2026 | WEC | Lone Star Le Mans | Race | Ferrari wins after Toyota heartbreak as Heart of Racing takes LMGT3 victory

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Ferrari AF Corse claimed its first victory of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season after late heartbreak for Toyota Racing transformed the final minutes of the Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas.

The No. 7 Toyota TR010 Hybrid shared by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries appeared set to give Toyota its first WEC victory at COTA until a hydraulic pressure problem forced de Vries to retire with approximately 10 minutes remaining. Nicklas Nielsen consequently inherited the lead in the No. 50 Ferrari 499P he shared with Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina and completed 167 laps to win by 4.471 seconds.

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s No. 38 of Jack Aitken, Sébastien Bourdais and Earl Bamber took second after a late penalty dropped the No. 35 Alpine of Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and António Félix da Costa to third. Meanwhile, Heart of Racing Team celebrated on home soil in LMGT3 as Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi won with the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 Evo ahead of Manthey DK Engineering’s No. 91 Porsche and the sister No. 23 Aston Martin.

The result followed BMW and Corvette victories at the previous round in São Paulo, where the championship battles had already tightened considerably.

Mixed conditions delay start at COTA

A brief shower before the start left parts of COTA wet while the main straight remained considerably drier, forcing Race Control to add two formation laps before releasing the 35-car field.

Once green-flag racing began, Hypercar polesitter Antonio Giovinazzi retained the lead in the No. 51 Ferrari ahead of Aitken’s No. 38 Cadillac. Molina immediately moved the sister No. 50 Ferrari into contention, climbing from fifth to third during the opening stages. André Lotterer attempted to challenge the Ferrari in the No. 17 Genesis but spun during the fight and fell towards the rear of the Hypercar field before receiving a five-second penalty.

Ferrari, Cadillac and Toyota then began splitting their strategies. The No. 8 Toyota, No. 12 Cadillac and No. 50 Ferrari stopped early without taking fresh tyres, placing them out of sequence with the leading No. 51 Ferrari. That approach initially allowed Molina to move ahead once Giovinazzi stopped for fresh rubber, while Sébastien Buemi began pressuring the Ferrari in the No. 8 Toyota.

Ferrari strategies create changing Hypercar order

The alternative runners returned to the pits during the second hour, allowing Giovinazzi to re-establish the lead in the No. 51 Ferrari. He opened a gap of around 10 seconds over Bourdais in the No. 38 Cadillac, while the No. 35 Alpine remained firmly in contention.

Toyota also positioned itself for a later attack. Conway had started the No. 7 before handing over to Kobayashi and eventually de Vries, while the team used the No. 8 on the alternative strategy. Behind them, Aston Martin’s No. 007 Valkyrie and Alpine’s second No. 36 A424 remained within reach of the leading group.

However, the complexion of the race changed as the pit cycles developed. A slow stop dropped the No. 51 Ferrari from first into the lower reaches of the top 10 and handed Bamber control in the No. 38 Cadillac. The New Zealander then faced increasingly intense pressure from the cars behind as his older Michelin tyres began working against him.

De Vries charges Toyota into the lead

De Vries emerged as the strongest challenger during the middle phase. The Dutchman first cleared Tom Gamble’s No. 007 Aston Martin before passing da Costa’s No. 35 Alpine into Turn 1.

He then closed onto Bamber as the top 10 compressed to within approximately nine seconds. The Cadillac driver resisted for much of the fourth hour, but de Vries eventually completed the move into Turn 1 after around three hours and 45 minutes of racing.

Once ahead, the No. 7 Toyota quickly created a gap of roughly 10 seconds. Alpine responded by allowing Jules Gounon to move ahead of da Costa in the sister No. 36 and attack Bamber, while Ferrari’s two entries struggled temporarily to maintain their earlier positions. Fuoco ran fifth in the No. 50, while James Calado dropped to eighth as older tyres compromised the pole-sitting No. 51.

A Safety Car for track repairs then compressed the field once more, ensuring the race remained open entering the final two hours.

Toyota strengthens its position in fifth hour

The No. 7 Toyota continued to look increasingly difficult to beat after the restart. De Vries and Kobayashi maintained their pace at the front while the remaining contenders reorganised around further pit stops and neutralisations.

The sister No. 8 Toyota lost its victory chances after officials handed it a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Nevertheless, the No. 7 remained clear of those problems and appeared on course to complete one of Toyota’s strongest performances of the season.

Ferrari’s offset strategy kept the No. 50 within range. Molina, Fuoco and Nielsen had all maintained the car near the front during their respective stints, while the No. 35 Alpine continued to threaten through Milesi, Habsburg and da Costa.

Meanwhile, championship-leading BMW M Team WRT endured a more difficult race. The No. 20 BMW received an early penalty following René Rast’s incident with Peugeot, and neither BMW remained in genuine victory contention as the final hour approached.

Final Safety Car resets Lone Star Le Mans

Another decisive twist arrived during the final hour when the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus suffered bodywork trouble and stopped, prompting the second Safety Car.

The neutralisation erased the gaps and produced a final sprint with de Vries leading the No. 7 Toyota ahead of Milesi’s No. 35 Alpine and Nielsen’s No. 50 Ferrari. Once racing resumed, de Vries immediately rebuilt a small advantage and appeared capable of controlling the remaining laps.

Nielsen, however, took second from Milesi when traffic delayed the Alpine and kept Ferrari within striking distance. Mathieu Jaminet’s No. 19 Genesis had run inside the leading group on an alternative strategy but needed another stop, removing another car from the immediate podium fight.

With around 10 minutes remaining, Toyota’s apparent victory suddenly disappeared.

Hydraulic failure denies Toyota certain victory

De Vries slowed dramatically while leading by approximately six seconds as a hydraulic pressure issue developed on the No. 7 Toyota. The car eventually returned towards the pits and retired after completing 161 laps, ending Toyota’s attempt to claim its first WEC victory at COTA.

Nielsen inherited first and completed the remaining laps without further drama, giving himself, Fuoco and Molina Ferrari’s maiden victory of the 2026 campaign. The trio also continued an impressive COTA record after taking third in 2024 and second in 2025.

The result ended Ferrari’s longest winless run in WEC competition and significantly changed the championship picture. Toyota’s No. 7 and the No. 20 BMW both failed to score, leaving their respective crews level at the top of the Drivers’ World Championship, while Ferrari moved back into serious contention in the Manufacturers’ standings.

Alpine penalty promotes Cadillac to second

The No. 35 Alpine initially crossed the line behind Ferrari, but its result changed after officials imposed a five-second penalty for an unsafe pit-stop release.

That sanction promoted Bamber, Bourdais and Aitken into second for Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA. The No. 38 completed the race only 4.471 seconds behind Ferrari after featuring near the front throughout most of the six hours.

Milesi, Habsburg and da Costa consequently dropped to third, although the result still delivered Alpine its first podium of the 2026 season. The sister No. 36 recovered to fifth after the timing of the final neutralisation complicated its strategy.

Aston Martin THOR Team matched its best Hypercar result with fourth for the No. 007 Valkyrie of Gamble and Harry Tincknell. The No. 8 Toyota recovered to sixth, while Genesis, BMW, Cadillac and Peugeot completed the official points-paying top 10.

Ford takes early control of LMGT3

LMGT3 started with Heart of Racing Team holding a front-row lockout after Eduardo Barrichello put the No. 23 Aston Martin on pole ahead of the sister No. 27.

However, Proton Competition immediately disrupted Aston Martin’s advantage. Eric Powell moved the No. 77 Ford Mustang into the lead during the opening stages, while Stefano Gattuso briefly made it a Ford one-two with the No. 88.

The No. 88 soon lost ground after contact with the No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette forced Gattuso into the pits, while the No. 77 later received a drive-through penalty for a Full Course Yellow infringement. Those setbacks gradually removed Proton’s early control.

Meanwhile, championship-leading TF Sport also endured a poor start. The No. 33 Corvette spun at Turn 1 and never fully recovered, eventually finishing outside the points.

Manthey Porsche emerges during middle phase

As the early Ford challenge faded, Manthey DK Engineering moved to the front with the No. 91 Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3.

James Cottingham completed two strong opening stints before Timur Boguslavskiy and Ayhancan Güven maintained the car’s challenge. By the middle phase, the No. 91 had become one of the primary victory contenders alongside Heart of Racing’s No. 27 Aston Martin and Iron Lynx’s No. 61 Mercedes-AMG.

Güven attacked Robichon immediately after a Safety Car restart and moved ahead, but a five-second pit-stop infringement penalty later complicated Manthey’s strategy. Robichon briefly lost another position when Maxime Martin charged through in the No. 61 Mercedes and then passed the Porsche to take the class lead.

However, penalties would ultimately prevent Iron Lynx from converting that pace into a podium.

Penalties derail Mercedes and Porsche challenges

The No. 61 Mercedes showed enough speed to lead the class, but a series of sanctions for incidents and neutralisation infringements eventually pushed Martin, Rui Andrade and Martin Berry down to sixth.

Meanwhile, the No. 91 Porsche remained in contention despite its five-second penalty. Heart of Racing capitalised as the strategies converged, with Robichon completing strong middle stints before handing the No. 27 to Drudi for the final phase.

Elsewhere, the No. 23 Aston Martin remained within the leading group despite dropping outside the podium positions at different stages. Barrichello later passed the No. 77 Ford and moved into the top three once the No. 61 Mercedes served its drive-through penalty.

Garage 59’s No. 10 McLaren also lost significant ground when Marvin Kirchhöfer suffered a spectacular puncture after an excursion while battling Logan Sargeant’s No. 88 Ford.

Drudi pulls clear after final restart

Heart of Racing placed itself firmly in control as the final hour approached. Robichon’s earlier work and the team’s pit strategy gave Drudi the opportunity to attack on fresh tyres after the final Safety Car.

The Italian immediately used the clear air to establish an advantage over Güven’s No. 91 Porsche. Despite experiencing an air-conditioning failure inside the Aston Martin, Drudi maintained strong pace and eventually created a gap of around five seconds.

Behind them, Barrichello completed the Heart of Racing recovery by placing the No. 23 into third. The sister Aston Martin had started from pole but spent substantial portions of the race outside the podium positions before returning to the top three during the final phase.

The No. 21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari remained close behind and ultimately became the only major LMGT3 championship contender to secure a significant points haul.

Heart of Racing celebrates home one-three

Drudi completed 154 laps to win alongside James and Robichon, finishing 5.007 seconds ahead of the No. 91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche.

The victory gave Heart of Racing its first LMGT3 win in two years and its second Lone Star Le Mans triumph in three seasons. It also marked the first WEC victories for Robichon and Drudi, while James added another COTA success after his 2024 win.

Barrichello, Gray Newell and Jonny Adam finished 7.732 seconds behind the winning sister car to secure third, giving Heart of Racing its first double LMGT3 podium.

The result also delivered Aston Martin its strongest combined LMGT3 finish to date. Manthey DK Engineering secured its best result of the 2026 season in second, while the No. 21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari finished fourth and strengthened its position relative to several championship rivals.

Championship leaders struggle in LMGT3

Several leading LMGT3 championship crews endured difficult races in Texas.

The No. 33 TF Sport Corvette of Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar and Nicky Catsburg suffered its first-lap spin and eventually finished 12th. The sister No. 34 Racing Team Turkey Corvette, which had won the previous round in São Paulo, managed only 14th after losing ground during a difficult race.

The No. 92 The Bend Manthey Porsche also failed to capitalise after encountering a steering problem, leaving it 15th and well outside the points.

By contrast, the No. 21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari of François Hériau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera finished fourth and emerged as the strongest scorer among many of the championship’s established frontrunners. That result ensured the LMGT3 title fight remained open heading to Fuji.

Ferrari and Aston Martin change momentum before Fuji

Ferrari arrived at COTA still searching for its first victory of the 2026 WEC campaign, but the No. 50 crew remained close enough throughout a strategy-heavy race to capitalise when Toyota suffered its late failure. Molina, Fuoco and Nielsen therefore ended Ferrari’s winless run and pulled the marque back towards Toyota and BMW in an increasingly tight Manufacturers’ Championship.

Heart of Racing produced an equally significant result in LMGT3. After Aston Martin locked out the front row, the early Ford, Porsche and Mercedes challenges threatened to deny the American team a home victory. Instead, the No. 27 crew remained in contention throughout the strategic phases before Drudi converted the final stint into victory, while the No. 23 completed a one-three result.

The 2026 FIA WEC season now moves to Japan for the 6 Hours of Fuji from 25-27 September, with three rounds remaining and both championship battles tightened by a dramatic afternoon in Texas.