FIA World Endurance Championship | |
---|---|
Venue | Circuit of the Americas |
First race | 2013 |
First WEC race | 2013 |
Last race | 2024 |
Duration | 6 hours (for WEC) 2 hours 40 minutes (for IMSA) |
Previous names | 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas (2013–2017) |
Most wins (driver) | Timo Bernhard (3) Brendon Hartley (3) |
Most wins (team) | Porsche Team (2) |
Most wins (manufacturer) | Porsche (3) |
The Lone Star Le Mans (previously known as 6 Hours of the Circuit of the Americas) [1] is an endurance race for Le Mans Prototypes and grand tourer-style cars held at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Its first running was on 22 September 2013 as the fifth round of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship season. [2]
The name "Lone Star Le Mans" had previously been used for the Austin round of the United SportsCar Championship, now the IMSA SportsCar Championship, from 2014 to 2016.
On 2 December 2019, the Austin round of the WEC was revived for 2020, as a result of a conflict between the promoters at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace and the WEC, where the Austin round replaced the 6 Hours of São Paulo. [3]
On 9 June 2023, the schedule for the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship was announced, with Austin returning to the schedule on 1 September as the 6th race of the season, effectively replacing the 1000 Miles of Sebring (a race specially created just for the WEC) as the American round of the championship. [4]
The 6 Hours of the Americas was an event organised by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and would have been part of the inaugural season of the Intercontinental GT Challenge on March 6, 2016. On January 29 it was announced that the race would be cancelled with the official reason stated as a lack of entrants. [18]
Sebring International Raceway is a road course auto racing facility in the southeastern United States, located near Sebring, Florida.
Krohn Racing is a professional sports car racing team based in Houston, Texas. The team competes in the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Prototype class, and has competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Intercontinental Le Mans Cup GTE-Amateur class; the American Le Mans Series GT2 class; and the Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype class.
Frédéric Makowiecki is a French professional racing driver who currently competes as a factory driver for Porsche Motorsport in the Hypercar category of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) was an American auto racing team based out of Riviera Beach, Florida. Founded by Scott Sharp and Patrón CEO Ed Brown, the team competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Tudor United SportsCar Championship, and American Le Mans Series since 2010 until 2018 when the team sold its equipment and race cars and shut down following an exhaustive sponsor search after the withdrawal of Patrón.
Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification 3.426-mile (5.514 km) motor racing track and facilities located in Austin, Texas, United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand Prix, NASCAR Texas Grand Prix, and the Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas, a round in MotoGP and the FIA World Endurance Championship with the Lone Star Le Mans. It previously hosted the Australian V8 Supercars, the Americas Rallycross Championship, the American Le Mans Series, the Rolex Sports Car Series, the IMSA SportsCar Championship and the IndyCar Classic.
The 6 Hours of São Paulo is a sports car race held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil. It was created for the FIA World Endurance Championship, and was held for the first time on 15 September 2012 as the fifth round of the 2012 World Endurance Championship. The race was discontinued for 2015 as the Interlagos paddock buildings were undergoing renovations and a suitable date could not be secured. The race was originally set to return in 2020 as the 5th round of the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship, but was subsequently cancelled, due to the event promoter failing to meet contractual obligations, and it was replaced by a round at the Circuit of the Americas.
The 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship season was the second season of the FIA World Endurance Championship auto racing series, co-organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series was open to Le Mans Prototypes and grand tourer-style racing cars meeting four ACO categories. World Championships were awarded to drivers and to LMP1 category manufacturers, and several World Cups and Endurance Trophies were awarded for the series' other categories. The eight race championship began in April at the Silverstone Circuit and ended in November at the Bahrain International Circuit. The season was marred by the death of Allan Simonsen in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Greaves Motorsport is a British racing team, currently competing in the European Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The 2014 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas was a six-hour endurance sports car racing event held for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas on 20 September 2014. It served as the fourth of eight rounds of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship and was the second time the race was held as part of the championship. A total of 50,334 spectators attended the event.
The Ligier JS P2 is a racing car designed and built by French manufacturer Onroak Automotive and named in partnership with French former racing driver Guy Ligier. Designed for the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) regulations, it is intended as a second option to Onroak's Morgan LMP2 that has been competing since 2012. As well as being the first closed-cockpit car offered by Onroak, it is also the first car they designed entirely in-house. The JS P2 debuted at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans, and has been campaigned in the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Gustavo Soiblemann Menezes is an American-Brazilian racing driver, currently racing for Peugeot Sport in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship season was the fifth edition of the FIA World Endurance Championship auto racing series co-organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series was open to Le Mans Prototypes and grand tourer-style racing cars meeting four ACO categories. The season began at the Silverstone Circuit in April and ended at the Bahrain International Circuit in November, and included the 84th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This season was also the last WEC season for Audi Sport Team Joest as they decided not to race in the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship Season.
The 2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship was the eighth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series co-organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series is open to Le Mans Prototypes and grand tourer-style racing cars divided into four categories. World Championship titles were awarded for LMP drivers, LMP1 teams, GTE drivers and GTE manufacturers. With the new winter scheduling format, the series began at Silverstone Circuit in September 2019 and ended with the 2020 8 Hours of Bahrain in November 2020.
The Ferrari 488 GTE is a grand tourer racing car built by Ferrari's in-house Competizioni GT unit, for competition in endurance racing. It was served as a replacement for the Ferrari 458 Italia GT racing car, using the Ferrari 488 GTB as a base. The car is built in accordance with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest/FIA LM GTE regulations introduced for the 2016 season, and it formerly competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and in the GTLM class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. The car had its race debut at the 2016 24 Hours of Daytona, with the Scuderia Corsa and Risi Competizione teams.
The Chevrolet Corvette C8.R is a grand tourer racing car built by Pratt Miller and Chevrolet for competition in endurance racing. It serves as the replacement for the Corvette C7.R, using the C8 generation Chevrolet Corvette as a base. Corvette Racing fielded the C8.R in the IMSA SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) class starting with the 2020 season. The car was built to LM GTE specifications as per GTLM rules.
The 2020 Lone Star Le Mans was an endurance sportscar racing event held on 23 February 2020, as the fifth round of the 2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship. This marked the return of the FIA WEC to the Circuit of the Americas for the first time since 2017, and the inaugural running of the race under the banner of Lone Star Le Mans, which had previously been utilised by the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for races run at COTA, while WEC races occurring on the same weekend had been run as the 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas.
The 2021 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix was a NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on May 23, 2021, at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Originally scheduled for 68 laps on the 3.426-mile (5.514 km) road course, the race was shortened to 54 laps by heavy rain. It was the 14th race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The 2021 Pit Boss 250 was a NASCAR Xfinity Series race held on May 22, 2021. It was contested over 46 laps on the 3.410-mile (5.488 km) road course. It was the tenth race of the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch, collected his first win of the season, and his 98th of his career.
The Toyota Tundra 225 was the 9th stock car race of the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, and the inaugural running of the event. The race was held on Saturday, May 22, 2021 in Austin, Texas at the Circuit of the Americas. The race took 41 laps to complete. At the end, Todd Gilliland of Front Row Motorsports would win the race, the second of his career and his first of the year. Kaz Grala of Young's Motorsports and Tyler Ankrum of GMS Racing would fill in the rest of the podium positions, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.
The 2017 Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on May 6, 2017. The race was the fourth round of the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship.