The World Endurance Championship (WEC) started in 2023 with the 1000 miles of Sebring and a true demonstration of power by Toyota. The next stop on the program is the 6 Hours of Portimao in Portugal on April 16th. On sport.de you can follow the motorsport spectacle from 12:30 p.m. in the LIVE stream.
>>> The LIVE stream opens at the top of the window
At the WEC opener in the USA, Toyota Gazoo Racing, led by former Formula 1 stars Kamui Kobayashi, Sebastian Buemi and Brendon Hartley, taught the assembled competition a lesson. The trio of José María López, Mike Conway and Kobayashi prevailed just ahead of the competition from their own camp (Buemi/Hartley/Ryo Hirakawa), but all other teams lost at least two laps.
You can see whether the Cologne team can repeat this feat in Portimao on April 16 in the LIVE stream on sport.de. The start of the broadcast will be at 12:30 p.m., the race will begin at 1 p.m.
The last hour of the race with German commentary can also be seen on NITRO and RTL+!
Incidentally, this is only the second time that the WEC entourage is making a guest appearance at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. In 2021 Portimao stepped in for the then canceled 100 miles from Sebring and hosted the Endurance World Championship for the first time.
Incidentally, the first guest appearance at Toyota should only awaken good memories. Back then, Buemi/Kazuki Nakajima/Hartley won ahead of Lopez/Conway/Kobayashi.
The 2023 calendar includes a total of seven stations. After Portimao, it’s on to Spa-Francorchamps at the end of April, before the highlight of the season, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is scheduled for mid-June.
The WEC calendar 2023
March 17: 1,000 miles of Sebring- April 16: 6 hours from Portimao
- April 29: 6 hours of Spa-Francorchamps
- 11 June: Le Mans 24 Hours
- July 9: 6 hours from Monza
- September 10: 6 hours from Fuji
- November 4: 8 hours from Bahrain
With the rise of Ferrari and Porsche from the GTE Pro, the hypercar class is particularly explosive this year. The start showed the traditional brands how far they still have to go to the top, but at least Ferrari showed very good approaches in Sebring and even took first place in qualifying (Ferrari AF Corse – Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen) and fourth ( Ferrari AF Corse – Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi).