The sixth round of the 2025 World Endurance Championship season at Austin was nothing short of eventful.
The race got under way behind the safety car due to rain, before being red-flagged for 50 minutes. The green flag finally waved just before one-third distance.
But the safety car would return to the track four more times, not to mention several virtual safety cars and full course yellows.
For a long time, victory seemed destined for Ferrari but, in the end, Porsche came out on top, securing its first win of the season. Others completely missed their chance.
Here are our winners and losers from the 2025 Lone Star Le Mans.
Lone Star Le Mans result
1 #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport (Estre/Vanthoor/Campbell) - 120 laps
2 #50 Ferrari AF Corse (Fuoco/Nielsen/Molina) +8.625s
3 #94 Peugeot (Duval/Jakobsen/Vandoorne) +9.541s
4 #93 Peugeot (Di Resta/Jensen/Vergne) +15.149s
5 #51 Ferrari AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) +22.619s
6 #38 Cadillac Team Jota (Bamber/Bourdais/Button) +42.517s
7 #83 AF Corse (Ye/Hanson/Kubica) +56.955s
8 #12 Cadillac Team Jota (Nato/Stevens/Lynn) +1m10.896s
9 #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa) +1m14.615s
10 #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport +1m21.117s
Winner: Porsche
Faultless at the Le Mans 24 Hours, the crew of the #6 Porsche deserved better than a runner-up finish there.
Of course, this Austin victory won't soften the sting of that Le Mans defeat, but Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, and Matt Campbell delivered Porsche its first win of the WEC season, its first for almost a year, since Fuji in mid-September 2024.
Everything came down to the final restart, one hour from the chequered flag, when Estre pulled off a decisive move on Alessandro Pier Guidi's #51 Ferrari. Estre then pulled away to finish with an 8.6s winning margin.
"Without these conditions, we would not have been able to fight for the win," explained Urs Kuratle, Porsche's director of factory motorsport LMDh.
"I'm really proud because the way the race developed showed that if you take some outside conditions away [BoP], Porsche Penske Motorsport is a competitive race team. I’m so proud of the drivers, the pit crew, the engineers, and our strategists. We were at the top of our game in the most difficult circumstances."
Despite less-than-ideal tyre pressures at the start, the #5 Porsche fought for a podium before fading in the final hour, not least due to rear-end damage after contact with an Aston Martin.
Loser: Toyota
At the finish, Toyota's technical director David Floury admitted: "This is one of our worst races. Why? We need to take time to analyse it."
Both GR010 Hybrids were repeatedly seen spinning, and the #7 even ended up stuck in the gravel after José María López - called up last-minute to replace the injured Mike Conway - went off track. The #8 eventually finished ninth, while the #7 placed 14th.
"It was not easy on either side of the garage and we struggled with the conditions," López said. "We just couldn't find grip with the car. Racing in those conditions after a year out of the car was extremely difficult. But these experiences only make us stronger, and the team will bounce back, I'm sure."
The next round is in Japan at Fuji on September 28, the 100th race in WEC history. More importantly, at its home race, it's one of only two remaining opportunities for Toyota to avoid finishing the season winless, which would be a first since its return to endurance racing's top class in 2012.
Winner: Peugeot
Peugeot was the only Hypercar manufacturer whose drivers avoided spins or off-track excursions. More importantly, the 9X8 took advantage of the treacherous conditions to fight at the front, ultimately claiming its third podium in three seasons, the first since Bahrain last November.
"Frankly, we were happy to have a wet start," said Peugeot technical director Olivier Jansonnie. "The conditions allowed a bit of randomness.
"We started mid-pack, it was extremely difficult, and the rain practically never stopped. The tyre choice was good and that was the difference in the end. At some point we tried a very low pressure and it was hard to keep the car on the track. We've been so close to a great result for a while now..."
The #94 of Stoffel Vandoorne/Loïc Duval/Malthe Jakobsen finished third, while the #93 of Mikkel Jensen/Paul di Resta/Jean-Éric Vergne took fourth.
This is Peugeot's best collective result of its time back in sportscar racing's top class, the 9X8 having made its racing debut in July 2022.
Loser: BMW
BMW first lost its #20 M Hybrid V8 just 40 minutes after the start - before the race had truly begun - due to a hybrid system isolation failure. But the #15 never shone either. That trio, of Dries Vanthoor/Kevin Magnussen/Raffaele Marciello, could do no better than 12th.
"We struggled significantly with the wet conditions during the race and were unable to showcase the potential we had demonstrated in practice sessions," said BMW M Motorsport boss Andreas Roos. "That is very disappointing, as is the early technical failure for the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8.
"What happened today requires a very self-critical analysis."
The #15 reportedly suffered from a power deficit, but that doesn't explain everything. BMW M Team WRT will need to react quickly to get back to the sharp end.
Winner: Ferrari
Admittedly, Ferrari cannot be satisfied with letting victory slip away after locking out the front row in Hyperpole.
Still, thanks to the #50 finishing second and the #51 fifth (after a puncture), its constructors' championship lead grows from 55 to 65 points with just two rounds remaining.
Pier Guidi, however, believes Estre should have been penalised for the decisive contact at the final restart that allowed the #6 Porsche 963 to take the lead.
"It's hard to see the positive side in a race like this," Pier Guidi said. "I believe the move at the restart was not correct, both before the finish line, where it's not allowed to stay alongside another car, and in Turn 1, where I had left plenty of space and there was contact that affected our race due to the puncture."
Since the polesitting #83 only finished seventh, the #51 crew of James Calado/Pier Guidi/Antonio Giovinazzi extended its lead over Robert Kubica/Yifei Ye/Phil Hanson to 15 points.
Loser: Alpine
Alpine looked comfortable in both free practice and qualifying in Texas. But rain ruined the squad's hopes on race day.
Frédéric Makowiecki went off track soon after the first green flag in the #36 car, while the #35 couldn't replicate its strong qualifying performance (it was sixth) in the race, finishing 11th.
"We don't have a lot of downforce, and in these conditions, that does not help," Paul-Loup Chatin said. "It's tough to put temperature in the tyres.
"We were clearly not up to speed and were in survival mode. It's a shame because we had shown some good things, both in free practice and in qualifying."
"But in these conditions, we had zero pace," he continued. "And when we tried to push, it became very risky, as we saw with the sister car. But it was undriveable. We need to analyse why we are so slow in these conditions and why the gap is so big with the competition. I was confident in our ability to have a good race, and we ended up finishing outside the points."
See you in Fuji in three weeks, where the A424 clinched its first podium finish last year.
Winner and loser: Aston Martin
It's hard to call a manufacturer a winner when both of its cars retired. On the other hand, we had never seen the Valkyrie so competitive, and not just because of the weather.
"A bittersweet Sunday," said Alex Riberas. "We looked really strong in conditions we never experienced before. We were fighting against the big guys but eventually we had to retire the car for mechanical issues on both sides of the garage. It’s a shame but nevertheless it doesn’t take away the fact that we learnt so much today. We made a big step forward this weekend.”
In qualifying, the #009 Valkyrie made it to Hyperpole. And in the race, the #007 ran as high as fourth, with both LMHs holding honourable positions for long stretches.
Though overheating issues ended both cars' progress, Aston Martin continues to move forward.
Loser: Cadillac
After scoring a 1-2 finish at Interlagos, Cadillac Team Jota had every reason to hope for another podium. But things unraveled as early as qualifying, when a poor tyre choice (rain tyres) left the two V-Series.Rs 16th and 17th, with the #12 missing Hyperpole for the first time this season.
In the race, the #38 of Sébastien Bourdais/Earl Bamber/Jenson Button finished sixth, two places ahead of the #12 of Will Stevens/Alex Lynn/Norman Nato.
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"It was [effectively] a three-hour race, we just couldn't do anything," said Jota co-owner Sam Hignett. "It was a tyre pressure race, but we did a good job on that. We want to be on the podium every time, but given the position we found ourselves in after qualifying we will take that."
Despite that salvage job in the race, though, in the manufacturers' standings Cadillac lost second place to Porsche.
Loser: Vista AF Corse
In LMGT3, everything was decided in the final quarter-hour. While the #77 Ford Mustang and the #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R appeared to be fighting for victory, their pursuers gambled on slick tyres and soon swept past them.
Davide Rigon crossed the line first, but the Italian was handed a five-second penalty for contact with the #77 Ford Mustang that allowed him to take the lead. As a result, the #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 dropped to third, just behind the #46 BMW M4 LMGT3 of Valentino Rossi.
Victory went instead to the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S of Darren Leung/Sean Gelael/Marino Sato. For McLaren, which will join the Hypercar class in 2027, this marked its first win in LMGT3.
