1812 kilometers from Qatar – Race: Glory to Porsche, honors to Peugeot

A majestic track, V6s, V8s, and V10s purring or singing… and after more than 350 laps of the race, almost ten hours, the show was impressive in both the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes.

In the top category, there was much to be said, especially at the start, when Ferrari No. 50 pulled off the feat of overtaking everyone to take the lead, in front of Porsche No. 5, who started from pole position, and an heroic Peugeot No. 93! The other lioness, No. 94, had a full plate of troubles: a collision with Cadillac No. 2, a puncture, and a very complicated race, despite a promising pace.

But we must especially remember the almost unexpected head-to-head between Porsche and Peugeot: the latter, with car number 93, showed a very strong pace, leading a good part of the race. However, Porsche, with four cars ready for the podium, had the advantage of numbers.

This is how car No. 6 showed excellent authority by putting some distance between itself and the Peugeot (driven by Vergne/Muller/Jensen), which was less consistent in terms of pace.

Porsche has perfectly executed its roadmap to make history: become the first manufacturer to win with an LMDh; be the first to break the Toyota/Ferrari dominance since last year; achieve a 1-2-3 finish!

Because the manufacturer from Stuttgart did more than just win with Car #6: Jota #12 (Nato/Stevens/Ilott) stood up to the official Car #5, which had started from pole position (with Campbell/Christiensen/Makowiecki). But where did Peugeot go in the story? Car #93 9X8 threw a tantrum it shouldn’t have, at the worst possible moment: on the final lap.

The lioness of Sochaux, heroic and with impeccable balance, had a final appearance without a rear wing worthy of a tragedy. An almost perfect race, ending in a meager 7th place, in slow motion…

Toyota and Ferrari left behind

Of course, some could rightly point the blame at the Balance of Performance (BoP), which has heavily burdened Toyota and Ferrari to the maximum. However, this did not stop the Italians from leading parts of the early race and the Japanese (with the No. 7 De Vries/Kobayashi/Conway) from being on the front row.

The Japanese car No.8 ate its slice of bad luck, lacking pace, only managing to secure 10th place. Quite a contrast when you’ve been a world champion…And car No.7 could do no better than 6th place, with its weapons.

As for Ferrari, some silly penalties for track limits were counted, which weighed in the struggle to access the Top 5. The official teams N°50 (Fuoco/Molina/Nieslen) and 51 (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) failed to distant 8th and 14th places. This stands out, especially when the private AF Corse team (N°83, Kubica/Ye/Schwartzman) crossed the finish line in 5th place. There will be some criticism in Maranello, especially before heading to Imola…

Cadillac No. 2 even crossed the finish line in 4th place: quite a comeback, considering that the car of Bourdais/Lynn/Bamber had started with a broken front hood. Impressive performance!

Alpine in the points!

And the new ones in all this? BMW showed a pace that was not so bad after all, even though, in the end, it was not enough to fight for points. Car number 20 (S. Van Der Linde/Frinjs/Rast) crossed the finish line in 12th place, while the second Bavarian car (number 15, D. Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann) finished in 16th place.

Lamborghini had to settle for 15th place, as the Sant’Agata Bolognese manufacturer made its debut in the top category of endurance racing, even though the car did not suffer from major issues. Car number 63 (Kvyat/Mortara/Bortolotti) will have at least accumulated a lot of kilometers before Imola. For Isotta Fraschini, it was expected that car number 11 (Vernay/Serravalle/Bennett) would struggle: it only completed half of the race. And, with a breakdown at the start, it almost didn’t make it.

But the good surprise comes from Alpine: while car number 36 with the experienced trio (Lapierre/Vaxivière and Schumacher) struggled more (13th), the sister car, number 35 (Milesi/Habsburg/Chatin), had a race of impeccable consistency!

No major issues encountered, a truly commendable pace for a beginner car, and there are two well-deserved points (9th) for Philippe Sinault’s team! The Acura chassis has proven itself, and things are looking good for the French team.

LMGT3: Porsche and Manthey at the top, Rossi just shy of the podium!

The fight was no less exciting in the brand new LMGT3 category with its nine manufacturers! The #81 Corvette from TF Sport had achieved a stratospheric pole position, which could have foreshadowed a blistering race pace… but missed.

Very quickly, the Z06 GT3 fell into the middle of the pack… “Middle” might not be the most accurate word: there was endless fighting at the start of the race!

The Porsche 911 from Team Manthey (No. 92) replicated its Hypercar counterpart to win the very first race of the GT3 era of the World Championship. The crew from the Lithuanian team beat two Aston Martins: one from Heart of Racing (No. 27) by just four seconds (!) and the other, one lap behind, from D’Station Racing (No. 777).

Attraction of this new category, Valentino Rossi almost secured his first podium in four-wheeled racing, with the BMW No. 46 of WRT team. He and his teammates Ahmad Al Harty and Maxime Martin opted for extending their stints to challenge for the third step of the podium, only to fall short by twelve seconds behind D’Station Racing.

This first round of the season was rich in intensity, from one end of the grid to the other. Not far from Losail, it was a whole different story…