[WEC] Portimao 6 hours 2023

[erwin greven]

Portimao Post-Race Notebook

Sportscar365’s post-race news and notes from 6 Hours of Portimao…
by Daniel Lloyd
April 17, 2023


Photo: James Moy/Toyota

***Brendon Hartley became the FIA World Endurance Championship’s second most successful driver in terms of overall wins by taking victory in the 6 Hours of Portimao alongside his Toyota Gazoo Racing co-drivers Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi.

***Hartley, who has driven for Toyota and Porsche in Hypercar and LMP1 respectively, has now won 20 WEC races – a quarter of all events held since 2012 — and sits behind only Buemi who increased his tally to 23 wins.

***Buemi blamed himself for losing the lead at the start of the race, being overtaken by both teammate Mike Conway and Ferrari’s James Calado. “I guess it was my mistake, I was not aggressive enough,” he said. It’s always difficult when you race the sister car into turn one. You don’t want to have any contact. Maybe I’ll need to change my approach a little bit for the next race if it happens again.”

***Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa took the lead of the FIA Hypercar Drivers World Endurance Championship, overtaking their Toyota teammates Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway in the standings. The No. 7 crew slipped to third behind Ferrari’s Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen.

***Toyota increased its lead in the Hypercar manufacturers’ world championship to 22 points over Ferrari, while Porsche drew level with Cadillac on 30 points each.

***Porsche Penske Motorsport changed multiple components related to the power steering on its No. 5 Porsche 963 after Michael Christensen pitted in the fifth hour. Factory LMDh director Urs Kuratle said: “We changed the pump and we changed the power unit to supply the pump with electricity because in the heat of the race we wouldn’t detect what the reason was, what the root cause was on this one. So we changed both.”

***The problem with the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8’s power steering was a new issue that the team had not seen before, according to technical director Olivier Jansonnie. “We were worried about these 10-15 minutes before the start of the [reconnaissance] lap,” he said. “There was a small chance that it could work [during that lap] but it did not, so we had to repair and start form the pit lane.”

***Despite that initial setback, the No. 93 Peugeot had a clean rest of the race and finished seventh. It appeared to be Peugeot’s strongest race outing for its LMH program to date, after significant reliability hits during each of its last four WEC outings.

***Alex Lynn suggested that the tire allocations for Portimao helped bring Cadillac closer to Ferrari. “They’re really good on new tires and can explode a lap time, and we’re very good on a double stint,” he said. “In a six-hour race, the allocation isn’t equal between an eight and a six, so it brings us closer in that sense.”

***Each Hypercar gets 18 Michelin tires for qualifying and the race in a six-hour, whereas an eight-hour carries a 26-tire allocation.

***Ferrari is set to have one more test at Monza between now and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Chip Ganassi Racing will return to Portimao for a three-day endurance test with its Cadillac V-Series.R in early May.

***United Autosports trio Josh Pierson, Giedo van der Garde and Oliver Jarvis carried on something of a Portimao tradition after winning the LMP2 class, celebrating their victory by jumping in the pool located in the paddock.

***Ben Keating revealed he was forced to take it easy during his second stint behind the wheel of the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R after coming close to a track limit penalty. “I got four track limit warnings in the second half of that first stint, knowing that I still had to do another full stint. I really had to back it off and let them go. That’s hard for a racer to do, but I was able to run consistent laps.”

***Keating’s co-driver Nicky Catsburg drew laughter during the post-race press conference when he revealed Corvette Racing was without one of its main mechanics at Portimao due to a peculiar injury. “He broke his collarbone playing table tennis,” the Dutchman quipped. “I just wanted to mention this. He will be back with us at Spa and then we’ll be even faster.”

***Roger Penske spent the weekend at Portimao, sitting in the Porsche Penske Motorsport box as the LMDh factory team claimed its first Hypercar podium. Penske chose to attend the WEC event over the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, where his team was in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and NTT IndyCar Series action.

***A ‘Virtual Energy Tank’ graphic was added to the WEC television broadcast at Portimao. Percentages and visualizer bars showed the live status of combined energy that each Hypercar had from its powertrain. The energy per stint for each car is defined in the Balance of Performance.

***Before its retirement due to a brake failure, the Vanwall Vandervell 680 Gibson was given a five-second stop-go penalty for exceeding its torque transfer limit twice. The No. 50 Ferrari 499P similarly went over the limit but was only reprimanded for a single offense.

***Glickenhaus, meanwhile, had a trouble-free run with its non-hybrid LMH car. It was the Glickenhaus 007 Pipo’s most reliable showing since its podium at last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, after retirements at Monza and Sebring.

***Team principal Luca Ciancetti told Sportscar365: “We have to improve the pace, of course, to be competitive. But it was way better than in Sebring. I think we are [going] in the right direction. Hopefully the next circuit will suit our car better.”

***Ciancetti added that the only snag for Glickenhaus was a shorter stint in the middle of the race to clear rubber that had gathered in the rear brake cooling and led to temperatures spiking.

***Aside from the Vanwall, the only other car to retire from the race was the D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE which encountered an engine issue.

***Alpine Elf Endurance Team battled with “inconsistent balance” on its LMP2 cars, according to team principal Philippe Sinault. “We took a gamble by changing the rear-end block to have a better aerodynamic setup and capitalize on it in case of a neutralization, he said. “The safety car came out quite late – too late – as the gaps were already too big.”

***Vector Sport encountered an issue with its Oreca’s fly-by-wire throttle motor that contributed to its 22-lap deficit to the LMP2 winner. Supplier Gibson fitted a new motor for Vector to reach the end. “It’s positioned under the gearbox, so it took time to find and another 20 minutes to change,” said Gabriel Aubry.

***Vector and Isotta Fraschini are planning to give the Tipo 6 LMH Competizione its next test in early May, following a return to the dyno rig after last week’s first rollout.

***Michelin observed the Hypercar manufacturers adopting different strategies at Portimao. “Some teams didn’t hesitate to run different compounds concurrently, with mediums on the left and softs on the right – which is the side that suffers less from wear,” said Pierre Alves. “Certain teams chose to double-stint their right-hand tire and replace the lefts at every refuelling stop, whereas others ran the Medium compound only, and changed their tires every two stops.”

***The top two finishing manufacturers – Toyota and Ferrari — used Michelin’s harder ‘medium’ compound throughout the race, although Toyota’s technical chief Pascal Vasselon said his team could have also used the softs but chose not to.

***Sportscar365 understands that could adjust its WEC tire compound nomenclature later this season. The French supplier currently names its compounds soft-cold, soft-hot and medium. However, Michelin is known to be looking at changing this arrangement to eliminate the temperature-based distinction of the softer specifications.

***The third round of the WEC season is the 6 Hours of Spa on Saturday, April 29.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/por ... otebook-2/

[erwin greven]

No. 8 Toyota Takes Dominant Portimao Victory

Toyota wins 6 Hours of Portimao as GTE-Am battle goes to the wire in Portugal…
by Davey Euwema
April 16, 2023


Photo: Toyota

Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa took a dominant victory in the 6 Hours of Portimao, with Ferrari and Porsche completing the podium positions.

The No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid started the race from pole position and briefly dropped to third at the start as Buemi lost ground to teammate Mike Conway and the No. 51 Ferrari 499P of James Calado, but was back in the lead by the end of the opening hour.

As Toyota opened up a gap to the chasing pack, the No. 7 Toyota of Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez fell out of contention when a failure on a mandatory torque sensor forced the team to complete a left-side driveshaft swap.

From there, the No. 8 car cleared off to take its first win of the FIA World Endurance Championship season, finishing a full lap clear of the No. 50 Ferrari driven by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen.

The No. 6 Porsche 963 of Andre Lotterer, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor finished third, securing the first WEC podium for Porsche Penske Motorsport on the same weekend it won the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Third place came despite a late fuel stop for Lotterer, which still allowed the German manufacturer to finish well clear of Alex Lynn, Richard Westbrook and Earl Bamber who came home fourth aboard the No. 2 Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R.

Lynn captured fourth position with just over 30 minutes to go, taking advantage of ongoing brake issues for the No. 51 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi.

The Italian squad battled problems with the front braking system from the third hour of the race and ran without brake-by-wire for much of the contest.

The issue steadily intensified until Pier Guidi lost braking power approaching the Turn 5 hairpin in the final hour, missing the corner and allowing Lynn through.

From there, Pier Guidi nursed the car to the line in sixth, losing fifth to the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 of Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes and Nico Mueller in the process.

The sister No. 93 Peugeot finished the race in seventh after starting from the pit lane due to a power steering issue, ahead of the Glickenhaus 007 Pipo and the No. 7 Toyota.

The Vanwall Vandervell 680 Gibson retired after Jacques Villeneuve spun into the Turn 10 barriers when he encountered brake failure, causing the only safety car.

The No. 5 Porsche was classified last overall after power steering issues consigned it to the garage with over five hours of running completed.


United Autosports Wins LMP2; GTE-Am Goes to the Wire

United Autosports took a 1-2 victory in LMP2, with the No. 23 Oreca 07 Gibson of Oliver Jarvis, Giedo van der Garde and Josh Pierson winning from the sister squad of Phil Hanson, Frederick Lubin and Ben Hanley.

The victory allowed the Anglo-American squad to bounce back from retirement at Sebring, where a strong run was curtailed by a freak electrical failure.

The No. 23 car took the flag just 0.684 seconds ahead of the sister car, with the No. 41 Team WRT car of Rui Andrade, Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz third.

Prema’s No. 63 car, piloted by Doriane Pin, Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat, finished fourth after initially leading until the last round of stops.

However, shorter fuel stops allowed both Jarvis and Hanson to vault ahead of Kvyat, who was then also passed by Deletraz in an overtake that saw the two cars briefly make contact.

Hertz Team JOTA completed the top five with the No. 48 Oreca 07 Gibson of David Beckmann, Yifei Ye and Antonio Felix da Costa, making his first WEC outing of the year.

Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nico Varrone came out on top in a nail-biting GTE-Am battle with Richard Mille AF Corse that was decided by less than half a second.

Catsburg, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, spent much of the final hour under pressure from the No. 83 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Alessio Rovera, which the Italian shared with Luis Perez Companc and Lilou Wadoux.

It was interrupted by the safety car but then resumed with Rovera trying multiple times to overtake the Dutchman for the race lead.

The battle between the two factory drivers went to the final lap, with Catsburg finishing 0.26 seconds ahead of the Ferrari.

The No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy and Rahel Frey completed the top three in class.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/no- ... o-victory/

[Everso Biggyballies]

No. 8 Toyota Takes Dominant Portimao Victory

<snip>
As Toyota opened up a gap to the chasing pack, the No. 7 Toyota of Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez fell out of contention when a failure on a mandatory torque sensor forced the team to complete a left-side driveshaft swap.

From there, the No. 8 car cleared off to take its first win of the FIA World Endurance Championship season, finishing a full lap clear of the No. 50 Ferrari driven by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen.

<snip>

I was interested to see that happening during the race and commented in the general thread before this race thread appeared.

Bit of a hiccup for the #7 Toyota.... given a meatball flag for a sensor problem. Problem turned out to be a sensor on a driveshaft on a compulsory torque data transmission the FIA require, and they lost something like 7 or 8 laps replacing it.

So Toyota #8 leads by a lap from 2 Ferraris, a Porsche, Peugeot, Cadillac.... 5 different makes in the top 6.

LMP2 is more of a battle at the front with United and Prema split by seconds.

The reason I bring it up again is that it seems Peugeot also had an issue with the same torque sensor data failing....

..... they admitted to the similar to Toyota #7 sensor failure and also confirmed that, unlike Toyota, they were not requested, or indeed ordered by the FIA to conform to the regs in providing the ongoing torque data throughout the race. ie not told to replace the driveshaft/sensor)

It does seem to be a case of the same rules not being applied to all equally. The car in contention for the overall win was told to stop for a sensor replacement that required a new driveshaft be fitted. (The offending sensor that transmits the FIA mandated data is an integral part of the driveshaft on all the top class cars. Yet the French car, also guilty during the race of having a failed sensor resulting in no torque data being transmitted to the FIA. No orders for them to rectify the situation and replace the driveshaft.

I thought that more than unfair and almost a something done for 'the show'. Ping the dominant car but sweep a similar problem with a relative back marker under the carpet.

However post race, as Peugeot told of not having to change a driveshaft and their lack of data transmission being overlooked, it seems that the reason for this apparent 'different rules for different folk' was justified by the fact that the Toyota sensor failure is now said to have been earlier in the race than the Peugeot failure.

The FIA overlooked the lack of Peugeot data because they already had enough data from the sensor before its failure to note any discrepancy. The Toyota had it seems transmitted insufficient data to be given similar exemption from providing data.

It does seem that the Peugeot did suffer some performance loss after the sensor failed.... to assist their 'no driveshaft change' case they ran in a default setting that I guess run the torque output at a reduced / fixed level over the measured but variable torque output the sensor is there to monitor.

More on that issue here :
Peugeot Managed FIA, ACO Sensor Issue in “Default” Mode
Peugeot also experienced torque sensor issue but didn’t need to make driveshaft change…