Yifei Ye leads Lone Star Le Mans, the FIA World Endurance Championship at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, in the satellite #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P.
The car has been leading since the first hour, when factory Ferrari driver Antonio Giovinazzi, in the #51 499P, was under team orders to let Ye’s teammate Robert Kubica, who started the race in the yellow Ferrari, through into the lead, as the two were on different strategies.
Since then, the #83 has led the race apart from at pitstops. However, Giovinazzi had to retire the #51 in the second hour, after he hit Stoffel Vandoorne in the #94 Peugeot 9X8. While it didn’t seem the Ferrari had too much damage, Giovinazzi had spun the car and then struggled to get it going again.
When he did, the car was very clearly off the pace, with the Italian driving it back under electrical power only. The car stopped again in the pitlane, with the mechanics pushing it the rest of the way in 35°C heat.
After they tried to get it going in the pitlane without success, it was pushed back into the garage and later confirmed as the race’s first retirement.
In second is Mike Conway, driving the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid. Conway and his teammate, Nyck de Vries, have slowly moved the car up the field after starting in the lower reaches of the top 10, and is now looking like it could challenge for the win in the second half of the race, with around a 10 second gap to Ye in the lead.
Third is Earl Bamber, in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R. While Bamber’s teammate Lynn had trouble at the start, diligent work has enabled them to bounce back into podium contention.
The sole remaining factory Ferrari, the #50 machine of Nicklas Nielsen, is fourth; the car hasn’t quite had the pace of its customer sister which currently leads.
The #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 is fifth, with Robin Frijns at the wheel. Frijns’ teammate Rene Rast led briefly as he moved past the #50 Ferrari before stopping in the pits for a full service. It’s since dropped back a bit but is still very much in contention.
And in sixth is Porsche’s Andre Lotterer, in the #6 Porsche 963. The five Porsches in the field have somewhat lacked pace at COTA, but Lotterer is doing a good job to keep it in sixth.
Over in LMGT3, Daniel Mancinelli leads in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Mancinelli and the team’s boss-driver, Ian James, has lead the race from the start, with James starting from pole.
Mancinelli has a 15 second lead over Joel Sturm in the #92 Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3R, with Rui Andrade third in the #81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3R.
Andrade recently had a clash with the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Rahal Frey, which caused Frey’s pink car to tumble down the field. Frey had thought the door was open for a move, but misjudged it and hit Andrade’s Corvette, breaking the suspension on the Lamborghini and causing minor cosmetic damage to the Corvette.
