The Toyotas dominate the 6h of Spa-Francorchamps, the third seasonal event of the FIA World Endurance Championship which sees the Japanese increasingly leaders of the series in a weekend in which Ferrari grabs the podium on the last lap with an angry comeback mocking the Porsche.
The last two hours were in fact characterized by the bang that was the unfortunate protagonist of Antonio Fuoco with the 499P #50. Climbing up to third place, the Calabrian took over the Red bike but was betrayed by the cold tires coming out of the pits (now a burning issue that is making the entire paddock go into a rage), skidding and ending up ruining the left barriers in the descent towards Eau Rouge.
The driver from Maranello was unharmed, the resulting Safety Car shuffled the cards behind the Toyotas and the other Prancing Horse car, the #51, and the Cadillac paid the price, but with a record-breaking final pace, Calado the red AF Corse back on the podium.
In the LMP2 Class the duels were wasted and in the end it was the Oreca of Team WRT that got the better of United Autosports, while in LMGTE AM the first center for the Ferrari #83 of AF Corse branded Richard Mille.
The departure of the 6th hour of SPA
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
HYPERCAR: Toyota is not wrong, but Ferrari is here now!
Having taken the lead, the only problem for the Toyotas were in fact the neutralizations during the race that gave them headaches, because for the rest the only thought could have come from the Ferraris, in difficulty in the first part and recovering in the second , but now when it was late and also running into controversial episodes.
And so the #7 GR010 Hybrid of Kobayashi/Lopez/Conway crossed the finish line first ahead of the #8 twin of Hartley/Buemi/Hirakawa with whom they fought for the supremacy at the last stop, despite the lap ahead of their rivals had been canceled by the various neutralizations and by the last Safety Car.
At the start, the Japanese got the slick tires right on a track that was going to dry out, calmly managing the early stages and then taking the lead with the #7, while the #8 recovered from the back row of the grid to which it was relegated after the Qualifications button.
Even Team Penske hit the tires with their starts and in the first part the factory Porsches got back on top, but without having the same pace as the Toyotas. Along the way, the pace of the 963s was lower and the #6 of Vanthoor/Estre/Lotterer stopped due to technical problems, leaving only the #5 of Cameron/Makowiecki/Christensen to fight for the podium.
The trio benefited from Ferrari’s final woes as they found themselves third in the last hour, but a James Calado with blood in his eyes managed to catch up and overtake Makowiecki right at the final lap, avoiding the bitter pill for Maranello. The choice of wet tires that had sent the 499Ps in the lead at the start turned out to be a flash in the pan which subsequently made the Reds sink back, forced to an emergency pit-stop after 30′ and to struggle terribly to warm up the tires slick.
The pace gradually improved, until it was really excellent in the last third of the race, where however the aforementioned Fuoco accident took place. This time the rule of the ban on pre-heating the tires affected one of the Emilian Hypercars and the following SC paradoxically mocked also the #51 driven by Pier Guidi/Giovinazzi/Calado, which remained on the track with the pit lane closed just when it was about to return for the stop.
This caused the surviving AF Corse Ferrari to slip back, forcing Calado into overtime, but the regret remains a lot because with the lap recovered against the Toyotas, perhaps a little pressure on the GR010s could have been put in the final hour.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: Eric Le Galliot
Fifth place instead for the Cadillac #2 driven by Lynn/Bamber/Westbrook, also mocked at the same time and protagonist of a good duel with the Reds, starting with the rain tyres.
Good sixth at the debut with the Porsche 963 for the Jota thanks to Da Costa/Stevens/Ye, struggling with a LMDh withdrawn only a few days ago and still to be known better, but already able to stay ahead of illustrious rivals in the category.
After the positive steps forward in Portugal, the Peugeots are sinking again, even seen fighting with Glickenhaus. With all due respect to the private project of the 007 LMH #708 of Dumas/Pla/Mailleux, the 9X8s were again impalpable finishing seventh (#93) and ninth (#94), shared by the blue Hypercar managed by Podium Advanced Technologies and without ever giving the impression of being able to play it for something important.
In addition to the Ferrari #50 driven by Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen and the Porsche #6, the white flag was raised by Vanwall Vandervell driven by ByKolles (Dillmann/Guerrieri/Villeneuve) and the Cadillac #3 driven by Van Der Zande/Aitken/Bourdais due to accidents.
#41 Team WRT Oreca 07 – Gibson: Rui Andrade, Robert Kubica, Louis Delétraz
Photo by: Paul Foster
LMP2: joy in the final for WRT
In Class LMP2 everything remained uncertain until a few minutes from the end, when the Oreca 07-Gibson #41 of Team WRT put a safety margin between itself and the #23 of United Autosports. Delétraz/Kubica/Andrade manage to beat Blomqvist/Pierson/Jarvis in the competition of who stopped at the right moment and who kept a cool head in the convulsive phases that were wasted during the 6 hours.
These were also very heated for the third place on the podium, which went in extremis in the Oreca #34 of Inter Europol Competition with Costa/Scherer/Smiechowski to the detriment of the Prema #9 of Caldarelli/Ugran/Viscaal.
United Autosports also brings home the fifth place of the #22 of Albuquerque/Lubin/Hanson, followed by the #31 of WRT (Frijns/Habsburg/Gelael), today among the most disappointing and disappointed.
Alpine instead obtained the seventh and eighth place, respectively with the #36 of Milesi/Vaxivière/Canal and the #35 of Negrao/Rojas/Caldwell, ahead of the #28 of Jota (Fittipaldi/Rasmussen/Heinemeier-Hansson) and the # 63 of Prema Racing (Bortolotti/Pin/Kvyat), mocked by a 3′ Stop&Go in the final stages for an infringement committed in the last Safety Car.
#83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO: Luis Perez Companc, Lilou Wadoux, Alessio Rovera
Photo by: Eric Le Galliot
LMGTE AM: Ferrari revenge on Corvette
LMGTE AM reverses the order with respect to Portimao, with the #83 Ferrari of AF Corse redeeming itself by taking the win against the Corvette.
Here too the positions changed a lot of times over the 6 hours, but Luis Pérez Companc defended the Top5 in the first part, only to then hand over the wheel of the 488 to a great Lilou Wadoux and safety Alessio Rovera, who of overtaking and fast laps gave themselves the first victory of the year.
The #33 Corvette driven by Keating/Varrone/Catsburg struggled despite being weighed down by 45kg of ballast and on the way it managed to get back on top with patience and excellent pace, fighting up to the last meter against the Aston Martin #25 driven by Dinan/Eastwood/ Al Harthy (ORT by TF Sport), started on Pole and for the first time on the podium in 2023.
Fourth we find the Porsche #88 of Proton Competition in the hands of Tincknell/Robichon/Hardwick, rather perky in the central stages and able to outwit the #85 of the Iron Dames Frey/Gatting/Bovy a couple of laps from the end, which this time did not a heart and a heavy foot are enough, but still taking a precious Top5 in terms of points.
The Ferrari #21 driven by Alessi/De Pauw/Mann recovered up to sixth place, but here the applause was above all for the AF Corse team, capable of rebuilding the 488 destroyed in Free Practice 2 in practically 36 hours of non-stop work.
Riberas/Mancinelli/James’ debut in the #98 NorthWest AMR Aston Martin ends in seventh place ahead of the #57 Ferrari of Kessel Racing (Serra/Kimura/Huffaker) and the #777 Aston Martin of Hoshino/Fujii/Stevenson (D’Station Racing-TF Sport), excellent in the first part and then sunk also due to penalties.
Finally, the #77 Porsche of Dempsey-Proton Racing ranks in the Top10, keeping behind the #60 of Iron Lynx (Schiavoni/Cressoni/Picariello) and the #86 of GR Racing (Pera/Wainwright/Barker). KO the Ferrari #54 of AF Corse (Castellacci/Rigon/Flohr) due to an accident with the Vanwall.
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