Lone Star Le Mans: Smiles for Ferrari and woes for Toyota once more in Texas

With 10 minutes of the 2026 Lone Star Le Mans to go, Toyota Racing seemed to be cruising to its maiden Circuit of The Americas victory until a problem for the #7 prototype handed victory to the #50 Ferrari 499P (Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen). Second and third in Austin were the #38 Cadillac (Bamber/Bourdais/Aitken) and #35 Alpine A424 (Da Costa/Milesi/Habsburg).

Following the afternoon's last Safety Car interruption, and with the final round of refueling stops completed, there was everything to fight for during the race's final 50 minutes.

When the lights went green again, Nick de Vries got away flawlessly in the #7 Toyota TR010 on medium Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance slicks and appeared to be well in control. However, with 10 minutes remaining, he was forced to pit his car with a hydraulics issue.

The #50 Ferrari - which had just eased past the #35 Alpine to go second – inherited the lead after lapping on both the medium and hard versions of Michelin's Pilot Sport Endurance slick.

The No. 51, which qualified for pole position, led for much of the early part of the race before dropping back in the standings.

In addition to finishing on the podium again, Alpine saw its #36 Hypercar take the checkered flag in fifth place after losing time behind the Safety Car. Fourth went to the #007 Aston Martin which made up for its disappointing result in qualifying.

Four different carmakers made it into the 2026 Lone Star Le Mans' top four, while a fierce battle raged for the other top-10 spots between the #8 Toyota, #12 Cadillac, #17 Genesis, #15 BMW and #94 Peugeot.

Racing got under way after two additional formation laps in order to allow the asphalt to dry after a downpour shortly before the scheduled start-time. Michelin's Hypercar partners chiefly ran the medium Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance slick which successfully double-stinted in spite of track temperatures in excess of 40°C. Ferrari, Aston Martin and Peugeot all fitted the hard alternative at some stage during the race.

The next round of the FIA World Endurance Championship will take teams to Japan for the 6 Hours of Fuji in three weeks' time.