WEC @ COTA 9/7/25

3 Americans competing for WEC LMGT3 honors at COTA

Apart from the fact it’s a close race at the top between three teams and three different cars in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 standings, all of those leading title contenders have an American driver on the team.
It makes for a perfect scenario as the FIA World Endurance Championship’s annual visit to the United States kicks off this weekend. With only three races left in the season, Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans at COTA could be a race which influences which American driver joins their teammates in becoming LMGT3 champions.

Ryan Hardwick (above) had the edge for most of the season; he and his Manthey 1st Phorm teammates Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz have two wins including the Le Mans 24 Hours. He wants to keep that momentum going.
“Our expectation is to continue leading the championship when we leave here,” Hardwick said to RACER ahead of Sunday’s race. “Our sole goal is the championship at the end of the season, and we feel that this track could generally be a good track for the Porsche.

“I think it’s going to be a really good race between the three of us. The Corvette does look very strong, at least from the first practice, so I think they should be really good.”
Hardwick also feels that his physical training, which by his description seems closer to that of a full professional driver than a so-called amateur, gives him an edge in the extreme heat that’s likely to persist into Saturday and Sunday.
“I enjoy the heat,” he continued. “I’ll be honest with you, it’s not easy in this heat. If any driver says it’s easy, they’re lying to you.

“Being in the best physical condition that you can be in, I think it’s an advantage for me compared to a lot of the other guys I race against.”
If the car and the driver are suited for COTA, and the heat doesn’t bother Hardwick and company, competing with 36 extra kilograms of success weight in their No. 92 Porsche 911 LMGT3 R (the most of any car in the field this weekend) likely will be their biggest obstacle to overcome.

“We’re still carrying the success ballast from Le Mans; this definitely hurts our lap times,” he admitted. “But so [are] our competitors in the championship.
“I think if we just worry about the things that we can control and drive a clean race, without penalties, and we stay consistent – I think we’ll find ourselves towards the front, right where we need to be at the end of the race.”

Twenty three points behind Hardwick is his counterpart in the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R, the true home hero at COTA, Ben Keating.
The No. 33 Corvette’s landmark win in Qatar was followed up by productive but somewhat pedestrian results for he and co-drivers Jonny Edgar and Daniel Juncadella.
“I don’t like being in the position where I feel like we have to have a good race every time, but the fact is that there are only three races left,” Keating said earlier this week.
“There are only so many opportunities to earn points versus the competition, and if you have a bad race, then it almost takes you out of the hunt. There is the pressure on that side of things to say I feel like I have to have a good race.”

COTA is Keating’s home race and a track he loves driving at; he came out of his GT racing hiatus last year to drive one of Proton Competition’s Ford Mustang LMGT3s, where ironically he was a teammate to Hardwick in the other car.
“I won the first four races I ever did at COTA," he said. "I won five out of the first seven. I won overall in the 24-hour race (in the Creventic 24H Series) of COTA, and I’d say every driver loves the tracks that love you back.

“Obviously I know this track very well, and there’s no other race that I’d rather be going to.”
With Keating inviting 330 guests to his favorite circuit, there’s extra incentive to put on a show during his time behind the wheel of his GT3 Corvette.
“I would say that it has taken me a while to really understand what the car likes and doesn’t like,” he said. “I feel like everything is coming together pretty well for us at this race. I’m feeling more and more comfortable with the car.”

The third American doesn’t play the same role as his compatriots. Unlike the other two Bronze-graded amateur drivers, Simon Mann is the compulsory Silver-graded driver in the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3.
Winning the last race of the 2024 WEC season in Bahrain shows Mann made a significant step forward in his form this year and can now be evaluated as one of LMGT3’s better Silver drivers.

Part of that improvement is down to the strong chemistry between himself and co-drivers François Heriau and Alessio Rovera.
We had really good momentum last year, and this year, we started off well with some good results. I think that as a team, everyone is gluing really well together,” said Mann, who’s spent his entire documented racing career driving for AF Corse.

“I just feel really good within the team. Vista AF have really helped me progress a lot throughout the years, not just over the past year. It’s great to be in that top three. There’s still three races to go, so anything can happen.”
Mann won Spa and finished second behind the Hardwick-led No. 92 Porsche at Le Mans, but at São Paulo, the No. 21 Ferrari was shut out of the points. They’re currently 13 points behind, but the urgency for the leading Ferrari to leave COTA with a big points haul is picking up.

“I don’t think we’re going to be the fastest this weekend, so I think that’s why scoring points is so crucial especially going into Fuji and then Bahrain,” Mann admitted.
“At the same time, I think a strength is we focus on ourselves; we have the package we have, we just have to optimize what we have, and then we’ll see. The important thing is that we all do our best, like we always do. I’m sure, in the end, we’ll be good enough.

It’s likely that Mann will have to fight his way past TF Sport’s Edgar, Manthey’s Pera, or any of LMGT3’s other “super Silvers” to achieve a result.
As for Keating and Hardwick, it’s not impossible to see a scenario where the two of them are fighting each other on track for position in this pivotal title race.
“I’ve always enjoyed racing around Ben,” said Hardwick. “We had some nice time on track together at Le Mans this year, and we both respect each other a heck of a lot. He’s a great driver and I always enjoy racing around him.

“But I won’t lie, it’s always nice to beat your fellow countryman. Seeing that we’re competing for the championship this year, the opportunity presents itself. We’ll have a good time on track but I definitely hope to come out in front!”

Giammarco Levorato put the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 on pole position, leading 1-2 for the Blue Oval on home soil.
Levorato reeled off a 2:07.645 in the dying moments of the LMGT3 Hyperpole session to beat his stablemate Ben Tuck by 0.018 seconds
Notably, the No. 88 car was not in Hyperpole initially after Stefano Gattuso qualified 11th in first qualifying.

However, the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3 was pulled from Hyperpole for taking the checkered flag twice, allowing the Proton entry to go through.
Sean Gelael took third in the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, ahead of Valentino Rossi’s No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

The top five in class was rounded out by the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Jonny Edgar, while the second United McLaren slotted into sixth with Sebastien Baud at the wheel.

The sole remaining Lexus in Hyperpole took seventh courtesy of Finn Gehrsitz, with the No. 60 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, the No. 31 Team WRT BMW and No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo the last cars to make up the top ten.

Notably, the two cars atop the LMGT3 points standings failed to make the cut for Hyperpole as both the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 were eliminated.
AF Corse saw both of its cars knocked out as Thomas Flohr’s No. 54 machine also failed to go through, with the No. 81 TF Sport Corvette,
No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, No. 10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin and No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche also dropped.

The six-hour race at COTA is set to kick off Sunday at 1 p.m. CST.

TF Sport’s No. 33 Chevy Corvette Z06 GT3.R will start a season-best fifth in LMGT3 on Sunday for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas.

Home-state hero Ben Keating put the Corvette into the top-10 after the first session, and Jonny Edgar piloted the No. 33 Z06 GT3.R to the third row in Saturday’s dual qualifying session.
The duo, plus Corvette factory driver Daniel Juncadella, will look to return to the podium in the WEC’s lone race in North America.

The trio sit third in the class Drivers Championship on the strength of a season-opening victory at Qatar. Edgar is making his COTA debut, Keating hasn’t raced a Corvette at the circuit before, and Juncadella finished in the points last year for TF Sport.

Tom Van Rompuy just missed making the Hyperpole round – by 0.151 seconds – in the No. 81 Corvette that he drives with Rui Andrade and Corvette factory teammate Charlie Eastwood. The trio is coming off two straight podium finishes – third at Le Mans and second place at Sāo Paulo to move up to fifth in points.

The session featured mixed conditions with intermittent rain and a drying track toward the end, allowing drivers that started their final laps close to the end of the session getting the best of it.

The six-hour Lone Star Le Mans is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT on Sunday.
Full, live coverage is available on the MotorTrend and the MAX app in the United States.

TF SPORT POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES

JONNY EDGAR, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“I’m pretty happy with P5. It’s our best starting spot this year so that’s always good. It was a very difficult session with the already a bit of a damp track at the start and then drying throughout. Furthermore, it was pretty hard to get the tires warm. But I think we always use our tires better and the Corvette is better in the race. So yeah, we can be happy with P5 as it’s a good place to start for the race.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Really challenging conditions. Because of the Texas heat this weekend, we’re here on the hard Goodyear. In these conditions, it’s really, really difficult to get heat in the hard Goodyear on a damp track. So it was a challenging condition. Because I was getting a little bit more heat in the tire every lap, I was gaining three, four, five seconds per lap. I was just glad I didn’t end up in the gravel or in the wall somewhere.

The car was sliding all over the place, but really happy to end up in Hyperpole and super proud of Johnny to end up P5. Hyperpole for us was a big deal. The Corvette is way better on a double-stint… two hours in the car with the one set of tires. Some of the other cars turn on their tire faster than we do. I don’t care about qualifying as much as I care about the race. I’d rather have our car for the race. I think we do.”

TOM VAN ROMPUY, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“It was a tough qualify, also with the conditions going from wet to drying. It was also really hard to judge where the limit was. I was already sliding, then also bumped into quite a bit of traffic during my run.
So yeah, not a result I was hoping for, but it is a six-hour race, so I think it we can only move up ahead. We hope to have a better day tomorrow and still end up on the podium.”

Both Corvette Z06s did poorly, ended at the back of the field

In LMGT3, it was heartbreak for Proton Competition and Vista AF Corse and jubilation for United Autosports. The No. 95 McLaren GT3 Evo of Marino Sato, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung (above) crossed the line second behind the No. 54 Ferrari before the team received a five-second time penalty post-race for an incident at Turn 11 with the No. 77 Proton Ford Mustang.

The No. 77 crew looked on course to score the Blue Oval its first WEC win after the team locked out the front row on Saturday, until tire strategy came into play in the final hour.

Cars that took Goodyear hard tires at their final stop suddenly found pace on the drying track. Davide Rigon, on slicks in the No. 54 Ferrari, made short work of Alessio Rovera in the No. 21 sister Ferrari, Richard Lietz in the No. 92 points-leading Manthey Porsche and Ben Barker in the No. 77 Ford, making what he thought was the winning move up the inside at Turn 12.

Sato, meanwhile, found himself on the right tire at the right time for United Autosports, rising to second in the No. 95 McLaren before being promoted to first post-race. It would result in McLaren's first-ever FIA WEC class victory.
The No. 46 WRT BMW came from seemingly nowhere and ended up second following a heroic run from Kelvin van der Linde.

Meanwhile, the No. 54 dropped to third with its time penalty, and the No. 77 Ford dropped to seventh.
The No. 92 Porsche fell to eighth, and the No. 21 Ferrari finished outside the points in 12th.
AF Corse Penalty Gifts LMGT3 Victory to United Autosports McLaren
While few Hypercar runners gambled on slick tires on a drying track, the battle for LMGT3 honors was entirely decided by which crews opted for slicks, a gamble that propelled the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 to an on-the-road victory.

However, a five-second penalty incurred by Davide Rigon for contact with Proton Competition Ford driver Ben Barker meant that the class win ultimately went to Marino Sato, Darren Leung and Sean Gelael in the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.
It marked both the team and manufacturer’s first win in LMGT3 competition.

The No. 77 Proton Ford Mustang GT3 had looked in command in the closing stages, but a slightly earlier final stop to allow Ben Barker to take over from Ben Tuck effectively sealed the team’s fate, as the car stuck with wet tires.
By contrast, the majority of the field opted for dry tires for the final stint, with Rigon at the forefront of that group aboard the No. 54 Ferrari.

Having run fifth with 30 minutes to go, Rigon sliced his way through the field, passing the wet tire-shod No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R of Richard Lietz and then Barker in quick succession to lead, albeit only after making contact with the latter that would ultimately cost the Italian and his co-drivers Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci the win.

The five-second penalty not only dropped the No. 54 Ferrari behind the No. 95 McLaren, which likewise took slicks, but also the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO driven by Kelvin van der Linde, Valentino Rossi and Ahmad Al Harthy.
Barker slipped all the way to sixth in the No. 77 Mustang GT3, while Richard Lietz had to be content with seventh place in the championship-leading No. 92 Porsche he shares with Riccardo Pera and Ryan Hardwick.

Both cars were promoted one position by a converted drive-through penalty assessed to the No. 31 BMW that had finished fourth on the road.
It means Lietz, Pera and Hardwick lead the LMGT3 standings by 16 points, with the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari scoring a single point for tenth and the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R failing to score.

RESULTS

Misfortune strikes a pair of TF Sport Corvettes in American WEC round

Rain and bad luck were the orders of the day for TF Sport in the Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas. The team’s pair of Chevy Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs finished outside the top-10 and as a result the points in the lone North American stop of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The No. 81 Corvette of Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy was the highest-finishing TF Sport entry after six hours of rainy racing. It was a cruel result after the Corvette gained eight spots during a nearly two hours of running behind the safety car and a red-flag stoppage due to an issue with one of the safety cars.

The 81 trio saw its two-race podium streak come to an end with a 13th-place finish. Van Rompuy led early following the early-race chaos, but the team lost time in the pitlane having to replace a sensor on the Corvette’s accident data recorder, to an FIA-mandated and supplied device that cost Andrade nearly a lap in the process once the driver change and service finished. The team had elected to run Van Rompuy deep into the stint in hopes of catching a virtual safety car period.

Problems also bit the No. 33 Z06 GT3.R of Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Texan Ben Keating.
Following a strong qualifying effort and a gain of three spots under the early safety-car period, the entry experienced fuel system and restart issues on the first driver exchange between Keating and Edgar.
From that point, both the TF Corvettes were in catch-up mode. The No. 33’s race ended inside the final two hours with a right-rear suspension problem that ground the car to a halt with Juncadella at the wheel
. Meanwhile, the No. 81 was at a drivetime disadvantage due to the earlier sensor failure. Factory driver Eastwood was one of the last professional drivers to get in the race, and a switch to slick tires with 34 minutes left did nothing to close the gap to the field.

TF Sport’s next FIA WEC race with the Corvette Z06 GT3.R is the Six Hours of Fuji on September 26-28.

TF SPORT POST-RACE QUOTES

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“It was a weekend to forget, unfortunately. We struggled all weekend. Not for pace; we seemed to have a really good pace, but it just seemed to be a messy weekend for one reason for another. In the race we were good until the championship sensor failed, and we had to replace that.
That dropped us to the back of the field. We didn’t seem to have a lot of pace when it was cold and wet.

Our car thrives on the high track temps, and we couldn’t seem to get the tire switched on. We have a bit of understanding on that when we know the weather is maybe dropping as much as it did. Maybe there’s something we can do to counter that.”

TOM VAN ROMPUY, NO. 81 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Driving that long behind the safety is not the most exciting thing. Seeing the conditions, it was the right call. Safety-wise, it was really tricky to drive the car with some standing water and puddles. The team made a excellent call to come into the pits as soon as possible during the first safety car because it gained us a lot of positions afterward. But with the sensor failure, we were behind where we started.”

DANIEL JUNCADELLA, NO. 33 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“The weekend started very nicely with FP1 – 1-2 for our Corvettes. Since then, we have hit too many issues.
The sister car had a messy couple of free practices, but in our case everything was smooth. We qualified fifth so it was looking good for today. But after the first stint we encountered some issues getting the car started. We need to analyze since we don’t know the reason.

That put us a lap back, and the racing is pretty much an uphill trend when you are that far back. At the end, I had the mechanical issue and had to stop. Everything felt nice and felt fine. I was in the middle of other cars but a lap down; that is always annoying because you get blue flags constantly.
I had actually just let the whole field by to see how the car felt. I had a bit of fun in the wet, but then it went straightaway.
It’s a shame, but it’s better it happens when you’re two laps down than when you’re in the lead or fighting for big points.”