It has been a while since Porsche or any major manufacturer has won a major race in the World Endurance Championship. But that changed on Saturday evening at the Qatar Airways 1812 Kilometer event.
LUSAIL, Qatar–Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, and Laurens Vanthoor avoided a penalty for a loose panel, taking the lead midway through the race to lead a sweep of the hypercar class. The team got a 33-second win over the Hertz JOTA Porsche team that finished just ahead of the second Penske-sponsored Porsche, which had taken the pole with Matt Campbell at the wheel.
Porsche did not dominate at the beginning of the race. With Miguel Molina, Ferrari took a huge risk at the first turn, grabbing the lead. But it ended up being a high-risk, low-payoff move. Peugeot with Nico Muller soon grabbed second and took the lead only a few laps later until the Porsche of Estre passed him. The French team held on even with the Hertz JOTA threat a couple of hours before the end of the race to take second place. After complaining of vibration issues, the second Penske Porsche persisted and was right behind in third.
With less than an hour to go in the race, Estre’s Porsche had survived a penalty that had one of the panels of his car gone with the possibility looming of having to come into the pits while leading. But the car established a 38-second lead by that time and had no trouble pitting for a quick repair for a replacement panel, not to mention the penalty that was avoided.
The battle for second was not over, though, as three cars were only seconds from each other. Then, Jean-Eric Vergne, driving the last hour in the Peugeot, suddenly lost power and finished seventh overall. This made it a two-way battle for the second in which Ilott just held off Campbell.
The top three podium finishers completed a sweep of the hypercar class with the Porsche name.
The action was a little less hectic in the LMGT3 class. The TF Sport Corvette held the early lead but faded as the hours passed. As the long race went on, the Porsche 911 GT3 R, driven by Allaksandr Malyhin, Joel Sturm, and Klaus Bachler, went on to give the Lithuanian-sponsored team their first win. The team finished ahead of the American Heart of Racing Team, with the D’Station entry in third.
The next race will take place on April 21st at a new venue, the Imola circuit in Italy, for round two of the championship.
