Yahoo Autos Toyota Wins FIA WEC Round at Portimão
The Toyota GR010 raced against only privateer competition for two seasons, but 2023 is a different beast. Now, the flagship Gazoo Racing team fights factory entries from Porsche, Ferrari, Cadillac, and Peugeot. The competition may have changed, but, through two races, the results stay the same.
The No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 of Sebastian Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryō Hirakawa started from pole, fell to third early, and moved back into the lead in the first hour. The No.8 never looked back, even after the sister No. 7 fell out of contention with a torque sensor repair. The lone remaining competitive Toyota would go on to win by a lap, grabbing the GR010's 12th win in just 14 races.
The No. 50 Ferrari 499 P and No. 6 Porsche 963 rounded out the overall podium, while the field's lone full-time Cadillac V-Series.R took fourth ahead of the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 after the No. 51 Ferrari dropped off track with a braking issue. The other Porsche 963 in the field notably suffered a power steering issue, meaning that one car each from Toyota, Porsche, and Ferrari saw a mechanical problem in the six hour race.
United Autosport led a 1-2 finish in LMP2, with their entry driven by Josh Pierson, Giedo van der Garde, and Oliver Jarvis taking the class win. Corvette Racing's lone C8.R took a second consecutive win in GTE-Am, beating out the Richard Mille-branded AF Corse Ferrari 488 and the Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The GTE-Pro class, closed after the 2022 season, once again did not contest the race.
The WEC season continues at Spa in two weeks. Although no track is quite like the Circuit de la Sarthe, Spa represents the most similar track on the WEC schedule before the 24 hour classic and should provide manufacturers a look at where they stand ahead of that race.
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