until brake problems caused Pier Guidi to run off the track at Turns 1 and 4 before he backed off the pace.
This allowed Alex Lynn to get ahead in the Cadillac, and gave Lotterer enough of a margin to top up for fuel with less than 10 minutes to go.
The Cadillac was another car to run off-sequence after Richard Westbrook flat-spotted his tyres entering the pits behind Nico Muller’s #94 Peugeot 9X8 LMH.
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor
Photo by: Paul Foster
Although Westbrook quickly passed the two Ferraris, struggling with tyre warmup, upon exiting the pits he was soon forced to abandon a planned double-stint.
Pier Guidi’s reduced pace meant he also lost out to the #94 Peugeot Muller shared with Gustavo Menezes and Loic Duval, ultimately finishing sixth.
The #93 Peugeot driven by Paul di Resta, Jean-Eric Vergne and Mikkel Jensen had a quiet run to seventh after a necessary steering rack change before the start meant it joined the race a lap down.
It recovered to finish ahead of the Glickenhaus-Pipo 007 LMH, which was boosted to eighth by the problems for Toyota and the heavily-delayed #5 Porsche that spent time in the garage fixing a power steering problem.
United wins LMP2 battle
United Autosports claimed a 1-2 finish in the LMP2 class after a tense fight with Prema Racing.
Oliver Jarvis, Josh Pierson and Giedo van der Garde beat the sister ORECA-Gibson 07 of Phil Hanson, Frederick Lubin and Ben Hanley to the flag by 0.684s despite a five-second pit penalty that dropped it behind Prema heading into the final double stint.
Van der Garde, standing in for Filipe Albuquerque on IMSA duty at Long Beach, held the lead before handing over to Jarvis for the final time, but the penalty handed down for firing up the engine during refuelling meant the Briton rejoined behind newly-announced Lamborghini factory driver Daniil Kvyat.
#21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO: Diego Alessi, Simon Mann, Ulysse de Pauw
Photo by: Paul Foster
Jarvis chased Kvyat after the safety car and rejoined ahead after coming in one lap later for their final stops. Kvyat, who had also incurred a five-second penalty earlier on for spinning the #10 Vector Sport ORECA of Ryan Cullen at Turn 5, also rejoined behind a fired-up Hanson and lost third in the closing stages to the #31 WRT ORECA of Robin Frijns when he was baulked at Turn 4.
Hanson, whose car had led the early stages in Hanley’s hands, closed on Jarvis in the final laps but was unable to mount a passing attempt.
Antonio Felix da Costa, Ye Yifei and David Beckmann took fifth in the #48 Jota ORECA ahead of their switch to the Hypercar class with a Porsche 963 at Spa, while the second Prema entry of Bent Viscaal, Juan Manuel Correa and Filip Urgan took sixth.
Corvette wins again in GTE
Corvette Racing made it back-to-back wins in the GTE Am class as Nicky Catsburg held off a determined late assault from Alessio Rovera’s AF Corse Ferrari.
On the first Portimao appearance for the Corvette C8.R, Catsburg secured victory for himself, Ben Keating and Nico Varrone with a stout defence from Rovera on the final lap, the Italian firmly rebuffed in his attempted move around the outside into the Turn 5 hairpin.
Rovera therefore had to be content with second in the #81 488 GTE Evo he shared with Lilou Wadoux and Luis-Perez Companc that had led at points in Wadoux’s hands.
The podium was completed by the Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 shared by Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting which appeared comfortable in the middle phase of the race but lost time to a spin from Frey after the Swiss had been passed in the pits by Varrone.
WEC Portimao - Race results:
Cla # Drivers Car Class Gap 1 8 Sébastien Buemi
Brendon Hartley
Ryo Hirakawa
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid HYPERCAR 2 50 Antonio Fuoco
Miguel Molina
Nicklas Nielsen
Ferrari 499P HYPERCAR 3 6 Kevin Estre
Andre Lotterer
Laurens Vanthoor
Porsche 963 HYPERCAR 4 2 Earl Bamber
Alex Lynn
Richard Westbrook
Cadillac V-Series.R HYPERCAR 5 94 Loic Duval
Gustavo Menezes
Nico Müller
Peugeot 9X8 HYPERCAR 6 51 Alessandro Pier Guidi
James Calado
Antonio Giovinazzi
Ferrari 499P HYPERCAR 7 93 Paul di Resta
Mikkel Jensen
Jean-Eric Vergne
Peugeot 9X8 HYPERCAR 8 708 Romain Dumas
Ryan Briscoe
Olivier Pla
Glickenhaus 007 HYPERCAR 9 7 Mike Conway
Kamui Kobayashi
Jose Maria Lopez
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid HYPERCAR 10 23 Josh Pierson
Giedo van der Garde
Oliver Jarvis
Oreca 07 LMP2 11 22 Frederick Lubin
Philip Hanson
Ben Hanley
Oreca 07 LMP2 12 41 Rui Andrade
Robert Kubica
Louis Deletraz
Oreca 07 LMP2 13 63 Doriane Pin
Mirko Bortolotti
Daniil Kvyat
Oreca 07 LMP2 14 48 David Beckmann
Ye Yifei
Antonio Felix da Costa
Oreca 07 LMP2 15 9 Filip Ugran
Juan Manuel Correa
Bent Viscaal
Oreca 07 LMP2 16 31 Sean Gelael
Ferdinand Habsburg
Robin Frijns
Oreca 07 LMP2 17 28 David Heinemeier Hansson
Pietro Fittipaldi
Oliver Rasmussen
Oreca 07 LMP2 18 36 Matthieu Vaxiviere
Julien Canal
Charles Milesi
Oreca 07 LMP2 19 34 Jakub Smiechowski
Fabio Scherer
Albert Costa
Oreca 07 LMP2 20 35 Andre Negrao
Memo Rojas
Olli Caldwell
Oreca 07 LMP2 21 33 Ben Keating
Nicolas Varrone
Nick Catsburg
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R LMGTE AM 22 83 Luis Perez Companc
Lilou Wadoux
Alessio Rovera
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 23 85 Sarah Bovy
Michelle Gatting
Rahel Frey
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 24 54 Thomas Flohr
Francesco Castellacci
Davide Rigon
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 25 21 Diego Alessi
Simon Mann
Ulysse De
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 26 56 Miguel Pedro
Guilherme Moura
Matteo Cairoli
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 27 77 Christian Ried
Mikkel Pedersen
Julien Andlauer
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 28 25 Ahmad Al Harthy
Michael Dinan
Charles Eastwood
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 29 88 Ryan Hardwick
Zacharie Robichon
Harry Tincknell
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 30 57 Takeshi Kimura
Scott Huffaker
Daniel Serra
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 31 86 Michael Wainwright
Riccardo Pera
Benjamin Barker
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 32 60 Claudio Schiavoni
Matteo Cressoni
Alessio Picariello
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 33 98 Paul Dalla Lana
Axcil Jefferies
Nicki Thiim
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 34 10 Ryan Cullen
Matthias Kaiser
Gabriel Aubry
Oreca 07 LMP2 35 5 Dane Cameron
Michael Christensen
Frédéric Makowiecki
Porsche 963 HYPERCAR 36 4 Tom Dillmann
Esteban Guerrieri
Jacques Villeneuve
Vanwall Vandervell 680 HYPERCAR 37 777 Satoshi Hoshino
Casper Stevenson
Tomonobu Fujii
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article JOTA Porsche LMDh set for first shakedown ahead of Spa WEC debut
Next article Bamber: Cadillac “a step closer” to Toyota in WEC after Portimao
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
James Newbold
Did Audi ‘give up’ on GT3 too soon?
GT
Did Audi ‘give up’ on GT3 too soon?
Alex Zanardi’s top 10 moments
IndyCar
Alex Zanardi’s top 10 moments
Latest news
Dale Jr. explains why he doesn't use 'Earnhardt' in his signature
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 40 min
Dale Jr. explains why he doesn't use 'Earnhardt' in his signature
NASCAR to allow brake rotor and pad changes after Phoenix qualifying
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
1 h
NASCAR to allow brake rotor and pad changes after Phoenix qualifying
Why Christian Horner banned Mercedes' name as Red Bull built its own F1 engine
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
1 h
Why Christian Horner banned Mercedes' name as Red Bull built its own F1 engine
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
2 h
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe