Ferrari claimed its first World Endurance Championship victory of 2026 at the Lone Star Le Mans after the race-leading Toyota suffered a late mechanical failure.
Nyck de Vries, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway had appeared set to score Toyota’s first win at the Circuit of the Americas in nine attempts, having climbed their way up the pack from ninth on the grid.
But with just 15 minutes left on the clock, the No. 7 Toyota TR010 suddenly slowed down on track due to a hydraulic issue, gifting the No. 50 Ferrari 499P shared by Nicklas Nielsen, Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina an unlikely victory.
Jack Aitken, Sebastien Bourdais and Earl Bamber finished second in the No. 38 Jota Cadillac V-Series.R, while Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Antonio Felix da Costa completed the podium in the No. 35 Alpine A424.
The six-hour contest effectively began under the safety car, with race control ordering two extra formation laps to allow the track to dry out. By the time the safety car retreated into the pits, a clear dry line had emerged on parts of the track that were wet, with the opening lap passing without incident.
Antonio Giovinazzi held on to the lead in the No. 51 Ferrari 499P he qualified on pole position, with Jack Aitken likewise staying retaining second in the No. 38 Cadillac V-Series.R.
But the biggest early mover was Molina, who guided the No. 50 Ferrari from fifth to third ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg’s No. 35 Alpine A424.
Ferrari then brought Molina early into the pits before the end of the first hour, with a shorter fuel stop elevating him into the lead. Toyota deployed a similar strategy with the No. 8 GR010 Hybrid, propelling Sebastien Buemi from the lower reaches of the top 10 to second, just ahead of the erstwhile leading No. 51 Ferrari driven by Giovinazzi.
This split the field into those on a conventional strategy and those on the offset, a trend seen at several other WEC races this year.
The No. 51 Ferrari was the leading car on a conventional strategy, but Giovinazzi’s team-mate James Calado lost almost half a minute when the engine failed to restart during the second round of pitstops.
This left the No. 38 Cadillac as the net leader, although those on the alternate strategy remained in the hunt. That was until the field was reset just before the halfway mark, when the safety car had to be deployed to clear the debris on track.
Those on conventional strategy gained a clear advantage, with Earl Bamber holding the lead in the No. 38 Cadillac, with Antonio Felix da Costa emerging as his closest competitor in the No. 35 Alpine.
At this point, de Vries was already up to fourth place, with the leading trio within striking distance of him.
The Dutchman made quick work of Tom Gamble’s Aston Martin and then cleared da Costa’s Alpine, putting himself right behind race leader Bamber, who was on worn tyres.
With 2h15m left in the race, de Vries pulled off the decisive move, passing Bamber’s Cadillac to hit the front for the first time.
As the 31-year-old pulled away from the pack, Bamber came under pressure from the No. 36 Alpine of Jules Gounon, who swapped positions with the sister car driven by da Costa. The No. 50 Ferrari was also in the mix at this stage.
Bamber managed to fend off the Alpine to retain second place, but the No. 38 Cadillac dropped down the order when it came to the pits the next time and underwent a full service.
Just as the order at the front was settling down, the safety car was deployed to recover the No. 78 ASP Lexus RC F GT3, which had stopped on track with an open bonnet.
The race resumed with less than 50 minutes on clock, but de Vries perfected the restart and was seemingly on his way to a comfortable win when he slowed down on track with technical gremlins.
This elevated Molina into the lead of the race, with the Spaniard having passed the No. 35 Alpine just minutes before.
Milesi closed the gap back again in the closing stages, but Molina held on to score Ferrari’s first Hypercar win since last year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
Milesi was later hit with a five-second time penalty for an unsafe pit release, elevating the No. 38 Cadillac to second position. Third place nevertheless marked the first podium finish for Alpine in 2026.
Aston Martin’s strong practice and qualifying form continued in the race, with Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell finishing fourth in the No. 007 Valkyrie, ahead of the No. 36 Alpine of Jules Gounon, Frederic Makowiecki and Victor Martins that dropped out of the lead fight after stopping just before the final safety car.
Sebastien Buemi propelled the No. 8 Toyota he shared with Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley to sixth on an offset strategy, after Hirakawa picked up a drive-through penalty when a technical malfunction caused him to speed in the pitlane.
Will Stevens, Jack Aitken and Ricky Taylor were next up in seventh in the No. 12 Cadillac, while an odd strategy during the final safety car period helped Andre Lotterer, Mathys Jaubert and Pipo Derani finish eighth in the No. 17 Genesis GMR-001. It was an impressive recovery from the Genesis trio after Lotterer dropped to the back in the opening hour when contact with the No. 50 Ferrari left him facing the wrong direction.
BMW was never really in the game during the entire Austin event, with Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor finishing ninth in the best of the two M Hybrid V8s entered by the factory WRT team.
The sister car driven by Rene Rast, Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Frijns shared finished down in 12th place, meaning the two crews that led the championship heading into the weekend – the No. 20 BMW and the No. 7 Toyota – failed to score any points at Austin.
The top 10 was completed by Loic Duval, Malthe Jakobsen and Theo Pourchaire in the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8.
The No. 51 Ferrari that started on pole was caught out by the timing of the last safety car, with Giovinazzi, Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi taking the chequered flag in 11th.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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