LMGT3: Lights to Flag Victory in Home Race for Heart of Racing Team
Alex Riberas took the chequered flag in the #27 Heart of Race Team to claim his and his teammates, Ian James and Daniel Mancinelli, debut FIA WEC win. It was also the first win for the Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 and for the American team.
The grid was missing one car after the no54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 stopped on the formation lap, Thomas Flohr managing to get back to the pits but a clutch issue forced the team to push the Ferrari into the garage. The car did emerge for a short stint well into the race but retired not long after.
Ian James had started at the front of the LMGT3 field after claiming pole in the no27 Aston Martin and led the field into T1. The Anglo-American driver moving ahead of the rest of the field as they scrambled for position.
The no85 Iron Dames Lamborghini and the no55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari had swapped places at the start, with Sarah Bovy challenging Francois Heriau for second place. The Belgian driver eventually got ahead of the Ferrari, with Tom Van Rompuy in the no81 TF Sport Corvette also moving up to third.
Once Bovy was up into second she started to close the gap to the leading Aston Martin, but James was able to keep the no85 Lamborghini at bay. For lap after lap the two cars were separated by less than a second. However, after the second set of stops Daniel Mancinelli was able to pull away in the no27 Aston Martin.
The no81 TF Sport Corvette of Rui Andrade was now up to second spot and was being challenge by Rahel Frey in the no85 Lamborghini, but the Swiss driver lunged up the inside at T12 and there was contact resulting in damage to the rear right of the Huracan, forcing Frey into the pits and into the garage. The no81 Corvette was able to continue with slight bodywork damage, with the no85 Lamborghini being penalised later for causing the collision.
There was a short Full Course Yellow to collect the debris from the accident.
Mancinelli handed over the lead car to Alex Riberas with a comfortable 18 second lead, which the Spanish driver started to increase. The no92 Manthey Purerxing Porsche had moved up the order and Klaus Bachler was 20 seconds ahead of the no59 United Autosports McLaren, with Richard Lietz in the no91 Manthey EMA Porsche in 4th and closing on the McLaren. Bachler started to close the gap to the leader but Riberas managed to keep a healty lead.
The no88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang stopped on track and a second FCY was declared to move the car to safety, with racing resuming after just three minutes.
The no46 Team WRT BMW M4 slowed on track with power steering failure with 16-minutes left on the clock. Maxime Martin brought the car back to the pits into retirement.
The no91 911 GT3 R moved up to third but Richard Lietz over 20 seconds behind his teammate Klaus Bachler in the no92 Manthey PureRxing Porsche. At the chequered flag the no27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 crossed the line 20.5 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, with the two Manthey Porsches taking the remaining podium places.
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