The 6 hours of Portimão is over as Toyota Gazoo double down on their early season success and claim the win. Here is how the race unfolded.
2 Hour Mark
In Hypercar at the 2 hours mark, the No. 08 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 led the pack. The No. 07 sister Toyota car was running in second before a left rear tire change was required. This stop essentially removed the No. 07 car from victory contention at this point in the race. The Ferrari AF Corse 499Ps moved up the field into second and third. The were briefly split by the Leading Porsche 963 driven by Laurens Vanthoor but the Porsche could not maintain pace and shortly fell behind the Ferraris. The No. 94 Peugeot was in fifth place. The No. 93 Peugeot experienced a mechanical steering issue which resulted in it not start from the grid. The car fell a lap behind but the car was able to catch up to the lead lap in 10th.
The LMP2 No. 23 United Autosports car led at the 2 hour mark. Class pole sitter Vector Sport unfortunately lost out on their pole winning advantage due to a potential issue with their fly by wire throttle. This required an unplanned stop which set the team back in the field.
In LMGTE AM it was all Ferrari in the top 3 led by the Richard Mille AF Corse No. 83 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. The No. 54 and No. 38 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evos rounded out P2 and P3.
Photo Courtesy of Motorsport Images
4 Hour Mark
Cadillac Racing made the jump up from P5 to P3 in their first European showing. The No. 08 Toyota retained the lead in class while the No. 51 Ferrari 499P fell to 5th after running second at the 2 hour mark. The No. 07 Toyota was 6 laps behind the lead lap. The car was closing ground to the pack but the deficit proved to be too much for the No. 07 to have any chance of catching the pack without a major on track incident.
Former F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi had a brake issue and hybrid charging failure with his Ferrari that required repair dropping him 4 places but he was able to recover to P5 at the 4 hour mark. After starting from the pit the No. 93 car improved to 8th place ahead of the sole Glickenhaus 007 (3 laps behind the lead), Vanwall Vandervill (4 laps behind the lead) and No. 7 Toyota Gazoo which had not recovered from their early decline remaining 6 laps back from the lead lap. No. 6 Penske Porsche held P4
In LMP2 the No. 23 United Autosports car retained the lead by 9.152s to the Prema Racing No. 63 car. Hertz Team Jota was in third place. The No. 33 Corvette led the LMGTE AM class followed by the only other GTE car on the lead lap the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari.
Race Result
The No. 08 Toyota Gazoo car was the only car to finish on the lead lap in Hypercar. In P2 the No. 50 Ferrari was able to improve from its P3 start securing a podium for the Ferrari side. The No. 6 Penske Porsche which started sixth worked its way up through the field to a podium in P3. This is the first time this season where the podium was represented by three manufacturers. The No. 02 Cadillac Racing finished P4 in their hypercar European debut.
In LMP2 the No.23 United Autosports car retained the lead. Teammate car the No. 22 made a late charge from P4 and completed the race with a 1-2 finish for United Autosports. Team WRT round out P3 for LMP2. Unfortunately for Prema Racing and Vector Sport they were not able to capitalize on their qualifying positions. The No. 63 fell to P5 but maintained pace to stay on the lead lap.
Photo Courtesy of Toyota Racing/Motorsport Images
In LMGTE AM the No. 33 Corvette which lead at the 4 hour mark was able to retain the lead and win the class. The No. 83 Richard Mille AF Corse which led the class at the 2 Hour mark was able to make up lost time in P4 at the 4 hour mark to secure a podium. The No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche finished in third.
Post Race Press Conference
Full race results are below