Ex-Formula 1 trio wins the Portimao World Endurance 8-hour race

Ex-Formula 1 drivers Brendon Hartley, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi won the 8 Hours of Portimao in the World Endurance Championship.

Kamui Kobayashi, along with Jose Maria Lopez – who was supposed to be in Formula 1 after signing with the failed USF1 team in 2010 – and Mike Conway were embroiled in a race-long battle with their sister Toyota car, which his ex-colleague owned – F1 colleagues Brendon Hartley, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi drive the # 8 car in Portugal.

The two Toyota cars and the Alpine team sitting on pole position were closely coordinated during most of the race in Portimao – which F1 already attended in April for the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Overall, the starting grid in the Hypercar and LMP2 classes was full of ex-F1 talent. Stoffel Vandoorne, Anthony Davidson – who won the LMP2 with his team – Giedo van der Garde, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jan Magnussen and Giancarlo Fisichella all took part in the eight-hour endurance fight on the fast, hilly course.

A yellow flag on the entire course resulted in a late sprint onto the line between the two Toyota cars in the lead, with hopes of a team battle for the line with Hartley, Buemi and Nakajimas leading the overseers.

Unfortunately for the fans, the Toyota team ordered a position swap with Kobayashi’s car, with then touring car world champion Lopez at the wheel and apparently withheld the deserved goal from the race – before the team orchestrated another car swap in which the car was even more confusing the number 8 took the lead again 10 minutes before the end and led to the checkered flag.

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At the same time, IndyCar drivers were in action in Detroit in another race full of former Formula 1 drivers.

However, they had a mixed fate when Romain Grosjean was eliminated from the race, with his brakes catching fire after a spin – the Frenchman himself ran to get a fire extinguisher to put out the fire.

Meanwhile, Arrow McLaren SP driver Patricio O’Ward, who will be testing a McLaren F1 car in December, fought brilliantly through the field for victory in the final laps.

Marcus Ericsson, who won the race on Saturday, was the best of the former F1 talent by finishing P9, with Takuma Sato and Alex Rossi in P12 and P14 respectively.

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