Alex Riberas commanded his way to Aston Martin’s 10th class win at the Circuit of the Americas, the sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The #27 Heart of Racing team faultlessly won the Lone Star Le Mans in the LMGT3 category towards Aston Martin’s 123rd visit to the WEC podium.
After a four-year gap, the Circuit of the Americas welcomed back the WEC to the Texan circuit as well as some of the highest track temperatures seen so far in the season.
Over the years, various GT3 cars have competed at the venue in other series but it was the first time for the LMGT3 class.
During which, the heat and humidity put both the drivers and the cars across both classes under stress with some facing electrical-related problems.
Amidst all of the racing, Manthey Porsche mastered their way up the order with little to no mistakes, remarkably smooth pit stops and strong pace from all of their drivers.
Before the race start, the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 was the first causation of drama as the team were forced to replace the clutch and thus missed the race start. Despite joining the race, it unfortunately became the first class retirement later on.
At lights out, it was a tidy and action-packed kick off as pole-sitter and Heart of Racing team principal Ian James retained his top spot in the #27 Aston Martin AMR Vantage LMGT3.
Behind him, the #55 AF Corse Ferrari of Francois Heriau grasped second from Sarah Bovy (#85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 EVO2) although the Iron Dame quickly returned the favour in quick time after the Ferrari ran wide at Turn 1.
Furthermore, Heriau was tasked with defending Tom Van Rompuy’s #81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R who soon overtook the Ferrari.
Texan and two-time WEC GTE Am champion and Le Mans winner Ben Keating went up to fourth having started in eighth place for the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3, who reminded familiar fans of his driving form after fending off Heriau and #92 Manthey PureRxing’s Porsche 911 LMGT3.R.
James had built a comfortable gap during his opening stint however at his first pit stop, he lost five seconds which brought him back into the grasp of Bovy in second place.
The Bronze-graded drivers were all looking to complete their minimum driver time with a double-stint, all apart from the #46 WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 which had the drivers running single stints.
Maxime Martin in the #46 chased down Bovy’s #85 Lamborghini, although when Ahmed Al Harthy got back into the #46 BMW, running in second place, the #85 driven by Rahel Frey made her move on the inside line of Turn 16 before Rui Andrade of the #81 TF Sport Corvette overtook her into T1.
As the race approached the halfway point, Frey maintained her proximity to Andrade ahead, as Joel Sturm in the #92 Porsche put Al Harthy down into P4.
Frey attempted a move at T15 on the inside of Andrade’s #81 Corvette, making contact as a result.
The Iron Dame gained a right-rear suspension issue which forced it into the garage having ran in second, as the #81 had loose front-left bodywork yet still continued with the race’s first full-course-yellow declared to retrieve a piece of bodywork.
Andrade was satisfied with his pace despite the minor damage, as the #85 eventually returned to the race and the mechanics taped up the bodywork on the next pit stop.
At this point, the other #91 Manthey Porsche EMA car driven by Morris Schuring came into play – and into the top-10 – having produced impressive results along with the sibling car.
After starting on the penultimate row of the grid, alongside the #46, they continued their outstanding form.
A fantastic fight which made for great viewing was when MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi took over the #46 BMW and battled for fourth place with United Autosports driver Gregoire Saucy in the #95 McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo.
Rossi put the pressure on Saucy as the pair fought fantastically, mainly nose-to-tail as assisted with the long back-straight and technical final sector at COTA.
Whilst the #27 ran flawlessly, the other #777 D’station Racing Aston Martin suffered a starter motor issue at a pit stop which caused it go under repairs in the garage. It later became the second LMGT3 retirement, third overall, due to electronic issues.
Into the fourth hour, the Rossi-Saucy jostle continued with the McLaren United Autosports driver defending in response.
At this moment, both WRTs and United Autosports cars were fighting with each other for both P4 and P8, as the latter saw Nico Pino overtake Sean Gelael’s #31 BMW into T12, which was at the end of the back-straight.
During their fight, Rossi made slight right-side contact with the #59 as the exited the pit lane and the pair were nose-to-tail, prompting Rossi to take a chance but could not make it stick.
Five seconds was added to his next pit stop as a result, with the stewards being consistent in awarding penalties for respective moments of contact between cars.
Saucy drove defensively but fair to keep Rossi at bay, though the WRT driver eventually made it past as their fight enabled Simon Mann’s #55 Ferrari to gain significantly to the duo.
With two hours remaining, the #81 Corvette started to suffer from its earlier damage with the car moving to the right on the straights.
The #81 soon entered the garage and came back out in the hands of Charlie Eastwood as the team carried out a left-rear toe link replacement.
Despite looking strong early on, the #81 became a retirement after having promised front-row form during the early stages.
Heading into the final hour, despite the lead fight running in a calm but controlled manner by Heart of Racing, fourth place was still hotly contested.
This time it was between Alessio Rovera’s #55 Ferrari and Richard Lietz in the #91 Porsche, as the latter driver tried a move into the heavy braking zone of T12 but overcooked the entry speed, thus not being able to make it stick.
Dennis Olsen of the #88 Proton Ford encountered an issue causing him to stop at the exit of the Esses before reporting broken steering.
He ran just outside the points threshold was now parked to the nearest marshal post as the third FCY was called to allow the car to be lifted behind the barrier.
Riberas made his final pit stop with 20-minutes remaining and a 20-second gap on Klaus Bachler’s #92 Porsche.
The final heartbreak was for the #46 BMW which was forced to retired due to power steering issues with 13-minutes to go, and were running in eighth place.
After 164 laps and six hours of racing, the #27 Aston Martin trio of Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas secured victory.
Manthey rounded out the podium with both cars, the #92 PureRxing entrant of Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler followed by the #91 EMA crew of Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring and Richard Lietz.
Fourth was taken by United Autosports’ #59 drivers of James Cottingham, Nico Costa and Gregoire Saucy as fifth was landed by the #31 Team WRT trio Darren Leung, Sean Gelael and Augusto Farfus.
Sixth was claimed by Proton Competition’s #77 Ford crew as P7 was secured by the #95 United Autosports team.
TF Sport’s #82 Corvette followed in eighth with the Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3 team in ninth, and the #55 AF Corse Ferrari in 10th position.
