Toyota gifts Michelin's 80th FIA WEC win

Sunday's 6 Hours of Portimao saw Michelin take its score in the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) to 80 outright victories thanks to the success of the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa. Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac and Peugeot rounded out the afternoon's top five in Portugal.

Five different carmakers - all competing on Michelin tires - filled the top five places at the end of the 2023 6 Hours of Portimao, a result that points to an exciting season of FIA WEC Hypercar action, and all the more so with June's centenary Le Mans 24 Hours looming fast on the horizon!

The Portuguese clash saw Toyota Gazoo Racing follow up its one-two finish last month at Sebring (Florida, USA) with yet another assertive performance that saw it monopolize the front row of Sunday's grid. But just as it seemed as though the Japanese squad was heading for a lockout of the top two places in Portugal, its #7 car was forced to spend 10 minutes in the pits for a transmission change. That left the #8 prototype to cruise home to notch up Michelin's 80th FIA WEC win since the competition's creation in 2012.

"We are very pleased with the way the weekend unfolded," says Pierre Alves, the manager of Michelin Motorsport's endurance racing program. "Few circuits are as hard on tires as Portimao, notably those on the left-hand side of the car, and especially when the track temperature soars to almost 50°C, as we saw this afternoon. Even so, our partners and their new Hypercars succeeded in double-stinting their tires with little degradation thanks to the longevity of the new MICHELIN Pilot Sport range. Both of the compound options that were nominated for this race were used and we were able to collect some good data. That's extremely positive ahead of the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps at the end of the month and Le Mans in June!"

In the #8 Toyota's wake, there was an interesting scrap between Ferrari, Porsche, Peugeot and Cadillac for the other podium placings. This turned out in favor of the #50 Ferrari 499P (2nd, Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen) and #6 Porsche 963 (3rd, Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor), with the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R (Bamber/Lynn/Westbrook) and #94 Peugeot 9X8 (Duval/Menezes/Muller) ending up fourth and fifth respectively. The #51 Ferrari (brakes), #5 Porsche (power steering) and #93 Peugeot (power steering) were delayed by a variety of issues.

The day's LMGTE Am victor was the pole-winning #33 Corvette C8.R of Keating/Catsburg/Varrone which claimed its second win of the season, marginally clear of the #83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo and #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR. All the cars in this class race on Michelin tires.

Round 3 of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship follows in two weeks' time with Belgium's 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, a full-scale dress-rehearsal ahead of the Le Mans 24 Hours on June 10-11.

6 Hours of Portimao - Final Positions:

1. Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa (Toyota GR010 Hybrid/Michelin), 222 laps

2. Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen (Ferrari 499P/Michelin), +1 lap

3. Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor (Porsche 963/Michelin), + 1 lap

4. Bamber/Lynn/Westbrook (Cadillac V-Series.R/Michelin), + 2 laps

5. Duval/Menezes/Muller (Peugeot 9X8/Michelin), + 2 laps

   Etc.