Stat attack! Top facts and figures from Portimao
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Stat attack! Top facts and figures from Portimao

The FIA WEC is in south Portugal this week for round two of the FIA WEC – the 6 Hours of Portimao.

The Algarve International Circuit has only hosted the WEC once before (in 2021), and we spoke to our favorite WEC statistician Alex Harrison ( @WECData ) who was on hand to provide us with plenty more facts and figures going into this week's race.

Below are some of our favorites (thanks Alex).

1. Portimao 2021 remains the only 8 hour race where the overall winner did not lead the most laps, with Toyota 8 leading for just 61 of the 300 laps it completed, or 20%.

2. United Autosports fielded an all-British trio in #22 at #6hPortimao, the first in LMP2 since Le Mans 2021. United also fielded a trio of Britons at Portimao 2021, in their full-season #22, with di Resta, Hanson and Boyd finishing 3rd in LMP2.

3. Portimao 2023 is the 80th WEC race. 80 is the total number of drivers which have won in GTE Am, with Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone taking the series to that number last time out in Sebring.

4. JOTA finished 1-2 at Portimao 2021, a first for the team under their own name, and also the most recent 1-2 by a single team name in LMP2.

5. Portimao 2021, the second race in the Hypercar era, saw Toyota #8 cross the line ahead of sister #7 by just 1,800 seconds, for the sixth-closest overall finish in WEC, or the third-closest Toyota 1-2.

6. Three drivers achieved their maiden WEC win at Portimao 2021: Cetilar Racing's all-Italian trio of Antonio Fuoco, Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto. Fuoco returns to the race in 2023, as part of Ferrari's #50 crew in the 499P Hypercar, having achieved pole position at Sebring.

7. Glickenhaus' 007 made its racing debut at Portimao in 2021, whilst its competitors the Cadillac V-Series.R, Vanwall Vandervell 680, Porsche 963 and Ferrari 499P make their European debuts at #6hPortimao 2023.

8. #6hPortimao 2023 features the third  largest top-class at a European WEC race, with 11 Hypercars slotting in behind only Le Mans 2015's 14 LMP1 cars, and 2012's 13 LMP1 cars.