Lone Star Le Mans — 2026

Ferrari AF Corse’s #50 499P of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen won the 2026 Lone Star Le Mans, round five of the FIA World Endurance Championship, on Sunday, September 6 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The Hypercar victory was sealed in the final minutes after the race-leading #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing retired with a hydraulic issue. In LMGT3, the home-based #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi took class honors. FIA WEC reported nearly 70,000 fans on site for the six-hour race.

How it was won

Hypercar

Pole went to Ferrari’s sister #51 (Antonio Giovinazzi / James Calado / Alessandro Pier Guidi) after a Hyperpole dead-heat with Cadillac — Giovinazzi’s time stood because it was set first. Race day under Texas heat (with sporadic showers) featured offset strategies, two Safety Car periods and multiple Full Course Yellows.

The #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries looked set for Toyota’s first COTA WEC win. De Vries held a clear lead into the closing stages before a hydraulic pressure failure forced retirement with roughly 10–11 minutes remaining. Nielsen, already second after traffic delayed Alpine’s Charles Milesi, inherited the lead and took the flag.

FIA WEC called it Ferrari’s first win of the 2026 campaign and the end of the marque’s longest barren streak in the series. The #50 crew’s third straight COTA podium (third in 2024, second in 2025) became a breakthrough victory. Pole-sitting #51 lost significant time at a mid-race pit stop and finished outside the points.

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s #38 (Earl Bamber / Sébastien Bourdais / Jack Aitken) finished second after starting from the front row. Alpine Endurance Team’s #35 (António Félix da Costa / Ferdinand Habsburg / Charles Milesi) crossed the line ahead of Cadillac but a five-second penalty for an unsafe pit release dropped it to third — Alpine’s first podium of 2026.

LMGT3

Heart of Racing locked out the LMGT3 front row in qualifying. Early pace from Proton Competition’s Ford Mustangs faded after a drive-through for the #77 and contact for the #88. Manthey DKR’s #91 Porsche led for a stretch before a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage returned the initiative to the #27 Aston Martin.

Robichon and then Drudi controlled the closing hours; Drudi managed without working air conditioning in the Texas heat. FIA WEC confirmed it as Heart of Racing’s first LMGT3 win in two years and the team’s second Lone Star class victory in three seasons (following 2024). It was the first WEC class win for Robichon and Drudi; James added a second after the 2024 triumph. Sister car #23 (Gray Newell / Eduardo Barrichello / Jonny Adam) completed a 1–3 for Aston Martin — the marque’s first LMGT3 double podium in WEC.

Results snapshot

Hypercar (official FIA WEC race report order)

Notes (verified): #7 Toyota DNF (late hydraulic failure while leading). #51 Ferrari finished outside the points after a costly pit delay. Provisional timing published via Al Kamel Systems classification lists the winner at 167 laps / 6:00:07.219, with #38 at +4.471s and #35 at +6.116s after the Alpine penalty — treat full PDF gaps beyond the podium as subject to final stewards’ classification.

LMGT3 (FIA WEC)

Goodyear Wingfoot Award (fan vote): James Cottingham (#91).

Purse

No official Lone Star Le Mans race purse figures were published in the FIA WEC reports reviewed for this recap. Prize money omitted.

Championship stakes

With #7 Toyota and #20 BMW scoring no points, FIA WEC reported Nyck de Vries / Kamui Kobayashi / Mike Conway still tied at the top of the Drivers’ standings with René Rast / Robin Frijns (countback). Ferrari’s win made the Manufacturers’ fight a three-way contest. In LMGT3, title protagonists largely struggled; the #21 Ferrari collected points for fourth while the points-leading #33 Corvette finished 12th after early contact.

History & significance

Lone Star Le Mans is the FIA WEC’s Texas round at COTA, the 3.41-mile / ~5.513 km Grade 1 circuit that also hosts Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix. Endurance racing has used COTA since the mid-2010s WEC/IMSA eras; the Lone Star branding anchors the contemporary WEC visit. Toyota entered the weekend still chasing a first WEC win at this venue — one of the few tracks on the modern calendar where it had never won — until the late hydraulic failure denied #7. Ferrari’s #50 win ended a long drought and rewarded a third consecutive Austin podium. Heart of Racing’s LMGT3 success reinforced Aston Martin’s COTA form after the marque’s earlier LMGT3 breakthrough at the same event.

What’s next (+ Texas tickets)

WEC: Next round is the 6 Hours of Fuji, September 25–27, 2026 (race Sunday, September 27).

Texas / COTA tickets still on sale (verified ticket URLs):

• MotoAmerica Superbikes at Texas — September 11–13, 2026 at COTA. Tickets: motoamerica.tixonlinenow.com/cota
• Formula 1 MSC Cruises United States Grand Prix — October 23–25, 2026 at COTA. Tickets: circuitoftheamericas.com/event/f1/tickets
• Venue hub: circuitoftheamericas.com

Sources

1. FIA WEC — Toyota’s pain is Ferrari’s gain in Texan thriller (Hypercar race report, Sep 7, 2026)
2. FIA WEC — Home is where the Heart of Racing is, as Aston Martin triumph (LMGT3 report, Sep 7, 2026)
3. FIA WEC — Lone Star Le Mans 2026 event page
4. FIA WEC — Giovinazzi grabs pole… Texan dead-heat (qualifying)
5. Circuit of the Americas — circuitoftheamericas.com (venue / F1 tickets)
6. MotoAmerica COTA ticketing — motoamerica.tixonlinenow.com/cota