The 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship took place in Doha, Qatar from February 28th to March 2nd, 2024. The race was dominated by Porsche, with Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, and Andre Lotterer taking the victory in the Qatar 1812km event. They finished ahead of the JOTA Porsche customer car driven by Will Stevens, Norman Nato, and Callum Ilott, and the factory car of Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, and Fred Makowiecki. This resulted in an all-Porsche podium.
The Peugeot 9X8 car, driven by Jean-Eric Vergne, Mikkel Jensen, and Nico Muller, held second place for most of the race. However, Vergne encountered a power loss on the final lap, allowing the two Porsches to overtake and secure second and third place. Peugeot ultimately finished in a disappointing seventh position.
The #6 Porsche 963 led for a significant portion of the race, facing stiff competition from both the Peugeot and other Porsches, including the JOTA squad’s #12 car. The #5 Porsche, which qualified on pole position, quickly lost the lead to Miguel Molina in the #50 Ferrari 499P. Muller, driving the #93 Peugeot, made impressive progress from sixth to third and eventually overtook Molina to take the lead.
Meanwhile, Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche was battling with Christensen, who had dropped to fourth after a maneuver by Stevens in the #12 JOTA Porsche. As the pitstop cycle concluded, Molina slipped back to sixth due to a drive-through penalty, allowing Vanthoor to move up to second. He then set his sights on catching Muller, who was leading the race.
Vanthoor capitalized on a mistake by Muller at turn 1 and took the lead. From that point onward, the Porsche team maintained their position at the front, extending their lead over the Peugeot. However, there were some tense moments for Porsche, including an incident where Estre overtook the #87 ASP Lexus RC F GT3, resulting in contact and a penalty for the Lexus team.
Despite losing their number panel and leader lights due to the collision, Porsche opted not to repair these issues as the race was being run under floodlights. To avoid potential penalties, they did make a pit stop to attach a new adhesive number panel to the car.
In the closing laps, Campbell, who was in fourth place, attempted to catch Ilott in third. However, Campbell went off track briefly, allowing Ilott to maintain his position. Eventually, Ilott also overtook Vergne to secure second place, with Campbell finishing in third. This meant that Porsche Penske claimed first and third positions.
Alex Lynn, Earl Bamber, and Sebastien Bourdais finished in fourth place driving the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R. The #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, piloted by Yifei Ye, Robert Kubica, and Robert Shwartzman, secured fifth place. Nyck de Vries brought the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid home in sixth place.
The race marked a significant moment for Toyota, as it was the first time they did not lead a WEC race in quite some time. The #7 Peugeot 9X8, driven by Muller, Vergne, and Jensen, finished in seventh place after experiencing a power failure late in the race. The #50 Ferrari and the #35 Alpine A424 rounded out the top eight and nine positions, respectively. The #8 Toyota completed the top 10.