As challenges go the sequence of corners at the Circuit of The Americas between turns three and six are among the most testing for drivers in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

A left-right-left-right collection of corners sees drivers flicking and shifting their cars to a precise and almost physics defying level of grip and trust in downforce.

To set up the perfect lap of the undulating and popular 5.513km track in the heart of Texas, this series of turns is critical to accomplish momentum over a stint. Catch traffic here at the wrong time and a whole stint can be compromised by lost time.

This year, of course, the drivers will not venture into the darkness with the race running between 12h00 and 18h00 on Saturday 16 September, so will this change much on the overall preparation for the big weekend?

We asked Toyota ace Sebastien Buemi about how he tackles one of the great WEC challenges.

“In general we have always been doing most of the Free Practice sessions in the day at COTA,” he said.

“I have to say in daylight it is a bit easier to drive because the vision is better and at that sequence there are those yellow little pyramid kerbs which you do not want to touch because they can damage the suspension."

"But on the other hand the closer you get to them the better because it helps with your line through this section.”

The 2017 COTA challenge will be different to years gone by, not just for the fact that all the running will be in daylight and in the notoriously humid conditions but also because this season there are less tyres available to teams.

“Yes, we have two sets of tyres less and obviously they will heat up more in the daytime which means we have to do some double stints,” confirmed Buemi. “The tyres heat up more and the degradation will be greater for sure, so it will be tough.”

“The first part of the T3-T6 sequence is similar to the Silverstone corners (Becketts/Maggotts). At Silverstone now you have the ‘little baguette’ kerbs and even these you don’t really want to go on them. At COTA you can’t go on or over the kerbs as you will upset the balance so much and there are no benefits.”

As well as being intrinsic to a top lap time, the T3-6 sequence also sees drivers are able to make up track position and get ahead of the traffic. To see the likes of Buemi catch and scythe through traffic here is truly a thing of wonder.

“It is all about timing when you get to traffic,” says Buemi.” If you mess up the first one you mess up everything as each corner decides the following corner and how you take it."

"You cannot enter too late or too early, you need to have a good rhythm here. In traffic you need to know how to pass, you can go inside or outside. For example the second part here is a long right-hand corner and there you can go fully on the outside with GT traffic but not with LMP2.

“Even last year you could not pass LMP2 cars here at this complex so now they are quicker there is no chance,” continues the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver.” So this means we will actually lose less time. We actually like the quicker LMP2 cars because we meet them less on track when lapping.”

“Overall this is a great series of corners to take in an LMP1 car and you look forward to meeting the challenge every lap you do at COTA.”

The 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas is round 6 of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship and takes place in Texas on Saturday 16 September.

With the threat of rain the LMP competitors headed out on track early for qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. 

The rain did arrive on parts of the circuit with minutes remaining and it was a Porsche 1-2 ahead of tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Mexico, Round 5 of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship, when the chequered flag fell.

Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard took their first pole of the 2017 season in the no2 Porsche 919 hybrid with an average lap time of 1m24.562, 0.148 ahead of Nick Tandy and Andre Lotterer in the no1 car.

The no7 Toyota was the quickest of the Japanese manufacturer entrants with Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez posting a 1m24.802, just 0.240 behind the pole sitters.  The no8 Toyota was 0.816s off the pace of the no2 Porsche at the end of the session.

The LMP2 pole went to the no36 Signatech Alpine A470-Gibson of Andre Negrão and Nicolas Lapierre for the first time this season. The Frano-Brazilian pairing posted a 1m32.809s average, 0.296s ahead of the championship leading no38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07 of Thomas Laurent and Ho-Pin Tung.

Ferrari Take GTE Pole in Mexico

The Sam Bird and Davide Rigon took their second pole position of the 2017 season in the no71 AF Corse Ferrari F488 to start tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Mexico at the front of the GTE field.

Rigon and Bird posted an average lap of 1m39.425, a new GTE qualifying lap record, over 1 second better than last year’s time.  Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen finished qualifying in the no95 Aston Martin Racing Vantage in second spot just 0.109s behind the Ferrari. 

Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell claim third with a two lap average of 1m39.640s to make it three different manufacturers in leading positions, with just 0.8 seconds covering the whole LMGTE Pro field.

The no77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR grabbed a debut pole position as Matteo Cairoli and Christian Ried set an average time of 1m42.056s.  A late challenge by Aston Martin Racing’s Pedro Lamy fell short by just 0.042s at the end of the 20 minute qualifying period.

The 6 Hours of Mexico, Round 5 of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship, is due to start at 12h00 / 19h00 CET on Sunday 3 September.

With the rain that had been forecasted to fall on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez threatening to arrive in the final hour of the race, the teams all had one eye watching the dark clouds overhead. In the end the rain failed to appear and the 6 Hours of Mexico, Round 5 of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship, ran in dry conditions from start to finish.

For the second race in a row Porsche took maximum points to move further ahead of Toyota in the FIA World Endurance Manufacturers and Drivers Championships. 

The no2 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber took the chequered flag 7 seconds ahead of their teammates Neel Jani, Andre Lotterer and Nick Tandy in the no1 car, which was initially battling with the sister car but lost time with drive-through penalty for speeding in pit lane.  The no2 Porsche also lost time when a fuel flow sensor also had to be replaced.

The two Porsches finished a lap ahead of the two Toyotas, the Japanese manufacturer having no answer to the speed of the German cars.  The no8 TS050 finished third keeping double race winners Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajimi in the hunt for the World Endurance Drivers Championship.

Aston Martin Win Duel With Ferrari in Mexico

In the GT FIA World Endurance Championship the no95 Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen took their first win of season after sensational race where they duelled throughout with the no71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE of Sam Bird and Davide Rigon

The race turned on a Full Course Yellow to clear some debris in penultimate hour, with Aston Martin electing to pit, putting the no95 Vantage right back on terms with the Ferrari.  The two cars battled for the top spot with the Ferrari holding the upperhand but a 10 second penalty was imposed on the no71 F488 for a Full Course Yellow speed infringement.  Rigon took the chequered flag but was not far enough ahead of Thiim’s Aston Martin and was classified second once the 10 second penalty was applied.

Porsche made it three different manufacturers on the podium in Mexico after the no91 911 RSR of Frederic Makowiecki and Richard Lietz battled through to take fourth podium of the 2017 season one lap ahead of the no67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell.

Senna, Prost and Canal Stand on Top Step of LMP2 Podium

The Vaillante Rebellion team claimed their first LMP2 win in the FIA WEC after Bruno Senna recovered from a last hour spin and intense pressure from no24 CEFC Manor TRS Oreca of Ben Hanley.

Hanley also had an intense battle with the Signatech Alpine of Nico Lapierre, which was resolved in Hanley’s favour only for the British driver to spin in the last ten minutes while pushing hard to catch the no31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca-Gibson.

The spin handed the second place position to Lapierre, while Hanley recovered to score the CEFC Manor TRS Racing’s first WEC podium finish.  The championship leading no38 Jackie Chan DC Racing car of Ho-Pin Tung, Thomas Laurent and Oliver Jarvis finishes delayed ninth after a clutch problem, but head to Texas with a 23 point championship lead.

Two Wins in a Row for Dempsey-Proton Racing

For the second time in a row the no77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche team of Christian Ried, Matteo Cairoli and Marvin Dienst stood on the top step of the podium, extending their points lead to eight over the no61 Clearwater Racing Ferrari F488, which finished fifth in class in Mexico.

The no.98 Aston Martin Racing trio of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda provided a race long challenge to the German team, with Lamy taking an early lead but unable to fend off the flying Porsche crew.  The no98 Vantage took the chequered flag in second place but one lap behind the no77 Porsche.

Gulf Racing made it two Porsche teams on the podium as as Ben Barker, Mike Wainwright and Nick Foster secured the British team’s first podium finish of the 2017 season.

Round 6 of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship will take place on Saturday 16 September in Austin, Texas at the Circuit of The Americas.

Porsche continued to hold the upper hand in Mexico after posting another 1-2 in the second practice session held on Saturday morning. 

Brendon Hartley was the quickest driver with the Kiwi posting a 1m25.007 lap nearly half a second ahead of Nick Tandy in the no1 Porsche 919. 

The no7 Toyota was third quickest but still 1.6 seconds behind the leading Porsches.

The LMP2 championship leaders in the no38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca were quickest of the nine cars in the class with Ho Pin Tung posting a 1m33.390 lap, pushing Alex Lynn in the no26 G Drive Racing Oreca into second spot.

The no95 Aston Martin Racing Vantage was the fastest of the eight manufacturer cars in LMGTE Pro, with Marco Sorenson setting a 1m39.931, 0.2s ahead of his teammates in the no97 Vantage. James Calado set the third fastest time in the no51 AF Corse Ferrari, with the no67 Ford GT in fourth.

For the second time it was the no77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Matteo Cairoli who set the pace with the young Italian posting a 1m41.536, 0.4 seconds ahead of Pedro Lamy in the no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage.

Free Practice 3 will take place at 13h45 (local) / 20h45 CET later today, with qualifying following that at 17h50 / 00h50.