Race Highlights | 6 Hours of COTA 2026 | FIA WEC

Hello, good morning and welcome to Texas. We are at the Circuit of the Americas for round five, the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship. The Lone Star Le Mans. It's not really wet or dirt. Well, of course, it's raining. But the rules are, unless it is officially declared wet, Anthony, you can't fit. Yeah, you can't fit the wet tyres unless it's been declared wet. There is the man who will wave the green flag, Chris Bosch. Two-time Hall of Famer from the NBA. We are ready to release the field. Cars lining up side by side. And we're waiting for the lights. The leader, the 51 Ferrari, Antonio Giovinazzi, leads the field away. Well, the green flag waves and immediately you can see the number 8 Toyota going very defensive on the inside, on board with Kevin Magnussen. I think it was him that was attacking the number 8 car. It is the Ferrari that takes the lead. Jack Aitken was right behind him. There's two or three cars side by side through the first couple of corners. Nancy Davidson through the S's, should be dry enough. It's the latter part of the lap where we're going to see problems with running offline. Yeah, so it goes single file through the S's. The Genesis getting a little nose in there before Turn 7 on the Alpine and runs off the circuit by doing so. And the Toyota gains a place on them. They were side by side through Turn 2. So Yuki Della losing out there. This is the LMGT3 field. Gray Newell, the first of the Aston Martins, on pole position. Yeah, one of the Lexus over the kerbs on the inside and followed through, I think, the same line by the second of the Porsches. And this is Ian James. There goes the 77 car of Eric Powell, the Mustang going by. Now, can the Ford get it stopped? At the end of the straight into Turn 12. Yes, and the Aston runs out a little wide. The lead is with Ford. You're side by side between the Alpine and the number 50 Ferrari. Red Ferrari, Miguel Molina drops back into fourth place behind the Alpine of Ferdi Habsburg. Habsburg always an aggressive starter, but the lead to Anthony Davidson going away. Giovannazzi and Aitken as the Ferrari again gets alongside. Yeah, it's a good night, this battle of who's the last of the late breakers into Turn 1. Habsburg went a bit deep into the final corner that allowed the Ferrari back through. Habsburg gets a good run on the exit of Turn 1, but the corner is down to the Ferraris in Turn 2 itself. Now you're into the higher speed and single file through the S's. Down here, Leung's really got the bit between his teeth here, hasn't he? He's all over the back end of the number 27 Aston Martin through, almost touching him the whole way around. Turn 15 gets a good drive on the exit. And the other Mustang, it's got some great pace right around the outside of the Aston. Brilliant stuff. Lotterer for third place. This is fantastic for the Genesis Magma racing team. In the slipstream, he's going to duck to the outside because Ferrari's got it covered. Molina on the inside, and that gives him... Oh, he's been boxed in behind the Ferrari. Clever stuff by Molina, but Lotterer goes for the move. He's too late. And the contact was inevitable. They're still wet on the inside. He couldn't quite slow the car down. Oh, that was looking so good. Race leader in the pits. Antonio Giovinazzi hands over to James Collado. Cadillac versus Alpine. Or Bambert versus Charles-Malaisy. And also in that shot, look at the filth offline, the rubber debris in the S's. All of those quick changes of direction are mullering the tyres. 83 is in as well. The AGV, the yellow Ferrari again off-kilter with the main strategy. But so too, these two. 38 will go longer than 35. And there goes the move from Nick de Vries, finally down the inside of the Aston Martin. Needed to do it there because the Aston is quick in a straight line. That has been the Achilles heel to Eta this entire race. So getting it done into a heavy braking zone is exactly where he needed it. The opportunity for de Vries. Yeah, he's going to look to the inside. And da Costa defends because he knows it. And here comes de Vries. A great move down the inside. Late, decisive move on the brakes for the two-to-driver. Look at this for a move. And yeah, there'll be some questioning whether you're allowed to cross that white line. It's the pit lane exit line. You are indeed allowed to cross it. That was textbook stuff by de Vries. It's an entirely different weapon, isn't it? Change for second place. That was Maxime Martin lunging Zach Robichon for second. A classic turn one move. Yeah, nice move down the inside. And the reason why you don't see any tyres locking up with the GT cars. Look at 007. Sees an opportunity down the inside into turn 11. Deep on the brakes. Goes by da Costa, the hairpin for third place. Oh, and now we find out who's got the top speed. Well, the Alpine's been strong the whole way through, but so is the Valkyrie. And look at that. And they go by one of the Fords. And that leaves Tom Gamble back up to fourth place. da Costa coming back down the inside. And he retakes the spot. And Antonio Fuoco rubbing his hands with Glee in the Ferrari right behind that green Aston Martin. Yeah, that was a nice race in between those two. And Gamble was opportunistic in the traffic and got the move done while he could. And here comes the Orange Army. Mathieu Jaminet ahead of Andre Lotterer. Both of them knocking on the back door and going around the outside of the number 20 BMW. And again, removing an opportunity for the BMW to score points. It's out of the points at the moment, but with potential to make progress. The overtake going on now. Lotterer finally down the inside of the BMW into turn 12. Get it done on the brakes. But the BMW has been given the space on the exit. No, off track. And you have to give the space, you have to give the move over. Oh, well, funnily enough, we called it. He's hit the inside of the kerb as well. There. That's that's the problem. It's not the bonnet. Something is broken. I couldn't see where I was going. Yeah, it's, let's put it this way. I suggest it's a disaster, but not in capital letters. Esteban Masson, look at that. Absolutely gutted. Then Tom Gamble. We know that's a quick car in a straight line. Then K-Mag, then, then, then, then, then. Here we go. Safety car has headed to the pit lane. And immediately, Nick de Vries gets the hammer down. No passing before the start line or before the finish line, in fact. Coming down the inside of the number 20 BMW, pushing them further out in the other Peugeot, the 94 car, squeezing the 15 BMW down the inside. The 12 Cadillac having a look. Top Cadillac, Will Stevens, on Kevin Magnussen, on Malte Jakobsen. Magnussen gets back ahead of Malte Jakobsen. Too many consonants. And here comes Will Stevens, easier name to say. And behind him is that Andre Lochenos, Matisse Hubert in the orange car. Meanwhile, here is our race leader and second place car, Mattia Drudi, five seconds ahead of Anjan Juven, who is just a whisker ahead of the other heart of racing, Aston Martin, Eduardo Barrichello in third. Four, five cars all going for it. Round the outside, Troyes McLaren. And they've both disposed of Jose Muriel Lopez, who is shown as being between them, but isn't. He's... I don't know where he's gone to. Well, there is the McLaren. And here we're on board with Logan Sargent. Got a run on his own teammate. Up the inside. And Ford on Ford action. Blue on blue. The BMW behind, right with them. That's... That's Dan Harper in the white and red BMW that had all those problems early on. Harper lunging to the inside as well. Goodness me, and you thought Hypercars was the only exciting class. How wrong could you possibly be? Look at this! Meanwhile, that's the Alpine going off wide in traffic, as you imagined, Graham. That is where that position change for second happened. Milessi was just not hit the McLaren. Survival. It really was survival. K-Mag's back at it. If Magnussen's got four wheels and an engine, it's never over, is it? He's going to have to brake incredibly late here. He does. He gets through. You have to surprise the competition sometimes. Turn 11 is a great piece of circuit design to allow a move like that. Turn 11, this is where he sent the move on Magnussen. And he does exactly the same without the smoky lock-up, this time on the number 12 caddy. Fires it down the inside, makes it look as easy as that. But it's not over because the Cadillac's got even better straight-line speed we've seen all weekend than the BMW. So this is going to be a harder move to defend for Buemi. Will Stephens around the outside. Has he got the overlap? He doesn't. Buemi keeps his nose in front and around. Here comes the number 20 BMW on Matisse-Obert. van der Linde does not get by the orange car for 11th place. Oh, now then. That is Jose Maria Lopez and Logan Sargent. Now that is a change for position. Lopez in the red and grey machine was in 9th. Sargent was in 10th. There's the Ford. So that is now 10th place. And 9th place is Logan Sargent. So when we first saw that big battle... That's a change, by the way. That is the Toyota having passed David Jakobsen. Yeah, yeah. Buemi should have been behind Jakobsen. We didn't see that happen. So here it is. This is how it happened. It's another dive up the inside. Didn't lunge him at the hairpin. So he's invented another new passing plan. Get blue flags. And what's that? Number 8. Is that Buemi? That is not the centre. It is the leader, De Vries. Nick Nielsen now leads for Ferrari. So as soon as you lose hydraulic pressure, you lose all your power steering. Watch the Ferrari coming. That was their race. They took it. They won it. Well, they hadn't won it. As a team, they hadn't got a reliable enough car. So it's bad luck for the driver, not bad luck for the team. He knew. He knew that was his race. He was a superstar today. Absolute superstar. And like I say, there's nothing that he did, nothing that the drivers did. But to finish first, first you've got to finish. 10 minutes short. Into the path of the 92 Porsche, which was forced to check up. It's not so bad if you get released in front of somebody. But if you force them to slow down, then there's the penalty. And that is going to cost them second place. Checkered flag awaits in Texas. Ferrari, the winners here two years ago. And this time, it is not the yellow car, but one of the red cars, number 50, Nick Nielsen. They were at the front because of the offset fuel strategy early on. And they have made the most of their opportunities now to take the win in Texas. Milasi in second place. And that becomes third as Jack Aitken puts the Cadillac second on the podium. But jubilation for Ferrari as they win in Texas. It is the red car's first win of the season. Dramatic finish. I think the whole race was a bit dramatic and chaotic from our side. And we definitely didn't expect to end up winning today. And yeah, like you said, I think for a while we were settling for P2. But in the end, we were a bit lucky that Toyota had a problem. But then on the other hand, we still managed to keep the Alpine behind. So I think all around, we did a fantastic job today. Victory in LMGT3 going to the number 27, Heart of Racing, Aston Martin, with their teammates following across the line in third position. From first and second in qualifying to two cars on the podium, it's been a fantastic weekend for the Heart of Racing team. And a second win in America for Ian James. He's adopted homeland. In the Drivers' Championship, the 50 crew move up to seventh place. But at the top of the title race, it is René Rast and Robin Frijns in the number 20 BMW, and Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nick DeVries in the number seven Toyota. Neither team scored. They remain tied at the top of the standings. Ferrari have closed on the top two manufacturers, though. Toyota eased from five to nine points ahead of BMW. And Ferrari are third, coming strong on the rails. Three more races to go to decide all of our championship titles.