How Ferrari rode its luck to beat Toyota for Austin WEC spoils

Toyota seemed to have pulled something special out of the bag at Austin, only for a penalty to allow Ferrari to take its first non-Le Mans victory in the World Endurance Championship with the 499P. Here's how Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman achieved it

Finally! Ferrari’s 499P Le Mans Hypercar, already a two-time victor at the Le Mans 24 Hours, notched up a belated first win in a regular World Endurance Championship race at Austin last Sunday, fittingly within hours of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 squad’s triumph on home ground at Monza. But it didn’t do it with the factory team, it should be pointed out, or on a day that it had the fastest car.

The AF Corse-run privateer 499P shared by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman took the narrowest of victories after six hours of racing around the 3.43-mile Circuit of The Americas thanks to a significant slice of luck.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.