Antonio Felix da Costa has told Motorsport Week that the chances of him remaining with Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E team next season are currently at “50/50.”

Da Costa has endured an unfortunate campaign, having been unable to achieve a single victory, finishing fifth in Drivers’ Championship.

But it has been a consistent showing across the campaign, managing to achieve points finishes in all but three of the 16 rounds contested.

His consistency helped Porsche win both the Teams’ and Manufacturers’ Championships, telling Motorsport Week it was “massive” to play a part in the double success, saying that it was something to be “happy with.”

His London E-Prix got off to a bad start with 14th in Race 1, and a driveshaft problem in qualifying saw him start last for Race 2.

But a storming drive through the field saw da Costa finish sixth, a result that certainly left him smiling after the race.

“Starting last today, finishing sixth, it’s a solid race, solid drive, solid strategy from everybody,” he said. “And securing the two world titles at the end. 

“It’s just a cherry on top of the cake for everybody at the team.”

But speculation indicates that all has not been harmonious within the team, with rumours that he has suffered a fractured relationship with team-mate Pascal Wehrlein.

Da Costa appeared to corroborate this, being quoted by DAZN Portugal as saying: “There has been a tense atmosphere here in the box between Pascal and me.

“I thought it could eventually be resolved, but unfortunately that was not the case.”

Da Costa: ‘I will definitely be in Formula E next year’

Da Costa told Motorsport Week at the Berlin E-Prix that he would be remaining in FE next season, despite the uncertainty of his seat with Porsche.

When speculation gathered last season that the German marque had tested Nico Mueller with a view to replacing da Costa, he told Motorsport Week that his dream was to win another FE championship with the team.

When asked if he still holds that dream, and what his chances are for staying with the team next season, da Costa sat on the fence.

“I mean, that dream will always be there to be achieved,” he said. “You know, winning with such an iconic brand is a dream for anybody. Let’s see what the future holds.

“I would say 50-50. But yeah, whatever happens in the future, whoever I represent, I just want to be good, be fast and try and win championships.”

Motorsport Week understands that a potentially crucial factor in da Costa’s whereabouts next season is if he will be allowed to compete in endurance racing again, something the 33-year-old would prefer.

Speculation has pointed towards an offer to replace Nick Cassidy at Jaguar TCS Racing, but so far, nothing is confirmed, aside from the assertion that he will be on the grid for Round 1 in Sao Paulo on December 6.

“Yeah, luckily I can’t complain and there’s options on the table,” da Costa said. “So, yeah, I will definitely be in Formula E next year.”

READ MORE – London E-Prix: Nick Cassidy signs off from Jaguar in style with stunning victory

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Tag Heuer Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa has told Motorsport Week that he will be racing in Formula E next year, amid a shocking collision with team-mate Pascal Wehrlein.

The Portuguese and German drivers clashed in FP1 at this weekend’s Berlin E-Prix, which saw the reigning World Champion handed a three-place grid penalty and a penalty point.

Wehrlein punted off da Costa on the start-finish straight as he prepared to start a push lap, after an apparent misunderstanding between the two.

The incident put into focus an apparent lack of communication and frosty relationship between the two men.

Da Costa has been the subject of ongoing speculation around his future with the German marque since early last season, when it was revealed it has tested Andretti’s Nico Mueller mid-season.

The former World Champion went on to take four race wins in the season, securing his drive for this season, but talk around the paddock is rife as to a potential move away for next season.

Motorsport Week understands that da Costa is keen on an allowance to compete in endurance racing again, a fire relit after his appearance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year.

But da Costa told Motorsport Week that he is absolutely certain of his place on the grid in the all-electric championship next year, but did not say who with.

“No, no, I am very, very much committed to Formula E,” he said.

“I’ve been here since the beginning, and I have monthly calls with Formula E management on purely how to try and improve the championship and improve the racing product and all that, so I try to contribute to that as well. 

“So I’m heavily invested in this, and I will definitely be in Formula E next year.”

READ MORE – Exclusive: Dan Ticktum comments on Red Bull’s F1 ‘divide’ after Christian Horner sacking

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For the second successive session, Porsche topped the timesheets at Interlagos, with Kevin Estre going fastest in second practice for the FIA WEC 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, taking place this weekend.

The Frenchman, behind the wheel of the #6 Porsche, set a 1:25.673 to go quickest, just over a tenth up on his countryman and Porsche teammate Julien Andlauer, in the sister #5 Porsche.

Third fastest was the #15 BMW of Dries Vanthoor, less than a hundredth off Andlauer.

Fourth went to Alex Lynn in the #12 Cadillac, just under two tenths off Estre and well under a tenth off D. Vanthoor.

Fifth was the #007 Aston Martin of Harry Tincknell, just slightly under half a second off Estre, in what is not only Aston Martin’s first top 5 with the Valkyrie in WEC competition, but first time with both cars in the top 10. The #009 sister car sat eighth, with Alex Riberas setting the car’s best lap.

The session was very close, with under a second separating all eight manufacturers.

In LMGT3, Valentin Hasse Clot topped the session, to go fastest in the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage. He set a lap time of 1:35.736, just 0.067 faster than Yuichi Nakayama in the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3. The other ASP Lexus, the #87, was third fastest, with Jose Maria Lopez, who was fastest in practice 2, around half a second slower than Hasse Clot.

The session ran cleanly, with only two brief local yellows interrupting green flag running all the way through the session.

Qualifying begins Saturday 12th July at 14:45 local time.

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Richard Lietz appreciated the rare feat of a consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans victory following his 2024 win in a Manthey-run Porsche 911.

“It’s really nice,” he told the media, including Motorsport Week, after the race.

“This doesn’t happen very often in life.

“Manthey did it at the Nordschleife, yes, but I wasn’t part of that group when they were so successful there.

“Now it’s basically my third win with Manthey, and that’s really special.

“We went to the simulator, prepared really well, and spent a bit less time working on setup and more time on driver development.

“That’s something Manthey is doing in DTM as well.

“And I have to say – even though I’m old – I’ve never been this well-prepared for a race in my life.

“I’m 41 years old, but I’m still learning a lot. The preparation the young guys are doing now… It’s a lot of work.

“I still have to process that a bit.”

“To be honest, I think more temperature would have helped us even more,” he said when asked about the race’s cooler conditions than the practice and test day running earlier in the week.

“In the past, we lost engine power when it was hot.

“Now, with the driveshaft measurement, everybody has the same power whether it’s hot or cold.

“… So, I think the cooler temperature may have helped some of the other cars a bit more than it helped us.

“But honestly, it’s also nice when you can push like crazy and the tyres survive. So overall, it was a good temperature for racing.”

Before Lietz, Julien Canal was the last driver to achieve consecutive GT victories in 2012, 2011 and 2010 in Larbre Competition’s Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1.

READ MORE – Richard Lietz secures sixth Le Mans win, back-to-back for Manthey

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Richard Lietz crossed the finishing line as the LMGT3 class winner for Manthey at the FIA World Endurance Championship‘s 6 Hours of Imola.

The LMGT3 category came down to a close fight to the checkered flag between Manthey’s Richard Lietz and WRT’s Kelvin van der Linde.

WRT’s #46 BMW M4 GT3 Evo initially started on pole position before Valentino Rossi was involved in an incident with Simon Mann’s #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3.

During the closing stages of the race, the #46 BMW’s gap on the #92 Porsche 911 LMGT3.R grew closer and smaller.

Manthey still took victory owing to Lietz’s defence, and Imola’s narrow circuit width, as just 0.316 seconds separated the two drivers at the finish.

Lietz won after 193 laps with team-mates Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera ahead of the #46 WRT BMW and van der Linde’s team-mates Rossi and Ahmad Al Harthy.

Akkodis ASP claimed a personal best third and fourth-placed finish with their #78 and #87 Lexus RC F LMGT3s.

Esteban Masson, replacing an injured Ben Barnicoat, took the final podium spot with his team-mates Arnold Robin and Finn Gerhistz.

Double Toyota LMP1 champion Jose Maria Lopez brought the #87 Lexus to the end with his team-mates Petru Umbrarescu, Clemens Schmid.

AF Corse rounded out the top-five with their #54 Ferrari drivers Davide Rigon, Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castallacci.

Ian James (#27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 Evo) and Mann were the only two retirements of the race were in the LMGT3 category albeit for contact-related incidents.

WRT controls lead at race start

The race start in LMGT3 was untidy in eyes of race control who penalised six cars for race start procedures.

Nevertheless, Ahmad Al Harthy retained his top spot for the #46 WRT BMW whilst Francois Heriau (#21 AF Corse Ferrari) charged from fourth to second position.

An even more successful driver was Bernardo Sousa who gained five places in his #77 Proton Ford Mustang LMGT3 after just eight minutes, from P13 to P8.

James could not retain his third-placed start although only fell to fifth position, compared to the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo and losing four places by James Cottingham.

One of the early fights was between Hardwick’s #88 and Sousa’s #77 for P7, with the #88 Proton Ford evidently keen for more positions.

Hardwick fended the inside line into Turn 1 before, on the following lap, Sousa made a move stick with a late yet controlled dive inside of Hardwick’s Manthey into T1.

Heriau (running P2), Umbrarescu (P3), Stefano Gattuso of the #88 Proton Ford (P4), #77 Sousa (P7), Yasser Shahin of the #31 WRT (P9) and Darren Leung of the #95 McLaren (P10) – all had five seconds added to their next pit stops due to race start procedures.

Celia Martin triggered the first incident when she dived on the inside line into T1 on #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R driver Ben Keating and spun him around in the gravel trap. A brief full-course-yellow (FCY) allowed track marshals to clear off the gravel spilt onto the track as Martin served a drive-through penalty.

Heriau overtook Al Harthy on the restart but that lead was nullified when the #21 Ferrari served its penalty at the first round of pit stops.

Heart of Racing loses battle with #31 WRT BMW

A battle broke out for sixth place in the second racing hour which had James under pressure from Shahin behind in the #31 WRT BMW.

Shahin attempted a brave but uncoordinated dive up the inside of the #27 Aston Martin into the chicane.

The #31 WRT driver returned the position under the instruction of race control before punting James at Rivazza 1, residing his #27 Aston Martin into the wall and out of the race – thus deploying the first safety car period.

The #31 WRT was later awarded a stop-and-go penalty with Timur Boguslavskiy at the wheel.

Akkodis ASP snuck their way into the lead after the pit stops with Schmid in the #87 although both WRT BMWs ran in P2-P3 formation (#31 ahead of #46).

This soon changed when Rossi took second place from Boguslavskiy after 2-hours and 14-minutes of racing.

Boguslavskiy was caught by Mann and the two fought door-to-door for third place before pitting together.

Their fight continued into the third racing hour also joined by Umbrarescu’s #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus. Rossi led the race and Boguslavskiy emerged in second after the fight, thus making it a 1-2 for WRT for now.

#21 AF Corse Ferrari out after contact with Rossi

Another key incident was for the LMGT3 class lead.

Simon Mann continued his charge towards Rossi, after Boguslavskiy pitted to serve the penalty, and closed down on Rossi’s #46 WRT BMW.

Mann got ahead of the MotoGP legend before Rossi made contact with Mann’s left-hand side – inside line – at T19 (Rivazza 2).

The #21 AF Corse Ferrari spun off into the barrier after the pair made contact, jeopardising the #21 AF Corse team’s strong performance so far in the weekend.Mann recovered but returned to the pit lane garage as the second race retirement.

K. van der Linde, driving during the penultimate racing hour, served the #46 WRT BMW’s stop-and-go penalty for Rossi’s incident responsibility and dropped from first to ninth place.

On the other hand, Akkodis ASP Lexus ran arguably their strongest performance as a team and ran both of their RC Fs in the top-five, with Masson leading following the #46’s penalty.

Vincent Hasse Clot’s #10 Racing Spirit of LeMan Aston Martin ran as high as third having started 15th on the grid – but later finished 11th.

AF Corse’s sole-running #54 Ferrari fought with Davide Rigon at the wheel against Daniel Juncadella’s #33 TF Sport Corvette.

Rigon made a move into T1 but Juncadella returned ahead after they both pitted.

They were joined by the other Corvette, the #81, driven by Charlie Eastwood.

Lietz led with 25-minutes remaining but the lead gap closed down so that K. van der Linde took on Lietz in the tense lead battle – but second place was their best effort.

See here for the full results. Read our Hypercar race report: #51 Ferrari takes hard-fought WEC victory at Imola

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Tag Heuer Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein said that he believed his “bad luck would never end” before taking victory in a chaotic and confusing Formula E Miami E-Prix.

The German has endured a tough title defence so far, with a horrific crash in the opening round in Brazil setting the tone for a difficult run of races.

After missing-out on victory in Mexico, a DNF and eighth place in Jeddah followed, and in qualifying at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, the German revealed to Motorsport Week that he missed-out on a place in the duels after a car ahead on the track left detritus over the circuit which compromised a quick lap.

“We might have been good enough for a podium, somewhere between P3 and P5, if it was a normal race,” he said, adding: “which is still a good result considering that again in qualifying today we were unlucky that the car in front of us went into the gravel in turn 12 and put all the dirt on track when I was the next car behind him. 

“So it ruined my lap because I was purple and going for the fastest lap. So actually after the qualifying today I thought my bad luck would never end this season.

“So I take the win because for one time we can also be lucky.”

Wehrlein managed Porsche damage on his way to victory

Wehrlein said to media including Motorsport Week that he was in danger of suffering further bad luck whilst in the race, when contact at the tight, temporary portions of the fast speedway circuit damaged his Porsche, but not enough to be detrimental to the Porsche’s performance.

“At one point I had contact again with a Jaguar and when David [Beckmann] I think braked and crashed in the chicane.

“We just touched and it broke his wishbone but it didn’t break mine. I thought my steering was bent for sure afterwards but it was still good enough to have a good pace. 

“Again it was so close to be out of the race or like you see now winning the race.

“I think out of the five races we had this year honestly we had a good chance at several races to win it. It’s great to have our first win now.”

READ MORE – Miami E-Prix: Pascal Wehrlein wins amid chaos and confusion after race restart

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Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr, driving the #7 Porsche 963, have won the IMSA Grand Prix of Long Beach, taking their third consecutive IMSA win.

It’s also the second consecutive Porsche 1-2, with their teammates Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet, in the sister #6 car, second. Third was the pole-sitting car of Philipp Eng and Dries Vanthoor in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8.

Tandy started the #7 Porsche in third, with D. Vanthoor on pole in the #24 BMW. He retained it from his teammate Sheldon van der Linde in the #25 BMW, opening up a gap early on to Tandy behind.

Nick Yelloly, in the #93 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06, got past Jaminet on the first lap. The Frenchman continued to hound Yelloly for the next 20 minutes, and dislodged the Acura’s legality panel at the hairpin as he attempted to get a better run onto the main straight.

Minutes later and the first of two full course cautions was called, as two GTD cars had collided at turn 8, with one in the barriers.

D. Vanthoor pitted the leading BMW, handing over to teammate Philipp Eng, but a poor pitstop set them back, with both Porsches getting the jump on them. 

Tandy had handed over to Nasr in the #7, while Jaminet had been replaced by Campbell in the sister #6.

Weirdly, S. van der Linde now in the lead, plus Tom Blomqvist in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura, didn’t pit immediately, but two laps later, losing them track position.

Porsche consolidate lead

At the restart, then, the order was as follows: Nasr, Campbell, Eng, Earl Bamber and Gianmaria Bruni. Yellolky, who had been running third, had had to pit for the second time under caution to fix the broken legality panel, which the team had not fixed at the first stop.

The race restarted with everyone holding positions. Nasr amd Campbell began to build a gap to Eng behind, with the positions as they were at the half way mark. 

But, shortly after half way, the second full course yellow occurred, this time for Bruni in the #85 JDC Miller Porsche. He’d been knocked backwards into a spin by Casper Stevenson in the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 car, hitting the tyre barrier at turn 8.

Bruni was able to drive away, but the car dropped its rear wing dangerously close to the racing line, necessitating a FCY for it to be recovered. Bruni later pitted to have his car repaired, and managed to stay on the lead lap.

None of the other GTPs pitted under the caution in this short race, so it resumed with 36 minutes to go with Nasr still leading his teammate Campbell.

Third consecutive win

And that was the way it stayed until the Brazilian crossed the line to take his third successive win, and Porsche’s second 1-2 on the trot.

Campbell was just a smidge over 3 seconds back from Nasr, with Eng a further 10 seconds away in the #24 BMW. Fourth was Earl Bamber in the #31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R, while fifth went to Marco Wittmann, onboard the #25 BMW.

Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque were sixth in the #10 WTR Cadillac, with his teammate and brother Jordan Taylor seventh in the sister #40 car.

Eighth was Roman de Angelis, alongside Ross Gunn, in the #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie, while ninth was Colin Braun in the #60 MSR Acura. Rounding out the top was Bruni in the #85 JDC Miller Porsche, with Renger van der Zande in the #93 MSR Acura 11th, a lap down, after losing a lap fixing the legality panel earlier on.

The post Porsche’s Tandy and Nasr take third consecutive IMSA win at Long Beach appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr, two of Porsche’s four full time drivers in the IMSA Sportscar Championship, are focusing on building their relationship, both between themselves and with the team of engineers who work on their car at Porsche, Nasr told Motorsport Week.

The relationship between myself and Nick, and between us and the team, has been great’, said the Brazilian.

‘We want to continue building on that. And when I say that, I mean the kinds of things we want in the car, what we’re searching for in the car setup-wise, our preferences, and how we communicate that with our engineering group.

‘And it’s been great. It’s been great to work and to see the team performing at this level.

Nasr’s 2 for 2 in 2025

Along with their endurance teammate Laurens Vanthoor, Nasr and Tandy have won the two opening races in the IMSA season, at Daytona and Sebring. The challenge now is to repeat this success more and win the championship.

That would be a second consecutive championship for Nasr, after he won the 2024 title with former Porsche factory driver Dane Cameron.

‘I like to approach each event as one event starting from baseline,’ said Nasr, speaking about his preparation for Long Beach.

‘That means we have weekly conversations with our engineers about how we’re going to approach the weekend. After each set of tyres, we know which driver is going to do what—who is going to do qualifying, who’s going to work on a bit of a longer run to feel the balance of the car. So it’s no different at Long Beach.’

‘Daytona and Sebring — they’re done and dusted now. We’ve accomplished what we wanted there. Now the focus is to go to Long Beach and extract the maximum we can as a team,’ he finished.

The Long Beach IMSA race takes place at 2:05pm on Saturday 12th April, or 10:05pm in the UK.

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Laurin Heinrich and AO Racing’s ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3.R charged to GTD Pro class victory at the 73rd running of the IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring.

‘Rexy’ the fan-favourite T-Rex and the #77 Porsche driver crew conquered the GTD Pro category at a hot and humid Sebring International Raceway in a spectacle.

Heinrich earned their way to victory following an intense sprint at the end, much assisted by the work of his co-drivers Klaus Bachler and Alessio Picariello.

The race start was hectic and gripping in both GTD Pro and GTD but one which began without much drama across the two fields.

Pole-sitter Albert Costa in the #81 Dragonspeed Ferrari 296 GT3 retained his lead on Heinrich in the #77 AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3.R who swerved slightly to defend his second position.

The primary change was Neil Verhagen in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO who fell from P2 to P6 on the race start.

GTD pole-sitter and Ferrari works driver Alessandrio Pier Guidi established an early lead, unsurprisingly, in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 before suffering a brake failure into Turn 10.

He escaped further damage apart from the front-left brake unit which was replaced following an imminent pit stop.

A short yellow caution period for contact between Tobias Lutke (#18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 LMP2) and Luis Perez Companc (#88 AF Corse Oreca 07 LMP2) passed and the lead battle resumed, although Verhagen climbed back into the fight.

The second caution period came from controversial circumstances after Ricky Taylor (#40 WTR Cadillac V-Series.R) seemingly tapped Charles Scardina’s #023 Triarsi Competizione into the wall at Turn 13.

Proceedings continued with 10-hours and 45-minutes remaining and it was the #77 Porsche of Picariello in the lead on Verhagen’s #1 BMW.

Verhagen takes GTD Pro lead from ‘Rexy’

Verhagen demonstrated eager spirit to take the lead as the pair went door-to-door in their gripping fight as ‘Rexy’ kept the top spot.

It was until the next restart, after the third caution, when Verhagen made a reactive move to the lead on the restart.

As the race entered its third racing hour, Alexander Sims had to pit his #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R for an unscheduled pit stop to change failing Tyre Pressure Management System sensors.

The #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jose Maria Lopez endured contact with Jesse Krohn’s #48 Paul Miller BMW which led to an extensive front-right suspension repair job for the Lexus, even if the contact was brief.

Miraculously, or rather through the lack of further dramas and utilising cautions, the #21 Ferrari climbed its way back into the GTD class lead with Pier Guidi turning swift pace at the wheel.

After four hours of running, the top-runners in the GTD Pro class consisted of Corvette, Paul Miller Racing and Ford Multimatic.

After a fifth caution, Daytona pole-sitter Mike Rockenfeller led a thrilling charge in his #64 Ford Mustang GT3 on the #1 BMW being driven by Connor De Philippi, followed by Max Hesse’s #48 BMW, the #4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg and Heinrich.

Over the following hour, the lead battle evolved slightly so that Verhagen had 1.4 seconds on Picariello’s #77 Porsche which was marginally ahead ahead of Krohn’s #48 BMW.

Then, in the eighth racing hour, Christopher Mies headed a fight for P3 against Verhagen and Picariello.

Lilou Wadoux led heartbreak for the #21 Ferrari team when a mechanical issue halted their comeback effort.

BMW vs Porsche heading into Hour 10

The 12 Hours of Sebring entered the 10th hour with less fortunate news for Corvette, who were out of the running with issues on their #3 machine as Nico Varrone’s #4 fell out of lead contention due to a non-functioning scrutineering logger.

Last year’s British GT champion Dan Harper steadily turned on the pace so that he eventually fought past Dennis Olsen’s #65 Ford for the GTD Pro lead.

Since Harper took the lead, he quickly established a gap to three seconds on Olsen as #1 Snow kept him company in third place.

WIth 1-hour and 10-minutes remaining, Heinrich made his key move for the lead on Hesse as their fight intensified in the final hour.

Paul Miller Racing initially gambled with the prospect of another eighth imminent caution period by underfueling and running a slightly lesser stint-lap count in order to foresee the gamble.

Unfortunately, it never came around though they kept at the sharp end of the GTD Pro battle. The eighth caution did come as a result of Scott Andrew’s #80 Lone Star Mercedes-AMG and its puncture debris on the back-straight.

It came down to a 31-minute sprint to the finish with Heinrich ahead of Hesse, De Philippi, Costa, and Sebastien Priaulx’s #64 Ford.

With 23-minutes remaining, the tension was hot as Heinrich set a GTD Pro lap record, a 2:00.500.

In fact, Heinrich and Hesse were setting near identical lap times as just 1.2s separated them, before Hesse then set the fastest race lap of his #48 BMW.

Heinrich indirectly responded with his own lap record again, a 2:00.451 as ‘Rexy’ ran decently ahead of Hesse at a 1.3s margin.

Reigning champions win in GTD Pro and GTD

After 329 laps, the #77 Porsche crew sought victory and reaffirmed their mark as reigning GTD Pro champions.

At 4.371 seconds behind, the #48 BMW of Max Hesse and co-drivers Dan Harper and Jesse Krohn took second ahead of the other #1 BMW of Connor de Philippi – and his co-drivers Madison Snow and Neil Verhagen.

Alberto Costa took fourth for Dragonspeed’s #81 Ferrari crew and his teammates Giacomo Altoe and Davide Rigon.

Sebastien Priaulx rounded out the top-five in the #64 Ford with the help of co-drivers Mike Rockenfeller and Ben Barker.

Simultaneously into the final 31 minutes – in GTD – six different manufacturers held the top-six positions.

It became a task for Philip Ellis and the reigning GTD champions Winward Racing (#57 Mercedes-AMG) on whether they would be able take the lead from Jack Hawksworth’s #12 Lexus.

Hawksworth led the final restart ahead of Ellis, Daniel Serra’s #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari, Charlie Eastwood’s #36 DXDT Corvette, Tom Gamble’s #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and Frederick Schandorff’s #70 Inception Racing Ferrari.

Ellis eventually tried a move outside of Hawsworth for the lead, before again outside at T10 but Hawksworth held his ground before the pair touched nose-to-tail and shortly after overtaking the lapped #3 Corvette of Sims.

Winward Racing’s #57 Mercedes-AMG crew took victory with Ellis and his co-drivers Russell Ward and Indy Dontje after 327 laps.

At 3.265 seconds behind in P2 was Hawksworth and his #12 Lexus co-drivers Franke Montecalvo and Parker Thompson, followed by Gamble’s #27 Aston Martin and co-drivers Casper Stevenson and Zach Robichon.

See here for the unofficial race results and here for the unofficial race results ordered by class.

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Tag Heuer Porsche driver Antonio Felix da Costa has said his team suffered a “kick in the butt” at the Jeddah E-Prix, and has warned its rivals that they are catching-up quickly as Formula E enters a mid-season break.

The Portuguese suffered a tough weekend at the city’s inaugural E-Prix, finishing ninth in Race 1, and then retiring in Race 2 after an early collision with Maximilian Guenther.

Having entered the weekend first in the championship, da Costa now sits in third behind leader Oliver Rowland and Taylor Barnard, 29 points adrift of the Nissan driver.

The Nissan powertrain – which also powers Barnard’s NEOM McLaren team – looked strong over both races, proving the Japanese marque’s progress and the works team’s credentials as a title favourite.

After the race, in which he retired after a first-lap collision with Maximilian Guenther, da Costa told media including Motorsport Week that the weekend was one that showed the German giants must not rest on its laurels.

“I think the biggest takeaway from this weekend is that our competitors are waking up and getting close, so I think that’s also good for us,” he said.

“It’s a kick in the butt in the good sense of the expression, and we’re definitely going to work even harder, I’m not worried about that.”

Seemingly da Costa views Rowland as his – and the Porsche team’s – main championship challenger, the Brit having already equalled his Season 10 win tally, and said the break between Jeddah and the Miami E-Prix – scheduled for April 12 – will provide the team an ample opportunity to reset itself and work hard towards maintaining its reputation as the fastest overall package on the grid this season.

“We have some time between now and Miami, so I think that’s good for us, but as you’ve seen, the others are not sleeping either, so everybody’s going to improve, we just have to make sure we keep on improving as well.

“I’m sure we have a strong enough package to give Nissan and Oliver a run for their money.”

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