It is the penultimate race in an amazing season, the FIA World Endurance Championship 2018-2019 "Super Season". It all started, here, at Circuit de Spa Francorchamps in the Ardennes forest and Ardennes mountains of Belgium, a year ago, this weekend, with Toyota winning. Toyota, has been the dominant force in the championship, especially, the #8 TS050 Hybrid, in the hands of Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi, and Kazuki Nakajima. Will that trend continue here at Spa Francorchamps, today? Weather is going to play a major part in today's race, as we're about to find out. Malevolent weather, is on it's way to the Ardennes, as we watch the pre-race entertainment, and ceremonies, led off by our old pal, jet hover board man. Toyota once again, dominated qualifying and had a front row lockout here at Spa.
It's time, for the penultimate race of the "Super Season". Green lights, on, and away we go! The battle is hot and heavy in both the LMP1 and LMP2 classes. Wet or dry, Spa Francorchamps is a palace of speed that provides a thrill a minute, and this is precisely why the drivers love to drive it and the fans flock in droves to see races here. The battle in GTE Pro is hot and heavy early, closely contested by all five major brands, Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, and Aston Martin. But, this race was going to be a long, tough slog for everybody involved. Would you believe that the micro climate here at Spa Francorchamps in the Ardennes mountains and forest, would throw snow at the drivers? That's just what happened, ladies and gentlemen. These chaps are going to be earning their money today.
The safety car was deployed, for snow, very early on in the race, and the team of former drivers who now drive the Porsche safety car in WEC, four-time Le Mans winner Yannick Dalmas of France, and his assistant, Pedro Couceiro, a former open wheel and sports car driver who also has other talents, such as being a musician, both of them were going to be very busy as drivers of the safety car today. As the race resumed, and the lights flashed green once again, Toyota's intrateam rivalry would commence at full steam. Their rivals from SMP and Rebellion would get a look in, when Toyota made a couple of botched pit stops for tires. Andre Lotterer, Neel Jani, and Bruno Senna share the #1 Rebellion R13 Gibson, while the sister car #3 is being piloted as usual by Thomas Laurent and Gustavo Menezes, joined here at Spa Francorchamps, by Nathaniel Berthon who also raced with the team last time out in March at the 1,000 Miles of Sebring.
Meanwhile, in LM GTE Pro, who hasn't led this race? Aston Martin and Ferrari have both had a bite of the cherry so far. So have Porsche and BMW. On the damp surface of the track, we can see a major problem for the #4 ByKolles entry. This is the ENSO CLM P1/01 now using the Gibson Technologies 4.5 liter V8 motor as opposed to the Nissan 3.0 liter V6 engine, shared by Oliver Webb of England, Tom Dillman of France, and for this race here at Spa, they are joined by Italian Paolo Ruberti. But, Dillman is in trouble in the wet, look. He slides wide onto the wet grass coming into La Source, and, bang! Dillman hits the tire barrier, and a signboard, smashing the front nose section off the car.
Not to be outdone, the #95 factory Aston Martin V8 Vantage, the new design car with the 4.0 liter V8 was also in the wars. Marco Sorenson, the Dane, sharing with fellow Danish driver, Nicki Thiim. Aston may have had that little hiccup, but they kept on trucking, especially with their sister #97 car, of Alex Lynn from England, and hometown hero, Maxime Martin. In the LM GTE Am division, still using the older spec 4.5 liter thundering V8 Aston Martin Vantage, the venerable trio of Canadian Paul Dalla Lana, Portuguese former F1 driver and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner for BMW, Pedro Lamy, and Mathias Lauda of Austria (son of three-time F1 champ Niki Lauda), they had their hands full with Porsche's and Ferrari's.
Porsche would best Aston Martin in the Am class on this day. Toyota is not running trouble free. The leading car #8 of Alons/Buemi/Nakajima, are running according to plan. The same cannot be said for their sister car, #7, in the hands of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez, who have issues with a sensor which put the #7 on the back foot, four laps in-arrears after the repairs were made in the garage, three hours into this motor race. So, we've reached the halfway mark here at Spa. In the LMP2 class, it is a duel between the newly liveried yellow and black #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07 of Ho Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry, and Stephane Richelmi, going head to head with the #36 SignaTech Alpine of Nicolas Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet, and Andre Negrao.
Meanwhile, Toyota #8 assumed the lead of the motor race and erring on the side of caution, hit the pit lane for new wet weather Michelin tires. The weather here at Spa Francorchamps really threw the teams for a loop, in this micro climate of the Ardennes forest. They battled sleet, rain, hail, and yes, would you believe, even snow? Yes indeed. It snowed briefly here at Spa, something that would be far more common at the Nurburgring Nordschleife. Aston Martin, continued to be hotly pursued in the LM GTE Am class by Ferrari and Porsche, as we see the #70 MR Racing Ferrari 488 GTE of Olivier Berretta, Eddie Cheever III., and Motoaki Ishikawa going for a spin in the wet.
The #70 car did not spin, but they, like everyone else struggled for traction as the ice and the snow returned to the Ardennes forest. Light levels are decreasing, just as rapidly as grip levels out on the track. The weather would change again, as the Ardennes mountains decided that the rain, sleet, and snow, would give way to bright sunshine and blue skies for the rest of the race. Toyota, have dominated another race in the FIA WEC and with their victory, they are World Champions for the Super Season, with one race to go.
Toyota TS050 #8, of Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi, and Kazuki Nakajima, they are your World Champions! In the LMP2 class, DragonSpeed becomes just the second team to break the streak of Jackie Chan DC Racing held throughout the "Super Season", as the #31 Oreca 07 of Anthony Davidson from England, Roberto Gonzalez from Mexico, and Pastor Maldonado from Venezuela (a one time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner), are the race victors! Aston Martin wins, with Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin in the new generation V8 Vantage in LM GTE Pro, where many of their aforementioned rivals hardly got a look in, and Porsche win LM GTE Am, with the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR, so, the defending champions from the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year, Christian Ried and Matt Campbell, now joined by Italian driver, Ricardo Pera.
Overall/LMP1: #8 Alonso/Buemi/Nakajima Toyota TS050 Hybrid
LMP2: #31 Davidson/Gonzalez/Maldonado Oreca 07 Gibson
LM GTE Pro: #97 Lynn/Martin Aston Martin Vantage
LM GTE Am: #77 Campbell/Pera/Ried Porsche 911 RSR
One event now remains. The 2018-2019 FIA World Endurance Championship, will be decided, at the 87th renewal, and the second edition of this event in one season, the famed, revered, 24 Hours of Le Mans at Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France, in mid-June, just six weeks away. Can Fernando Alonso and Toyota continue their momentum, and win back-to-back at Le Mans? We'll find out. It should be noted, between now and then, Alonso will also take another shot at trying to win the Indianapolis 500. We will see, too, if he is successful, in that endeavor. We'll see you from Le Mans in six weeks. For now, so long, from a rainy Spa Francorchamps, in Belgium.
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