10 things we learned from the 2023 WEC 6 Hours of Portimao

Five manufacturers filled the top five positions after six hours of racing in Portimao on Sunday, but as in Sebring it was Toyota that claimed the spoils.

The #8 crew of Sebastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley enjoyed a one-lap advantage at the finish over the pursuing Ferrari and Porsche, while Cadillac and Peugeot also got cars to the finish before the second entries from the podium-finishers after an array of problems afflicted the #7 Toyota, #51 Ferrari and #5 Porsche.

A race that ran without interruption for almost five hours until brake failure pitched Jacques Villeneuve's Vanwall off the road at Turn 10 was a slow-burner, but delivered exciting finishes in both the LMP2 and GTE Am classes.

United Autosports delivered a 1-2 finish in the secondary prototype division after overcoming the challenge of first-time WEC polesitter Prema, as Corvette Racing held on to secure back-to-back GTE successes thanks to Nicky Catsburg's stout defence against Alessio Rovera.

Here are the 10 things we learned from the 2023 WEC 6 Hours of Portimao.

1. Toyota is still a long way clear out front...

Victory for the #8 Toyota crew never looked in doubt after the delays suffered by its sister car

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Some of the Hypercar manufacturers were sending out vibes after the Sebring season-opener in March that the rough and bumpy Florida circuit was always going to favour a team with a proven car that it knew inside out more than a European-style circuit. The reality was that the gap Toyota enjoyed at the front of the field increased at Portimao as its rivals again struggled to extract performance out of their cars.

On a 50-lap average the best of the Toyota GR010 HYBRIDs was three tenths up on Ferrari and five on Caddy at Sebring. Those margins were four and six tenths around a circuit the better part of a mile shorter in Portugal.

Toyota tried to make a point that it was closer than it looked after last weekend’s race, just as it had done post-Sebring. There was talk of deep delves into the data and eclectic stints, but the reality was that the Toyotas can run around metronomically at a consistent and fast pace that its rivals can only dream off at the moment.

Technical director Pascal Vasselon probably didn’t mean to say “where we are consistently better is in terms of consistency”, but he hit the nail on the head.

2. ...But the field has closed up

The Toyota enjoyed a clear advantage, but the rest of the field behind it closed up

Photo by: Paul Foster

That’s not a contradiction in terms even if Toyota has edged away at the front. There was less of a spread between the five car makers that make up the bulk of the Hypercar field for round two of the 2023 WEC.

Between Toyota up front and Peugeot at the back, there was little more than a second on that 50-lap average. That compares with nearly two at Sebring.

Take Toyota out of the equation, and the other four manufacturers were all actually racing each other at different times over the course of the Portimao 6 Hours. That’s got to be good for the championship.

3. Peugeot is making real progress

Peugeot enjoyed its strongest race yet with clean runs for both cars after the #93 machine's pre-race delay

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

It didn’t look like an auspicious start for Peugeot: one of its 9X8s was in the pits having its power steering replaced, as the rest of the WEC field sat on the grid. But the French manufacturer bounced back from its abject performance at Sebring with the best race for its Le Mans Hypercar programme to date.

The French manufacturer managed three fourths against slim opposition last year, so the fifth place for Loic Duval, Nico Muller and Gustavo Menezes might not look like a big deal. But the significance was that the in-house Peugeot Sport team finally got a car to the finish cleanly - aside from a problem with an FIA-mandated sensor.

It was actually two clean races for Peugeot if you don’t include the pre-race hydraulic leak that resulted in the attention to the steering system on the sister car. It had to start the race a lap down by regulation, which was the deficit for the #93 9X8 driven by