Lusail International Circuit

World Endurance Championship

Gelael, Hirakawa, Ye wrap up Qatar 1812 weekend with strong performances

A historic day for Ferrari and AF Corse 

A year on from Porsche’s 1-2-3 in Qatar, it was Ferrari’s turn to repeat a version of history with Ferrari AF Corse #50 driven by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen lead the AF Corse #83 and Ferrari AF Corse #51 home to victory. 

The privately entered #83 was driven by Yifei Ye, Phil Hanson, and Robert Kubica who qualified P8 on Friday, nearly a second adrift of their sister team #51 on pole. Race day, however, had different plans. With chaos in the mix ahead bringing out safety cars, the #83 was up into 3rd place by Lap 73/335 and in the lead of the race right before halfway point. With differing strategies and tires at play across the front runners, the #83 in hands held station until the last shuffle of pitstops that saw them fall to second. They held the position, nursing worn tires to the checkered flag.

A strong recovery drive for the Toyota Gazoo Racing #7 and #8

It was no walk in the park for Toyota Gazoo Racing cars #7 and #8 at the first round of the World Endurance Championship - Qatar 1812km.  A lacklustre qualifying performance saw only one of the two cars in Hyperpole, qualifying P7, whereas car #8 driven by Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa qualified P17. Come race day, TGR were able to switch up a level of performance they knew they had with Mike Conway (#7) and Sebastien Buemi (#8) ran in the top 6 by the end of hour 1. 

With smart strategy, consistent driving, and staying clear of trouble in a safety car marred race, both the TGR cars. Both on different strategies, by the sunset in Lusail, Brendon Hartley (#8) was running in third ahead of Kamui Kobayashi (#7) In a highly tactical race overall, the TGR cars’ positions swung within the Top 6. But the drivers kept consistent pace to bring the cars home in P5 and P6, a successful recovery drive that added 33 points to their weekend tally. 

Drivers of TGR #7 - Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries

Drivers of TGR #8 - Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa 

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A dominant start and an unrepresentative finish for #85 United Autosports 

The weekend began with a strong display of pace from the United Autosports McLaren team #85 driven by Indonesian driver Sean Gelael, Japanese driver Marino Sato, and British driver Darren Leung, topping 2 out of the 3 practice sessions. Their strong form showed in qualifying - taking class pole. What would have been a near perfect weekend for the team, leading from pole for 1/3rd of the race, sadly took a last minute turn by the 9th hour. The #85 was slapped with a drive through penalty for a pit stop infringement that stopped them down to 7th in a tightly packed grid. The silver lining through what was a strong run ultimately revealing an unrepresentative finish was Sean Gelael picking up the Goodyear Wingfoot Award - a fan voted driver of the day award.