Highlighted coverage of the opening race of the FIA World Endurance Championship "super season", is coming to you from the Ardennes Forest of Belgium, and the legendary seven kilometer layout of Spa Francorchamps. Grab some frites mayonnaise and a beer, and enjoy a thrilling race. If you saw it online on Motor Trend On Demand, you saw a thrilling event, and for those of you who didn't, welcome to Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog. Race highlights, are, next!
It was an action packed opening race of the FIA World Endurance Championship "super season" at Circuit de Spa Francorchamps in Spa Francorchamps, Belgium, nestled in the Ardennes forest, lined with trees and painted, as if on a canvas, with blue skies and sunshine. A massive crowd of fans is at the track, to watch, and cheer on their favorite drivers. The sister Toyota #7, was sent to the back of the grid due to an issue with official paperwork needed from the team to the race organizers and the FIA itself.
Six hours on the race clock, and we are ready to get underway. Red lights on, as they charge to the start/finish line. Red lights, out, and away we go! Sebastien Buemi in the pole-sitting #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid goes for the lead into the La Source hairpin. He is being pursued, in that Toyota he is sharing with Formula 1 regular and world champion Fernando Alonso and Kazuki Nakajima, by the #1 Rebellion R13 Gibson in the hands of Andre Lotterer. Lotterer of Germany, shares with Switzerland's Neel Jani and the nephew of the late, great Ayrton Senna, Bruno Senna of Brazil.
In third place at the moment, is the standout Thomas Laurent, sharing the sister #3 Rebellion R13 Gibson with Mathias Beche of Switzerland, and American hot shoe Gustavo Menezes. There's bodywork and debris flying around as Vitaly Petrov locks the brakes on the #11 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1. That car, powered by the AER (Advanced Engine Research) 2.4 liter turbo V6 unit. Petrov, is off the road at La Source. He shares that car with countryman Mikhail Aleshin for this race. We are bound to see Jenson Button, the former Formula 1 driver, race for this team at the next race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But that is in the future, this is now.
The Toyota thunders up the hill out of Eau Rouge on the climb up to Radillon. They fly onto the Kemmel straightaway, and in tow behind are both of the Rebellion's. The LMP2 pole sitting Signatech Alpine is running well early. The #36 Alpine A470 is being shared by Nicolas Lapierre of France, along with his countryman Pierre Thiriet, and Brazil's Andre Negrao, who is back for the super season in 2018-2019. Not sure who is in that car at the start, it is likely Lapierre. He is trying his best to get past the #4 ByKolles ENSO CLM with the Nissan 3.0 liter V6 engine. Tom Dillman of France is starting that car, sharing with Britain's Oliver Webb and Austrian Dominik Kraihamer on the driver's strength.
Vitaly Petrov in the SMP BR has gone into the class lead in LMP2. Normally, the hybrid powered cars, which are only the Toyota factory cars for the super season, have the oomph to pull away if they can push the bye bye button. But, that isn't the case early on here. Bye bye button? What bye bye button? The LMP2 machines are in the thick of this scrap already, look. We are seeing some shuffling and movement in LM GTE Pro right now. Stefan Mucke in the #66 Ford GT is leading in class with the factory Porsche 911 RSR in second position. The sister Ford GT #67 of Harry Tincknell is down to third. We have a local yellow flag on the road, and will get to that in a moment.
Mucke is paired with Olivier Pla and Billy Johnson in #66. This driver lineup remains unchanged. But, for the super season in the sister #67 Ford, Brazilian Tony Kanaan, former Indianapolis 500 winner, and former Ganassi Racing IndyCar driver, has joined the endurance racing effort. He's no stranger to it, though, having also competed with CGR and Ford in the GT for the IMSA endurance races like the Rolex 24 and 12 Hours of Sebring before, but this is his first time racing at Spa since 1993 when he competed in a Formula Opel race. One of the Ford's ran wide at the start into La Source and it very well could have been Harry Tincknell as he's having a hard time getting that car up to speed.
While we were watching the Ford go slightly off the road, there was also a tremendous battle into La Source between the two factory Porsche 911 RSR's, and also, one of the new BMW M8 GTE's. It is really, really dusty offline, and in the Ardennes right now, in springtime, there's loads of pollen in the air, and that's where all that dust probably came from. It is pollen, and looks like dust coming down from the clouds, doing a lot more than giving the fans and everyone else allergy concerns with the sneezing, watery eyes etc, but also affecting the racing. There's some argy bargy between two of the new cars in LM GTE Pro, with the BMW M8 GTE and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage coming together. The Aston had to back off just a shade.
#97 is being shared by Maxime Martin (ironically, a former BMW pilot, from his days in Blancpain GT, DTM, and IMSA), with Alex Lynn and Johnny Adam, two Brits. You'll recall that Lynn ran very successfully last year with the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac in IMSA, and while he has continued in sports cars, he's also contesting Formula E this season. It should be pointed out that the sister Aston Martin V8 Vantage (car #95, which is usually called "The Dane Train"), still has two Danish drivers, Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim, sharing with the vastly experienced Brit, and Aston Martin regular, Darren Turner. There is still a local yellow flag somewhere on the road. So, these blokes will have to keep a watchful eye for danger out there.
The safety car is on course, and, we see that the #86 Gulf Racing UK Porsche 911 RSR, has come a cropper out on the speedway. This is Mike Wainwright and Ben Barker, joined this year by Australian racer Alex Davison, making his first foray into sports car endurance competition after years of racing Australian Supercars... campaigning the tin tops, Down Under. He has come to grief at Les Combes, turning off the road with a mechanical problem, or, he was simply nudged out of the way. Pardon me. Wainwright was the chap who started that automobile. Davison will drive later on. We have the safety car, which could be advantageous for the #7 Toyota, now that the rest of the field is forced to bunch up a little bit.
The queue of cars, or the crocodile, as it is sometimes known, will be shorter, behind the safety car, and what this also does is shrink the gaps between the leaders to virtually invisible. The leader is in the La Source hairpin, and we see the #7 Toyota, the sister car, with Mike Conway at the wheel of it, waiting at the end of pit lane, to rejoin the field. Conway's eyes scanning, waiting for the red light to be extinguished, so he can join in this motor race. His co-drivers, once again, are Kamui Kobayashi of Japan, and Argentina's Jose Maria Lopez. Lopez, of course, is a former FIA World Touring Car champion. Gulf Porsche, meanwhile, prepares a new front nose section to place onto their Porsche which we just explained had an incident. In replay, it is the Gulf machine who is the fourth car in the queue, and there is contact between two of the Ferrari's. One is the #54 Spirit of Race entry, from Switzerland.
This car is shared by Giancarlo Fisichella, Francesco Castellaci, and Thomas Flohr. Fisichella, the F1 veteran who has made the successful move to sports cars, joined by countryman, Castellaci, and another Pro Am, Thomas Flohr, is from Switzerland. The second Ferrari that actually spun in this whole melee is car #70. This Ferrari is another Am entry, shared by Japan's Motoaki Ishikawa (at the wheel now), Formula 1 and sports car veteran Olivier Berretta of Monaco, and Eddie Cheever III., son of the 1998 Indianapolis 500 winner, Eddie Cheever Jr., who himself, ran in Formula 1 and in sports cars during his career. The team is MR Racing from Japan.
All this action, brings out the safety car. This is a hard incident to avoid. The left hand side of the road has a ton of runoff area, and because of that, you can't move over to the right hand side of the road unless you are committed before reaching the corner. This is a classic example of why race car drivers are always told when they learn how to race, to look way ahead of where they are on the road. He whacked the barrier, but it was not a substantial crunch. It was only minimal damage for the Porsche.
Mike Conway puts the #7 Toyota into the race. But, he will have to make up for lost time. We are barely four minutes into the action, here at Spa. Once the race went back to green, things really started to heat up. The battle in LMP2 was hot and heavy. Giedo van der Garde in the #29, bright yellow Racing Team Nederland Dallara took the class lead in LMP2 away from the #28 TDS Racing car. All LMP2 cars are very similar. Each one using the 4.2 liter V8 from Gibson Technologies, installed into homologated chassis' from Dallara, Oreca, Alpine (a re-branded Oreca), and Ligier. The battle was on early between van der Garde and the all-French lineup for TDS Racing. The #28 TDS entry has Loic Duval, Francois Perrodo, and Matthieu Vaxiviere sharing the driving duties.
In LM GTE Am, the polesitting car for Dempsey Proton led early. This is the #77 Porsche 911 RSR shared by Germany's Christian Ried, and two new recruits to the team. Rapid Australian Matt Campbell, who we saw run very well at his home race at the Bathurst 12 Hours back in February, and newcomer, Frenchman Julien Andlauer, who is out to prove himself worthy of becoming a top class endurance GT driver. So, the battle would rage on between that car, and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage's, both the factory car #98, for Mathias Lauda of Austria (son of three-time Formula 1 champion and Mercedes team consultant Niki Lauda), F1 and sports car veteran Pedro Lamy of Portugal, and Paul Dalla Lana of Canada, FIA World Endurance Championship, and Aston Martin veteran, and the #90 TF Sport entry.
#90 is shared by some new recruits to the FIA World Endurance Championship. Britain's Euan Hanckey is sharing with Irishman Charlie Eastwood, and Salih Yoluc of Turkey. Meanwhile, there's big trouble! Harry Tincknell in the #67 Ford GT, spears off at Eau Rouge at high speed, and I don't have to tell you... smash! He clouts the tire wall. The #91 Porsche 911 RSR drove through the incident, picking up debris from the obliterated bodywork of their rival from Ford. A heartstopping moment for Richard Lietz of Austria and Gianmaria Bruni of Italy. Bruni, who joined Porsche from rivals Ferrari, mid-season last year in IMSA, now makes the move to Europe to contest the FIA WEC with the Porsche GT factory team.
Now subsequent damage to the Porsche despite running over the debris field. The yellow flag and SC (Safety Car) board still appear from the flag stand. Harry Tincknell is OK, and will race the Ford GT another day, but it's game over in this race for #67. The Racing Team Nederland Dallara, with sponsorship from Jumbo Supermarkets (a Dutch grocery store), is in the garage. It's game over for them as well as the alternator has packed up. The race restarts and it's a hammer and tongs scrap between both of the Toyota's. Fernando Alonso is showing that yes, he is indeed capable of driving anything. He is ferociously fending off the challenge of his team mate Kamui Kobayashi. Both of these men have Formula 1 experience. For Alonso, in his first FIA WEC outing, he is running very well.
Kobayashi in the meantime is trying to unlap himself after that car with Mike Conway at the wheel, started the race a lap behind. Again, Jose Maria Lopez is the team's third driver. Troubles for Dempsey Proton, as the #77 machine mentioned earlier, spins its way through the Piff Paff (also known as Bruxelles (Brussels) corner. Ker-runch! This incident brings out a full course yellow. This is likely the #77 car mentioned earlier, the Campbell, Ried, Andlauer entry. Dempsey Proton has a second car in the race, the #88 machine in the hands of Khaled Al-Qubaisi of the UAE, along with Italians Matteo Cairoli and Giorgio Roda. But, it could be the aforementioned #77 car that has just smacked the wall in the downhill.
Full Course Yellow. Bring out the safety car. OK. The #77 car is already in the garage with mechanical trouble. So, it was the #88 Al-Qubaisi, Cairoli, and Roda driven car that had that carambolage, slamming the wall. Well, it was a one car incident, but it was big. Needless to say, it's game over and day done for both Dempsey Proton Porsche's, and they will move next, with everyone else, to Le Mans next month. Ferrari is moving forward in LM GTE Pro, passing their new competition from BMW. It's the #71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE for Sam Bird of the UK, Davide Rigon of Italy, and Miguel Molina of Spain. The machine they pass, is the sister #82 MTEK BMW M8 GTE shared by Antonio Felix da Costa of Portugal, and Tom Blomqvist of England. Both of them also race in Formula E for BMW. They hope to be joined at Le Mans by Brazilian DTM, sports car and BMW veteran, Augusto Farfus.
Incidentally, their sister car #81, with Dutchman Nicky Catsburg, and former DTM champion from Germany, Martin Tomczyk, the two of them will be joined at Le Mans by Philipp Eng from Austria, another rapid BMW factory driver. Ferrari is starting to come good though, because they had a litany of issues with the machine during qualifying. A good battle in LMP2 between the #36 Signatech Alpine and the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing car. #37 has an all Malaysian driver lineup with Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan, and Nabil Jeffri. The #36 SignaTech Alpine, after early troubles, is recovering and moving up. Lapierre, Negrao, and Thiriet, can still hold out hope of a good finish here at Spa.
The LM GTE Pro battle is absolutely fascinating. Five brands are vying for honors, with factory teams this year. Ferrari, Ford, Porsche, BMW, and Aston Martin. Of course, they will have some additional cars for Le Mans, and Corvette Racing, from the IMSA championship, will also join in on the fun when we get to France in six weeks. Plus, there are a couple more Ford's, and a couple more Porsche's, coming over from IMSA as well. Yours truly, can't wait. Ford has one contender in the game here at Spa, but it looks like they'll be on for a podium in LM GTE Pro.
The #8 Toyota still leads this motor race. The #51 Ferrari had an unsafe pit release and so, their podium chances in LM GTE Pro, evaporated. One of the Porsche LM GTE cars held up a good scrap for third spot, between the #17 BR Engineering BR1 AER, and the #1 Rebellion. The second SMP BR being driven by Matevos Isaakyan of Russia, sharing with former Toyota pilot Stephane Sarrazin of France, and countryman Egor Orudzhev. Bad, bad luck for Matevos Isaakyan. Isaakyan has a hard crash that brings out the safety car. He clouted the wall at Raidillon. In LM GTE Pro, came the move of the motor race. Ford vs. Porsche at Eau Rouge. More wheel to wheel dust ups in Eau Rouge, but thankfully, just some very good racing, and no argy bargy. Porsche's swapping positions in the last hour of the 6 Hours of Spa.
Richard Lietz gave it all he had in his final stint, but by the end of it, his tires were busted, and he got nudged by the Ferrari, for position in class. Davide Rigon made the pass stick, for good, on the final lap of the race. Once you have all the clag and dust your tires can handle, it's game over and you have to let the chips fall where they will. Aston Martin finishes 1-2 in LM GTE Am, but TF Sport could never catch the factory car. Ford wins LM GTE Pro, G-Drive runs away with LMP2, and the overall win at Spa, goes to Toyota, and Fernando Alonso, on debut in the WEC, wins his maiden race! How about that?!
Alonso wins his first race at Spa since competing in Formula 3000. He never did win here in Formula 1. Toyota begins the super season with a 1-2. But, it's Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi, and Kazuki Nakajima, scoring the overall win. Jackie Chan DC Racing win LMP2 with the #38 entry of Ho-Pin Tung, from China, Gabriel Aubry of France, and Monegasque Stephane Richelmi. Ford #66 scores their first win in LM GTE Pro in a while, having seen their team mates in #67 do the bulk of the winning in 2017. Billy Johnson, Stefan Mucke, and Olivier Pla, triumph, at Spa! In the LM GTE Am division, it is yet another victory for the venerable Aston Martin Racing team, and their #98 Aston Martin V8 Vantage of Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda, and Pedro Lamy.
Your winners at Spa Francorchamps are:
Overall/LMP1: #8 Alonso/Buemi/Nakajima Toyota TS050 Hybrid
LMP2: #38 Tung/Aubry/Richelmi Oreca 07 Gibson
LM GTE Pro: #66 Mucke/Pla/Johnson Ford GT
LM GTE Am: #98 Dalla Lana/Lamy/Lauda Aston Martin V8 Vantage
The 6 Hours of Spa, is in the books, and next up, round two of the championship, is the granddaddy of all endurance races, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in northern France, in mid-June. We'll see you for the 24 hours, in about six weeks, and it's sure to be another one for the ages. So long, from the Ardennes, everyone.
Fabulous race coverage by my fave blogger!
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