Rain, hail and snow can’t stop No. 8 Toyota at Spa

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s No. 8 TS050 HYBRID of Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi outlasted weather chaos at Spa-Francorchamps to earn its fourth victory of the 2018/19 FIA WEC ‘Super Season’.

What turned out to be one of the more remarkable and memorable contests in WEC history, ran without a red flag stoppage until the final 8 minutes despite the constant change in weather conditions.

The six hours of racing featured bouts of sunshine, broken up by heavy snow, hail and rain, which shook up the running order continuously as teams took risks on strategy.

Tire choice was key here, with all four classes featuring tight battles for podium spots right until the end. The driving standards were outstanding, with no major incidents, and the cars all held up. As a result, there were no retirements.

Behind the winning Toyota, the podium was completed by two privateer LMP1s. The No. 3 Rebellion Racing R-13 of Gustavo Menezes, Thomas Laurent and Nathanael Berthon beat the No. 11 SMP Racing BR1 of Mikhail Aleshin, Vitaly Petrov and WEC debutant Stoffel Vandoorne to second.

Both cars were close throughout the race, and finished just six seconds apart, despite Aleshin telling RACER after the podium ceremony that the No. 11 had just four gears for the final two hours.

Both driver crews all performed masterfully through traffic in the tricky conditions, with Vandoorne, in particular, standing out, the ex-McLaren F1 driver in his LMP1 debut, leading the race early on in the confusion caused by the first ‘blizzard’.

The sister No. 7 Toyota was unable to challenge and convert pole into a win. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez ended up finishing sixth overall, after losing four laps to an electrical sensor issue at the halfway mark while it was leading.

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"It was a crazy day, with crazy weather. We didn't expect snow in May! It was lucky for us, we feel sorry for the sister car. We secured the Team's Title, so it's an important result. Now we head to Le Mans," said race winner Nakajima.

The only titles settled this afternoon was the LMP1 team’s title, which went the way of Toyota, and the GT Manufacturers’ FIA World Endurance Championship, which went to Porsche.

Porsche’s two 911 RSRs scored enough points in Pro to make it mathematically impossible for Ferrari to stay in the fight at Le Mans week. All the other titles across the four classes though are going down to the wire.

Winning the Pro class though, was Aston Martin Racing, with its No. 97 Vantage AMR of Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn, who both took their first ever class wins in the process.

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With each car performing wildly different as the conditions changed, it was near-impossible to see which way the race was going until the final hour, when the final weather front caused one last flurry of pit stops under the safety car and set the order for one final dash before the red flag.

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The No. 97 led the way at the final restart, Maxime Martin aboard after an ironman-like stint from Alex Lynn, who thrived in the middle portion of the race in the tough conditions. The Belgian, on home turf, had to defend hard until the race was called against James Calado in the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari. The two battled hard, with Calado unable to get through.

“Every team was in with a chance at some point, and I’m just delighted that we’ll got to Le Mans with a win in the bag for Max and I and can focus now on getting the next one.”

Third in the classification was originally the No. 91 Porsche. However, the car dropped to eighth after it was handed a penalty for causing a collision just before the red flag came out. With the team unable to react to it before the field was neutralized, the organizers handed it a post-race time penalty.

That promoted the No. 92 Porsche to third, and the No. 82 MTEK BMW to fourth, putting Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen on the brink of the World Drivers’ title.

It was a strange race for BMW, and Ford. The MTEK M8 GTEs spent the race rising and falling down the order, clawing their way back into contention in the final hour. With the future of BMW’s WEC program believed to be in question, will MTEK’s determination in Belgium, fighting hard with a car that often wasn’t quickest, make a difference in the final decision from the board?

Nicki Thiim, who along with Marco Sorensen had a wild race, battling for podium spots on multiple occasions, surviving multiple collisions, finished a disappointing seventh in the No. 95 Aston Martin. The Dane summarized the race perfectly: “It was goddamn rock and roll out there!”

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Pastor Maldonado, Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzalez had to beat out G-Drive Racing’s Aurus and Signatech’s Alpine A470 to win, after the car vaulted to the lead in the final hour. Despite a late question mark hanging over the team’s win, as Gonzalez was just over a minute short on drive time, the red flag saved it from having to pit right at the end. G-Drive Racing also looked to have to pit at the end too, for fuel, but was ‘saved by the bell’.

For much of the second half of the race, it looked like LMP2 points leaders Nicolas Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet and Andre Negrao would be fighting their rivals in the standings in the No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA for the win. But a third-place finish was all they could muster.

Crucially though, by finishing ahead of Stephane Richelmi, Ho Pin Tung and Gabriel Aubry in the No. 38 (who came home fourth), they extend their points lead marginally ahead of Le Mans.

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Dempsey Proton’s habit of coming out of nowhere to win GTE Am convincingly continued in the hotly-contested Am class.

The No. 77 Porsche, which surely would have romped its way to the title had it not had its all points taken away by the organisers halfway through the season, won again. Christian Ried, Matt Campbell and Riccardo Pera finished five seconds clear of the TF Sport Aston Martin.

Once again TF Sport came close to winning the class at Spa, but not close enough. However, Euan Hankey, Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood did all have a superb run and will be confident in their chances of a strong result at Le Mans.

The big story from the class though came from two cars that finished behind Clearwater’s Ferrari which completed the podium.

Spirit of Race and Project 1, who are locked in a battle at the top of the GTE Am title race, finished up fourth and fifth respectively, after drama in the closing stages. The Spirit of Race Ferrari, which is the chaser in the points, was spun at the Bus Stop by the No. 91 Porsche, dropping Giancarlo Fisichella behind the Project 1 machine.

Moments later though, Egidio Perfetti in Project 1’s 911 came into contact with the Clearwater Ferrari at Piff Paff, sending the Norwegian into the barriers. He did continue but finished behind the Ferrari, closing the points gap ahead of the finale to 23 points!

The top five cars are still mathematically in with a shout too, the TF Sport Aston, the No. 77 Proton Porsche and No. 98 Aston Martin all still in the hunt.

Next up on the calendar is the final race of the 2018/19 ‘Super Season’, at Le Mans, next month. And there’s still so much to play for.

RESULTS

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