Although Toyota's dominance fully established itself in Portugal, interesting battles throughout the grid made the 6 Hours of Portimao an engaging race.
Toyota were unbeatable this weekend
The no.8 Toyota GR010 took the win for the Japanese marque, after a dominant fashion that led to lapping of the entire field, including the no.50 Ferrari 499p in P2. The no.7 car, driven by Sebastian Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa, took their first win of the season after the no.7 sister car had drivetrain issues, forcing them 7 laps behind the leaders and out of contention for the win, eventually taking home just two points. The driveshaft issue on the no.7 brought out the orange and black meatball flag, forcing them to pit and replace the broken part on the right rear corner. However, before this issue, both Toyotas showcased extreme pace compared to Hypercar rivals, so the team can still find positives to take from this weekend.
Midfield Hypercar racing is as close as it's been
Although Toyota ran away with the lead in the early stages of the race, the midfield was close, with lots of positions being shuffled through strategy. Five different manufacturers finished in the top five - Toyota, Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac & Peugeot - and although some of this was due to mechanical gremlins like the no.7 Toyota and no.51 Ferrari, it is still encouraging. Peugeot had a much better race for both the no.94 (5th) and no.93 (7th) cars - motivating results for the Stellantis-owned team. However, the bottom teams of Glickenhaus and Floyd Vanwall both had a bad race that followed the negative trajectory from the Sebring. Glickenhaus simply didn't have pace compared to the rest of the Hypercar grid - excluding Vanwall Racing, who struggled to stay ahead even of the LMP2s. Jaques Villneuve's brakes exploded in an impressive fashion on lap 186 in his Vanwall, forcing them to retire the car after it made contact with the barrier. Floyd Vanwall weren't the only ones with braking issues though. The no.51 499p struggled throughout the race with BBW (brake by wire) issues, the cause rooted in the hybrid system. The battery was taking in regenerative charge sometimes, but not always, meaning the front brakes were doing more of the braking load than designed, causing overheating and therefore inefficiency. This led to a few moments of near misses in the car, including running wide at the turn 5 hairpin; however, the AF-Corse team managed the car to the end, finishing in a respectable p6.
The FIA trialled new mechanisms during the race
After the loss of tyre ovens and tyre blankets coming into the 2023 season, Sebring's pit exit and outlaps were treacherous with stone-cold tyres offering little to no grip. In order to resolve this issue (at least at the start), the amount of formation laps grew from one to two, in order to increase tyre heat and therefore grip, reducing the chance of carnage at T1. The FIA also trialled a new track limits system; drivers had 4 passes on track limits, with the 5th one leading to a penalty. Instead of this resetting after each driver's stint, the counter stuck to the driver for all of their stints. This caught out a few drivers, however, the enforcement slackened as the race progressed.
LMP2 and GTE AM both were competitive
The battle for the win in LMP2 was closely contested between United Autosports and Team WRT, ending up with a 1-2 for United. Sebring winners, Jota Sport, recovered to 5th and 8th respectively, with the 48 leading, after a disappointing qualifying. This is the last race the no.48 will race in LMP2, as they take delivery of their Hypercar Porsche 963 before the 6 hours of Spa. The midfield of LMP2 was incredibly close, as was the GTE AM field. Sebring winners No.33 Corvette Racing took the win in their Corvette C8 GTE, with second place contested on the final laps. Richard Mille AF Corse beat out the Iron Dames by one and a half tenths to P2. The P2 no.83 car had a stint by hotshot female talent Lilou Wadoux, who didn't get to realise her WEC 2023 debut in Sebring after teammate Luis Perez Companc crashed the car in his opening stint. She was very impressive, maintaining the lead and increasing the gap to second place within her stint.
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