Next weekend (January 30th and 31st) will take place the 54th edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, opening round of the 2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The race holds special interest since it will serve as the Ford GT's first foray into competition, more than seven months after the official announcement - the day before the 83rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans - of the marque's return.

WTSCC

The #83 Ferrari 499P fielded by AF Corse has tasted its first success of the season by winning Lone Star Le Mans, the sixth round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship.

AF Corse trio Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman clinched victory at the Circuit of the Americas in the #83 Ferrari 499P &ndash; amazingly, the sixth different winners in six races this season! The yellow Ferrari eclipsed the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Toyota Gazoo Racing by a mere 1.7 seconds &ndash; the second-closest finish in the history of the WEC. The #50 Ferrari 499P of Ferrari AF Corse rounded out the podium, with Cadillac Racing&rsquo;s #2 Cadillac V-Series.R and the #35 Alpine A424 of Alpine Endurance Racing completing the top five. The 2024 Lone Star Le Mans attracted 65,089 fans to the Austin, Texas, racetrack.

&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t describe what I am feeling,&rdquo; said a thrilled Yifei Ye.&nbsp;&ldquo;We began the weekend in the best possible way with a strong qualifying performance, and the race itself was flawless, with no mistakes from the team or us drivers. They are proud to be part of this extraordinary day for Ferrari, which has won in the FIA WEC and Formula One here in America and Italy. We have finally gained payback after the unfortunate race at Le Mans. This win repays us for so much effort and gives us confidence heading into the season&rsquo;s final two races.&rdquo;

Despite missing out on the win, Toyota now leads the provisional Championship standings, 11 points clear of Porsche and 19 ahead of Ferrari.

<h2>Flag-to-flag LMGT3 win for Heart Of Racing</h2>

After putting the #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 on LMGT3 pole, the Heart Of Racing Team led throughout to secure a stunning maiden FIA WEC success for Alex Riberas, Ian James and Daniel Mancinelli. They took the chequered flag with a 20.5-second advantage over the two Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3s of Manthey PureRxcing and Manthey EMA.

Manthey PureRxcing has extended its lead in the chase for the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 Teams to 28 points over Manthey EMA and 34 over Team WRT.

Check out the full 2024 Lone Star Le Mans results&nbsp;<a href="http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.

The FIA WEC now heads to Asia for the 6 Hours of Fuji on 15 September.

Extended Highlights I 2024 6 Hours of COTA I FIA WEC

FIA WEC : les faits de course marquants du Lone Star Le Mans 2024

FIA WEC – AF Corse wins Lone Star Le Mans

The FIA WEC Endurance World Championship is back in Austin, Texas, for Lone Star Le Mans, the sixth round of the 2024 season. Here’s all you need to know about the WEC’s return to this circuit.

The spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is crossing the Atlantic for Lone Star Le Mans, a six-hour race run on the Circuit of the Americas (COTA). The COTA hosted a round of the FIA WEC every year from 2013 to 2017 and the last race took place there in February 2020. That year, the Rebellion Racing #1 Rebellion&nbsp;R13-Gibson driven by Bruno Senna, Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato took the win, ahead of the #8 and #7 Toyota&nbsp;TS050 Hybrids fielded by Toyota Gazoo Racing.

<h2>The Circuit of the Americas&thinsp;&ndash;&thinsp;key figures</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Construction: 2012</li>
	<li>​First FIA WEC race: 2013</li>
	<li>Length: 5.513 km/3.426 miles</li>
	<li>Number of turns: 20</li>
	<li>Fastest lap in a FIA WEC race: 1:44.183 by Andr&eacute; Lotterer in the #1 Audi</li>
	<li>Most wins: Porsche Team with three victories (2015, 2016 and 2017) 
	 
	What sets the Circuit of the Americas apart is that its architect, Hermann Tilke, deliberately included a number of tried-and-tested components from other famous circuits. A few examples: the first corner is largely inspired by Spielberg in Austria; turns 3 to 6 are modelled on the Maggots-Becketts-Chapel sequence at Silverstone; turns 7 to 9 are strongly reminiscent of the Senna &lsquo;S&rsquo; at Interlagos; turns 13 to 15 are very similar to the arena bends at Hockenheim; and turns 16 to 18 resemble the quadruple-apex left-hand corner at Istanbul Park.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Toyota Gazoo Racing chasing&nbsp;Porsche Penske Motorsport</h2>

The fight for the FIA WEC World Endurance Championship titles is likely to heat up at this year&rsquo;s Lone Star Le Mans. After its victory at the Rolex 6 Hours of S&atilde;o Paulo,&nbsp;Toyota Gazoo Racing has closed the gap on Porsche Penske Motorsport, leader of the provisional standings. There are now just four points between the two teams! Victory for Ferrari AF Corse at the 24 Hours of Le Mans means that the Italian manufacturer also remains in the title race, 17 points behind the leader. A&nbsp;three-way battle&nbsp;is therefore shaping up for the 2024 Endurance World Championship title. 
Meanwhile, Hertz Team JOTA sits comfortably at the top of the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams leaderboard, with a 54-point advantage over Proton Competition.

Manthey PureRxcing leads the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 teams amassing 100 points after two victories this season. Manthey EMA holds second place with 75 points, closely followed by Team WRT (74 points). However, with 91 points left to be awarded this season,&nbsp;the competition is still wide open.

Check out the&nbsp;<a href="https://press.fiawec.com/assets/fileuploads/66/bc/66bc7b117c778.pdf" target="_blank">provisional entry list</a>&nbsp;for Lone Star Le Mans.

<h2>Where to watch the race</h2>

There are several ways to keep track of the race, even on this side of the Atlantic.&nbsp;The <a href="https://discover.fiawec.tv/" target="_blank">official FIA WEC</a> appwill be showing qualifying and the race from 20:00 (CET) this Sunday 1 September. La Cha&icirc;ne l&rsquo;Equipe will also broadcast the race from 20:00 to 22:25 and then from 00:40am until the finish..

FIA WEC: Our guide to Lone Star Le Mans

The #14 Oreca 07-Gibson of AO by TF took the honours in the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the fourth round of the 2024 European Le Mans Series. The success moved the American team to the top of the general classification ahead of Inter Europol Competition.

AO by TF wrapped up a perfect weekend by clinching victory in the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps from pole position. After a race-long battle, Jonny Edgar, Robert Kubica and Louis Del&eacute;traz in the #14 Oreca 07-Gibson edged out the #43 Oreca of Inter Europol Competition by just 1.1 seconds. IDEC Sport rounded out the podium. 
The American outfit has moved into the championship lead on the back of this success with a tiny two-point advantage over Inter Europol Competition with IDEC Sport afurther 13 points behind. With two races still to be run and 52 points up for grabs, the fight for the LMP2 title will seemingly go down to the wire.

<h4>Top 5 in the LMP2 standings</h4>

1. AO by TF &ndash; 65 points 
2. Inter Europol Competition &ndash; 63 points 
3. IDEC Sport &ndash; 50 points 
4. Panis Racing &ndash; 48 points 
5. Cool Racing &ndash; 35 points

The #83 Oreca of AF Corse, driven by Fran&ccedil;ois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Matthieu Vaxiviere, claimed the LMP2 Pro/Am class win. The reigning champions picked up their second class victory of the season ahead of the #20 Oreca of Algarve Pro Racing.

<h4>Top 5 in the LMP2 Pro/Am standings</h4>

1. AF Corse &ndash; 80 points 
2. Algarve Pro Racing &ndash; 60 points 
3. Richard Mille by TDS &ndash; 59 points 
4. Proton Competition &ndash; 53 points 
5. Nielsen Racing &ndash; 45 points

Matt Bell and Adam Ali followed up their Imola triumph with a second successive LMP3 win for Eurointernational. The pair overcame an early skirmish that sent Bell into the gravel at Les Combes to claw their way back up the standings. Ali took the chequered flag 14 seconds ahead of the #31 Ligier fielded by Racing Spirit of Leman.

<h4>Top 5 in the LMP3 standings</h4>

1. Eurointernational &ndash; 77 points 
2. RLR M Sport &ndash; 63 points 
3. Team Virage &ndash; 57 points 
4. Cool Racing &ndash; 48 points 
5. DKR Engineering &ndash; 43 points

The LMGT3 class produced a clean sweep of the podium for the Ferrari 296 LMGT3. The Kessel Racing #57 Ferrari driven by Takeshi Kimura, Esteban Masson and Daniel Serra was first home with a lap to spare over GR Racing and AF Corse.

<h4>Top 5 in the LMGT3 standings</h4>

1. Racing Spirit of Leman &ndash; 53 points 
2. GR Racing &ndash; 52 points 
3. Iron Lynx &ndash; 49 points 
4. Iron Dames &ndash; 40 points 
5. Spirit of Race &ndash; 39 points

The series returns to Italy for the fifth round, the 4 Hours of Mugello, on 29 September.&nbsp; In the meantime, sit back and enjoy the highlights of the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

Extended Highlights | 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2024 | ELMS

ELMS : les meilleurs moments des 4 Heures de Spa-Francorchamps 2024

ELMS – AO by TF wins to take championship lead

The 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the fourth round of the 2024 European Le Mans Series, will be held this weekend. Where can you keep up with the qualifying and race action?

If you cannot get to Belgium this weekend to attend the <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/european-le-mans-series-the-second-half-of-the-championship-kicks-off-at-spa-francorchamp-58913" target="_blank">4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps</a>, you will still have several options to follow the fourth race of the season. Qualifying and the race itself will be broadcast live on the European Le Mans Series <a href="https://www.europeanlemansseries.com/en" target="_blank">website&nbsp;</a>and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@EuropeanLeMansSeriesOfficial/streams" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a>. Commentary will be available in English and French.

Qualifying will take place on Saturday 24 August from 14:00 local time, and the race will go green at 11:30 the following morning.

The full list of broadcasters televising the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps is published <a href="https://storage.googleapis.com/doc-prod/7iG_oeoRP78zSEVyJi3LfcA-.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.

<h2>4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps &ndash; Key facts and figures</h2>

The 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps has been a fixture of the European Le Mans Series calendar since 2016. This year will therefore see the ninth running of the Belgian race.

DragonSpeed first to triumph 
The first 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps was won by the #21 Oreca 05-Nissan entered by DragonSpeed and driven by Henrik Hedman, Nicolas Lapierre and Ben Hanley. JMW Motorsport took the LMGTE honours while Graff Racing fielded the first LMP3 to cross the finish line.

4 
The number of victories earned by United Autosports (2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022). The Anglo-American team is the most successful LMP2 outfit at Spa-Francorchamps. Three of the four wins helped the driver crews become ELMS champions. United Autosports also boasts two LMP3 class wins in the race.

25 
The number of former 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps winners to compete this year. They are Alex Lynn, James Allen, Malthe Jakobsen, Marcos Siebert, Matteo Cairoli, Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni, Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens, Nico Pino, Louis Del&eacute;traz, Robert Kubica, Charles Milesi, Laurents H&ouml;rr, Fran&ccedil;ois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera, Emmanuel Collard, Wayne Boyd, David Perel, Nicklas Nielsen, John Falb, Riccardo Pera, Richard Bradley, Giorgio Roda and Ben Hanley.

2:04.674 
The fastest ever race lap clocked in the LMP2 class. The record was set on 22 September 2019 by Phil Hanson at an average speed of 202.2 kph.

ELMS – Don't miss the action from the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps!

Rolex 24 at Daytona 2016

For the occasion, excellent line-ups with drivers honed in endurance racing have been formed. Joey Hand and Dirk M&uuml;ller will share the No. 66 Ford GT and will be joined by S&eacute;bastien Bourdais in Florida. Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe will drive the No. 67 along with Stefan M&uuml;cke who will race the same model in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) the rest of the year. 
	 
	The two Ford GTs were entered by Ford Chip Ganassi Racing for the year in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and two others will do the same in the WEC for Olivier Pla, Stefan M&uuml;cke, Marino Franchitti and Andy Priaulx. 
	&nbsp;

	<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vwblEUWTqpA?feature=oembed" width="480"></iframe>

	David Bristol / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

	Video: YouTube &ndash; Ford Performance 
	&nbsp;

24H LE MANS

IMSA - The Ford GT finally ready for its debut in competition (video)

Related News

FIA WEC – AF Corse wins Lone Star Le Mans

FIA WEC: Our guide to Lone Star Le Mans

ELMS – AO by TF wins to take championship lead

ELMS – Don't miss the action from the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps!

Major Partner

PREMIUM partners

OFFICIAL partners