Porsche Dominates Qatar 1812 Road to Le Mans Opener
Porsche Takes Maiden Victory in Hypercar 1-2-3 Clean Sweep, 911 Grabs GT3 Win
Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, and Laurens Vanthoor scored Porsche’s first Hypercar era World Endurance Championship win for Penske Motorsport on Saturday. The number 6 trio ultimately dominated the dramatic and entertaining Road to Le Mans Qatar 1812 km season opener, as the car moved into the lead in the second hour and remained ahead all the way from there despite a last hour scare to stop and replace a number panel.
It was dramatic behind them as privateer Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 trio Will Stevens, Callum Ilott and Norman Nato held the charging Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen Frank Makowiecki’s No. 5 Porsche Penske off, as they stole second from the struggling Jensen Müller Vergne Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar as it started to run out of fuel on the penultimate lap, to set up an epic Porsche clean sweep 1-2-3.
Porsche 911 Won First Ever Le Mans GT3 Race Too
Porsche’s cup flowed even further over as Klaus Bachler, Joel Sturm and Aliaksandr Malykhin took their Manthey Porsche 911 R LM3 to a first-ever LMGT3 win. They beat a Corvette an Aston Martin and Moto GP legend Valentino Rossi BMW.
Getting back to the Hypercar action, the No. 51 Ferrari 499P swept off the second row around the front row 5 Porsche and number 8 Gazoo Toyota to lead to lead the way at the start as the Cadillac made contact with the second Porsche. Slower traffic was soon a challenge as the Ferrari held the 6 Porsche and 63 Peugeot off.
The 6 Porsche Moved into a lead it Would Not Lose
The Peugeot used the heavy traffic to its advantage to force its way past the Porsche for second. It caught the Ferrari not long after, to move ahead in a clean move after about an hour. The winning Porsche, by then also past the Ferrari, soon took advantage of the Peugeot making a slip while passing a GT3 car to seize a lead it would hold until the end. The Peugeot kept the leading Porsche more or less in check, with the Jota Porsches ever-present.
The Cadillac fought back to fourth after it copped an early drive through for that first corner incident. To lead the new yellow 81Ferrari home after its red factory teammates were hindered by an early drive through penalty for the 50 before the 51 car lost its entire rear section after contact with a GT3 car and fell to the back. Five-time champions Toyota were never in picture with its Number 8 sixth from the 50 Ferrari.
Four Porsches Finished in the Qatar 1812 Top Ten
The race went from bad to worse for Peugeot. The 93 car was excluded for not returning to the pits after it ran out of fuel as it spluttered home seventh on the road. So Hypercar newcomers, Alpine were a delighted seventh on its top class return from the Number 8 Toyota. Proton’s Tincknell-Jani-Andlauer made it four Porsches in the top ten from the BMW on its WEC Hypercar debut.
The Qatar race ran to its full 1812 km distance saluting the country’s 18 December national day. The winning Porsche beat the 10-hour curfew by three minutes to lead what was ultimately a crushing Zufferhausen 1-2-3. This dominant first WEC win is wasPorsche’s a third Hypercar win in a row. The 963 won the final allied IMSA US race last year, and its January IMSA Daytona 24 victory.
The Qatar 1812 Was the Perfect Day for Porsche
All of which certainly leaves Porsche as the new Hypercar force. Of even greater concern to its rivals, the German carmaker plans to have a major upgrade including a new V8 engine, in place for the Le Mans 24 Hour in June. An all-new Peugeot is also in the works.
World champions Toyota, Le Mans winners Ferrari and the rest will however be relying on the WEC’s now race-by-race Balance of Performance action to remedy their deficit. In time for round 2 of the Road to Le Mans, Ferrari’s Imola 6 Hour home race on 21 April…
Images: WEC/Porsche
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