Toyota makes its GR010 triumph at Spa

We can only salute the performance without the slightest false note played by the Alpine Endurance Team. Whether in the pit lane, on the wall or behind the wheel, the French team was impeccable. 

Matthieu Vaxiviere, Nicolas lapierre and André negrao gave everything, and even hoped that the mistakes made by the Toyota Gazoo Racing allows them to win. But if the No. 8 received two time penalties to be observed during a refueling (30" for non-compliance with the minimum refueling time and 5" for having been released dangerously after a refueling), Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima et Brendon Hartley were the first to receive the checkerboard.

Hypercar history: TGR wins an epic # 6HSpa! #GoHyper #PushingTheLimitsForBetter #WEC pic.twitter.com/43qE7lePDC

— TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WEC (@TGR_WEC) May 1, 2021

THEAlpine n°36 will console itself with a very good second place at 1”07 and the pride of having beaten the second GR010 Hybrid, which sports the n°7. If victory seemed promised to the trio Mike conway-José Maria Lopez-Kamui Kobayashi, the latter shot straight at 17:34 p.m. and got stuck in the gravel trap. A turn was lost in the affair. 

Subsequently, the reigning champions' car suffered a drive through following contact with the Porsche 911 RSR-19 n°91, before losing further precious time less than 20′ from the end when, under Full Course Yellow, Kamui Kobayashi stopped in a loophole.

In LM P2 and GT Pro, the scenario was very similar. The No. 07 Oreca 22 fielded by United Autosports for Filipe Albuquerque-Phil Hanson-Fabio Scherer never let go of the reins of its category, nor did the No. 911 Porsche 19 RSR-92 of Kévin Estre and Neel Jani .

Jota places his two 07s on the LM P2 podium. But the No. 28 of Sean Gelael-Stoffel Vandoorne-Tom Blomqvist had to give up in front of the No. 38 of Anthony Davidson-Antonio Félix da Costa-Rodolfo Gonzalez in the final minutes after Gelael suffered a drive through following contact with theAlpine n°36 at the bottom of Raidillon. 

Fourth in LM P2, the trio Job van Uitert-Giedo van der Garde-Frits van Eerd finished first in LM P2 Pro / Am reserved for crews relying on at least one Bronze driver, just ahead of the second 07 brooded by TDS Racing, #70 by Norman Nato-Loïc duval-Esteban Garcia.

In GTE Pro, the podium is completed by the two Ferrari 488 GTE Evo from AF Corse, the advantage going to the #51 of James Calado-Alessandro Pier Guidi, who preceded the #52 of Miguel Molina-Daniel Serra.

Finally, outgoing GTE Am champions Nicklas Nielsen and François Perrodo honored their status by winning the race at the wheel of the No. 488 Ferrari 83 GTE Evo. Follow theAston Martin Vantage AMR n°33 from TF Sport by Ben Keating-Felipe Fraga-Dylan Pereira. Entered in the No. 911 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 19 RSR-88, the team of Alessio Picariello-Andrew Haryanto-Marco Seefried took the checkered flag in 3rd place.

But for violation of the regulations under Full Course Yellow, the latter will receive a fixed penalty after the arrival of a fixed penalty allowing the No. 488 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 47 GTE Evo (Roberto Lacorte-Giorgio Sernagiotto-Antonio Fuoco) to climb to third step of the podium.

The next round of the 2021 WEC is scheduled for June 13. This is the 8 Hours of Portimão.

Discover the full report and analysis of the 6 Hours of Spa, produced by our special correspondent in Belgium, in issue 2310 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version and from this Wednesday on newsstands.