Toyota claimed a victory in its 100th World Endurance Championship race at Algarve today in the inaugural FIA WEC 8 Hours of Portimao, after a topsy-turvy race-long fight with Signatech Alpine.
The #8 GR010 HYBRID took the win over the #7 sister car, after team orders were the deciding factor in the closing laps.
Ultimately this was a fuel mileage race, with the #8 fuel saving throughout the race, allowing it to hold an advantage into the final stint, with the #7 having to take an additional splash of fuel.
But a late Full-Corse Yellow for the High Class LMP2 ORECA stopping out on track in the final hour allowed the 7 to take a splash under the caution period. This turned what should have been a simple end to the race, with the No. 8 taking a comfortable victory, into a messy finish with multiple interventions from the pit wall.
Initially, Sebastien Buemi took the lead after Jose Maria Lopez’s fuel stop, but the Toyota pit wall allowed the #7 to retake the lead and according to a team source, ‘prove it was faster’. Lopez was unable to gap Buemi, so the team reversed its decision and then allowed the #8 to retake the lead and therefore the win.
“It was a tough race. We had a different strategy to car 7, we saved a lot more fuel and avoided the splash. They got lucky with the Full Course Yellow. But we had internal rules which fell in our favour. I had a tough end though, with a lot of cramp in my arms. It’s a long story, but I’m happy with how it turned out,” Buemi said after the race.
This all came after Signatech Alpine spent a large portion of the race in the lead during each pit cycle. The Alpine was faster on raw pace than the Toyotas, but was unable to run as long on fuel. The team knew it had to make at least one additional stop going in, and therefore needed to create a lead large enough to prevent them losing ground at the end in the pit lane, or benefit from a very lengthy safety car or FCY period, which ultimately didn’t come.
Alpine’s A480 came hime third after 300 laps of racing, a minute off the winners in the #8, and far ahead of the Glickenhaus 007 which had a troubled debut but did make the finish. The American-flagged machine suffered a clutch issue that forced it into the garage after Ryan Briscoe was involved in a collision at the Turn 5 hairpin at the end of Hour 2. It came home 30th overall.
JOTA scored a memorable 1-2 finish in LMP2 meanwhile, seeing off the challenge from United Autosport, Racing Team Nederland and Team WRT to take the victory. The #38 took the win after a late dive-bomb by Antonio Felix Da Costa on teammate Tom Blomqvist, who with his teammates staged a big recovery drive after Blomqvist who started on pole, was hit into a spin by the No. 38 on Lap 1 and fell to the very back of the field.
United took third with its #22 ORECA, ahead of Team WRT which came home fourth, just off the podium, after the team’s race was disrupted by penalties for speeding in pit lane and ignoring blue flags.
In GTE Pro it was a story about tyre degradation. AF Corse’s Ferrari 488 GTEs were simply better over the course of a stint in the Portuguese hint than their rivals in the Porsche garage. The two factory Porsches were shredding their rear tyres throughout, and as a result, were nowhere on pace.
The #51 led home the #71 Ferrari, with the two Porsches, the #92 leading the #91, crossing the line 45 seconds and a whole lap down respectively.
GTE Am meanwhile, was a tussle throughout, with so many teams and drivers taking the top places during the race. In the end, Cetilar Racing took a big win with its Ferrari, just five seconds ahead of the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche which looked capable of winning throughout but had 20 seconds added to its final stop for hitting the Realteam ORECA and therefore settled for second. The No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari completed the podium.
Image: FIA WEC
