WEC: Toyota sweeps 6 Hours of Spa
Toyota Gazoo Racing clinched a 1-2 victory at today’s TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, round three of the FIA WEC, in front of a record crowd for a WEC race at the Belgian circuit.
It is Toyota’s 42nd WEC win and the second consecutive win in Spa for the No. 7 crew driven by Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi.
The trio led home the sister No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar (Brendon Hartley/Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa) with the Japanese manufacturer now leading the Hypercar manufacturer standings by 33 points over Ferrari after three races.
The final podium position went to the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P driven by James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi – with a flying Calado surging on the final lap to move ahead of the No. 5 Porsche Penske 963.
Taking fifth place and making it four different manufacturers in the top five was the No. 2 Cadillac Racing Hypercar of Alex Lynn, Earl Bamber and Richard Westbrook.
Team WRT did the Spa-Francorchamps LMP2 double as they reprised their 2022 victory but this time it was with the No.41 Oreca-Gibson as opposed to the No.31 that triumphed 12 months ago.
Rui Andrade, Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz took victory by 6.042 seconds over the No. 23 Oreca of Josh Pierson, Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis (United Autosports) in a tense and thrilling battle.
The LMGTE Am class saw Alessio Rovera, Lilou Wadoux and Luis Perez Companc take class honors in the No. 83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. In doing so Wadoux became the first female driver to win a WEC category.
Rovera took the checkered flag 18.6 seconds ahead of the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R driven by Nicolas Varrone, Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating.
The next round of the FIA WEC is the “big one” – the centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (10-11 June).
Race Results
Pos | No. | Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Behind |
1 | 7 | Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez |
Toyota GR010 – Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 148 | 0.000 |
2 | 8 | Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa |
Toyota GR010 – Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 148 | 16.637 |
3 | 51 | Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi |
Ferrari 499P | HYPERCAR | 148 | 1’14.439 |
4 | 5 | Dane Cameron Michael Christensen Frédéric Makowiecki |
Porsche 963 | HYPERCAR | 148 | 1’17.264 |
5 | 2 | Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook |
Cadillac V-Series.R | HYPERCAR | 147 | 1 lap |
6 | 38 | Antonio Felix da Costa Will Stevens Ye Yifei |
Porsche 963 | HYPERCAR | 147 | 1 lap |
7 | 41 | Rui Andrade Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 146 | 2 laps |
8 | 23 | Josh Pierson Tom Blomqvist Oliver Jarvis |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 146 | 2 laps |
9 | 34 | Jakub Smiechowski Fabio Scherer Albert Costa |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 146 | 2 laps |
10 | 9 | Filip Ugran Bent Viscaal Andrea Caldarelli |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 146 | 2 laps |
11 | 22 | Frederick Lubin Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 146 | 2 laps |
12 | 31 | Sean Gelael Ferdinand Habsburg Robin Frijns |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 146 | 2 laps |
13 | 93 | Paul di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne |
Peugeot 9X8 | HYPERCAR | 146 | 2 laps |
14 | 708 | Romain Dumas Olivier Pla Franck Mailleux |
Glickenhaus 007 | HYPERCAR | 146 | 2 laps |
15 | 36 | Matthieu Vaxiviere Julien Canal Charles Milesi |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 146 | 2 laps |
16 | 35 | Andre Negrao Memo Rojas Olli Caldwell |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 146 | 2 laps |
17 | 94 | Loic Duval Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller |
Peugeot 9X8 | HYPERCAR | 146 | 2 laps |
18 | 28 | David Heinemeier Hansson Pietro Fittipaldi Oliver Rasmussen |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 145 | 3 laps |
19 | 63 | Doriane Pin Mirko Bortolotti Daniil Kvyat |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 144 | 4 laps |
20 | 83 | Luis Perez Companc Lilou Wadoux Alessio Rovera |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 140 | 8 laps |
21 | 33 | Ben Keating Nicolas Varrone Nick Catsburg |
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | LMGTE AM | 140 | 8 laps |
22 | 25 | Ahmad Al Harthy Michael Dinan Charles Eastwood |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 140 | 8 laps |
23 | 88 | Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon Harry Tincknell |
Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | LMGTE AM | 139 | 9 laps |
24 | 85 | Sarah Bovy Michelle Gatting Rahel Frey |
Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | LMGTE AM | 139 | 9 laps |
25 | 21 | Diego Alessi Simon Mann Ulysse De |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 139 | 9 laps |
26 | 98 | Ian James Daniel Mancinelli Alex Riberas |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 139 | 9 laps |
27 | 57 | Takeshi Kimura Scott Huffaker Daniel Serra |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 139 | 9 laps |
28 | 777 | Satoshi Hoshino Casper Stevenson Tomonobu Fujii |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 138 | 10 laps |
29 | 77 | Christian Ried Mikkel Pedersen Julien Andlauer |
Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | LMGTE AM | 138 | 10 laps |
30 | 60 | Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Alessio Picariello |
Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | LMGTE AM | 137 | 11 laps |
31 | 86 | Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker |
Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | LMGTE AM | 136 | 12 laps |
32 | 54 | Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 79 | 69 laps |
33 | 50 | Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen |
Ferrari 499P | HYPERCAR | 106 | 42 laps |
34 | 4 | Tom Dillmann Esteban Guerrieri Jacques Villeneuve |
Vanwall Vandervell 680 | HYPERCAR | 80 | 68 laps |
35 | 6 | Kevin Estre Andre Lotterer Laurens Vanthoor |
Porsche 963 | HYPERCAR | 53 | 95 laps |
36 | 3 | Sébastien Bourdais Renger van der Zande Jack Aitken |
Cadillac V-Series.R | HYPERCAR | 40 | 108 laps |
37 | 10 | Ryan Cullen Matthias Kaiser Gabriel Aubry |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 14 | 134 laps |