Ferrari Wins COTA WEC After Late Hydraulic Failure Denies Toyota

Ferrari claimed its first World Endurance Championship victory of the 2026 season at Lone Star Le Mans following dramatic late mechanical trouble for the race-leading Toyota. Nyck de Vries, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway appeared destined to secure Toyota's maiden win at the Circuit of the Americas after carving their way forward from ninth on the starting grid. But with just 12 minutes remaining in the six-hour contest, a hydraulic failure on the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid dashed the team's hopes of a dominant result.

The unfolding trouble handed the lead to the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P driven by Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco. The Italian crew crossed the finish line 4.471 seconds ahead of the chasing pack to capture Ferrari's breakthrough win of the campaign. The race had initially begun under wet conditions after two extra formation laps following a rain shower minutes before the start, with the sister pole-sitting Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi pulling away cleanly from Jack Aitken's Cadillac.

Strategic gambles quickly shook up the order as the opening hour unfolded under varying weather and track conditions. Short-fuelling allowed the winning Ferrari and the sister Toyota to vault toward the front of the field. The race rhythm was further interrupted by a pair of Full Course Yellow periods and a mid-distance Virtual Safety Car called to retrieve track debris. These interventions repeatedly bunched the pack and scrambled the relative strategies across the Hypercar field.

De Vries delivered a standout stint following the mid-race restart, slicing through the traffic with aggressive moves at Turn 1 to capture the lead. The Dutch driver steadily pulled clear of his pursuers as the race entered its final hour, building a comfortable margin before his machine suffered the race-deciding hydraulic issue. The sudden retirement threat allowed Nielsen to sweep past the hobbled Toyota and secure the top step of the podium for Ferrari.

Behind the victors, the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac secured second place after a consistent run with drivers Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Sebastien Bourdais. Alpine rounded out the overall podium in third with Charles Milesi, Antonio Felix da Costa and Ferdinand Habsburg, marking a strong result despite a late five-second penalty for an unsafe release. The French manufacturer's strong showing came alongside a seventh-place finish for Genesis, representing the brand's best-ever result in the championship.

In the LMGT3 category, the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Ian James, Zach Robichon and Mattia Drudi clinched a commanding victory. The Aston Martin crew outmaneuvered a turbulent field that saw early front-running Ford Mustangs and penalised Mercedes-AMG entries tumble down the order. Drudi controlled the final two hours to secure a comfortable five-second margin over the second-placed Manthey Porsche, while the sister Aston Martin completed a double podium finish for the British marque.

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