WEC: FERRARI RETURNS TO VICTORY IN TEXAS
- Cavalieri Garage Magazine
- 16 hours ago
- 3 min read
Ferrari is back on top in the FIA World Endurance Championship after winning the Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas. The No. 50 499P of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen, and Miguel Molina claimed its first victory of the 2026 season, finishing ahead of the Cadillac driven by Earl Bamber, Jack Aitken, and Sébastien Bourdais and the Alpine shared by António Félix da Costa, Charles Milesi, and Ferdinand Habsburg.
For the Maranello manufacturer, this marks its eighth victory in the FIA WEC's top class and its second at COTA, following the triumph of AF Corse's No. 83 499P in 2024. The No. 50 returned to the top step of the podium after more than a year, with its previous victory coming at the 2025 Qatar 1812 km.
The Texas race changed dramatically after the halfway point when a Virtual Safety Car brought the field back together and erased much of the existing gaps. Earl Bamber attempted to stay out front in Hertz Team JOTA's No. 38 Cadillac, but came under increasing pressure from both Alpine entries and, most notably, Nyck de Vries in the No. 7 Toyota.
The strategic battle immediately came back to life, with several manufacturers searching for alternative solutions for the closing stages. The No. 51 Ferrari, No. 8 Toyota, No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari, and No. 009 Aston Martin all explored different strategies before a second Virtual Safety Car, with roughly one hour remaining, reshuffled the order once again.
At the second restart, de Vries found himself leading in the No. 7 Toyota, with Charles Milesi's No. 35 Alpine and Nicklas Nielsen's No. 50 Ferrari closing in. The Dane passed the Alpine through traffic and immediately set off after the Toyota, turning the closing minutes into a direct fight for the win.
De Vries managed to protect the lead until the final stages, but with ten minutes remaining his race suddenly unraveled. A power-steering problem on the No. 7 Toyota opened the door for the No. 50 Ferrari, which inherited first place and never gave it up before the checkered flag.
Fuoco, Nielsen, and Molina therefore delivered Ferrari's first win of the year after three podium finishes at Imola, Spa-Francorchamps, and São Paulo. Cadillac moved up to second after the No. 35 Alpine received a penalty for a pit-lane infringement, leaving da Costa, Milesi, and Habsburg to settle for third.
The No. 007 Aston Martin finished fourth, followed by the No. 36 Alpine, No. 8 Toyota, and No. 12 Cadillac. The No. 17 Genesis, No. 15 BMW, and No. 94 Peugeot completed the top 10, while the No. 51 Ferrari could only manage 11th after a lengthy battle with the No. 20 BMW.
There was more Italian success in LMGT3, as Mattia Drudi finally claimed his first FIA WEC victory. The Italian, already a 24 Hours of Spa winner and GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup champion, took the win alongside Ian James and Zacharie Robichon in Heart of Racing's No. 27 Aston Martin.
The Anglo-American team nearly completed a one-two finish, with the No. 23 Vantage of Gray Newell, Dudu Barrichello, and Jonny Adam taking third. Splitting the two Aston Martins was Manthey's No. 91 Porsche, driven by Ayhancan Güven, James Cottingham, and Timur Boguslavskiy.
The Porsche 911 GT3 R was the only car able to seriously challenge the Aston Martins during the decisive stages. Robichon handed the No. 27 over to Drudi at the crucial point of the race, and the Italian managed Güven's late pressure perfectly on the way to victory.
AF Corse's No. 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 finished fourth with Alessio Rovera, François Heriau, and Simon Mann, ahead of Proton Competition's No. 77 Ford and the two Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMGs. The No. 61 finished narrowly ahead of the No. 79, whose penalty denied Maxime Martin, Rui Andrade, and Martin Berry what had looked like a likely top-five result.
The FIA WEC therefore leaves Texas with Ferrari back in Victory Lane in Hypercar and another Italian triumph in LMGT3. After a short break, the championship will return at Fuji Speedway during the final weekend of September before the season concludes with the races in Barcelona and Monza.
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