The opening round of the 2024 Formula 1 season went largely unnoticed due to a scheduling conflict with the WEC opener. However, the Porsche Penske duo of Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, and Laurens Vanthoor managed to steal the spotlight with a dominant performance at the Road to Le Mans Qatar 1812 km season opener. This victory marked Porsche’s first win in the Hypercar era of the World Endurance Championship under Penske Motorsport.
In the second hour of the race, the number 6 trio took the lead and maintained their position throughout the race, despite facing a late scare when they had to replace a number panel in the final hour. The battle for second place was equally intense, with the Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 trio of Will Stevens, Callum Ilott, and Norman Nato successfully fending off the charging Porsche Penske of Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, and Frank Makowiecki. The struggling Jensen Müller Vergne Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar ran out of fuel on the penultimate lap, allowing the Porsche team to secure a clean sweep of the podium with a 1-2-3 finish.
Porsche’s success extended to the LMGT3 class, where Klaus Bachler, Joel Sturm, and Aliaksandr Malykhin claimed their first-ever win in their Manthey Porsche 911 R LM3. They outperformed the James-Mancinelli-Riberas Corvette and Mateu-Bastard-Sorensen Aston Martin to secure the top spot. In fifth place, the BMW team of Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin, and Amhad Al Marthy held off the Flohr-Castellacci-Rigon Ferrari, while the second Leung-Galal-Farfus BMW finished in sixth.
Returning to the Hypercar action, the No. 51 Ferrari 499P, driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi, made an impressive start by overtaking the front-row Porsche and the Conway-Kobayashi-de Vries Gazoo Toyota. The Cadillac made contact with the second Porsche during the race, and the Ferrari faced challenges from slower traffic. Eventually, the Peugeot managed to pass the Porsche for second place and then overtook the Ferrari to take the lead. However, the winning Porsche seized an opportunity when the Peugeot encountered a slip while passing a GT3 car, allowing them to regain the lead and hold onto it until the end. The Peugeot kept a close eye on the leading Porsche, with the Jota Porsches also in the mix.
Despite facing an early drive-through penalty for a white line violation during their first pit stop, the Cadillac fought back and finished in fourth place. The new yellow 81 car, driven by Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, and Yifei Ye, secured fifth place for Ferrari, while the 50 car faced setbacks after losing its entire rear section due to contact with a GT3 car and fell to the back of the pack.
Surprisingly, Toyota, a team that has won the championship five times, was never a contender in the Qatar 1812 race. Their cars, which were heavy and had restricted power, clearly struggled throughout the event. In the end, the Number 8 car driven by Conway, Kobayashi, and de Vries finished in sixth place, while the Fuoco, Molina, and Nielsen Ferrari took fifth place.
The race took a turn for the worse for the Peugeot team when their car, the 93, was disqualified for not returning to the pits after running out of fuel. Despite crossing the finish line in seventh place, the Peugeot was excluded from the results.
This opened the door for Alpine, a newcomer in the Hypercar class, to claim seventh place. The team, consisting of Chatin, Habsburg, and Milesi, was delighted with their performance.
The Gazoo Toyota, driven by Buemi, Hartley, and Hirakawa, followed in eighth place, while the Proton Porsche, driven by Tincknell, Jani, and Andlauer, finished in ninth place. BMW’s WEC Hypercar debut saw van der Linde, Frijns, and Rast claim tenth place.
The second Alpine, driven by Mick Schumacher, Lapierre, and Vaxiviere, finished in eleventh place, followed by the recovering 51 Ferrari and the troubled Lamborghini of Bortolotti, Mortara, and Kvyat.
The Vanthoor, Marciello, and Wittmann BMW had an even more troubled race, finishing in sixteenth place. The di Resta, Duval, and Vandoorne Peugeot experienced significant delays and ultimately had a disastrous race. The Serravalle, Bennett, and Vernay Isotta Fraschini finished far behind the leaders.
The Qatar race covered the full distance of 1812 km, honoring the country’s national day on December 18th. The winning Porsche team beat the 10-hour curfew by three minutes and secured a dominant 1-2-3 victory for Zufferhausen. This win not only marked their first WEC win, but also their third consecutive Hypercar win following their victories in the final IMSA US race and the IMSA Daytona 24.
Porsche’s dominant performance establishes them as the new force in the Hypercar class. Their rivals, including Toyota, Ferrari, and others, will be relying on the WEC’s race-by-race Balance of Performance adjustments to close the gap before the next round at Ferrari’s home race, the Imola 6 Hour, on April 21st.