Spa WEC: Toyota takes one-two in rain-affected race

Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi scored their third win of the 2019/20 season after coming home 34 seconds ahead of the sister #8 car of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley, who finished second for the fourth race in a row.

Kobayashi, Conway and Lopez overcame a penalty under the system of LMP1 success handicaps of 3.52s, nearly half a second more than the sister car. 

Rebellion Racing's polesitting R-13, which had topped every session ahead of the race, struggled in the wet and wasn't a factor on the way to a lapped third place in the hands of Bruno Senna, Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato.

The race began under the safety car after a rain storm half an hour before the start and both Toyotas were able to accelerate past the Rebellion after Nato went wide at La Source when the race went green at the start of lap four. 

The #8 Toyota had a clear edge at this stage, Buemi storming into a lead of more than 10s ahead of Conway before an electrical glitch cost the Swiss driver half his advantage. 

Buemi stayed on wet tyres at the first round of pitstops, while Conway was given slicks a lap later. When the #8 car had to come back in after the safety car that followed immediately after their pitstops, the initiative was handed to the #7 Toyota. 

A lead of more than a minute for Kobayashi disappeared with the third safety car of the race late in the third hour. The two Toyotas exited the pits together but Hartley failed to pick up speed as the earlier electrical glitch returned and he lost 40 seconds. 

A fourth and final safety car of the race, triggered when Thomas Laurent crashed heavily at Blanchimont in the #36 Signatech Alpine LMP2 car late in the penultimate hour, closed the two Toyotas up again. 

The gap between Lopez and Nakajima that had stood at 35s had come down to 3.8s when the race went green. Nakajima reduced that gap to just over a second before the two cars pitted at the same time with just under 40 minutes to go, at which point the positions were frozen per Toyota's usual rules of engagement. 

The gap was approximately 10s when Buemi bought the #8 car in for a splash-and-dash fuel stop two laps before the chequered flag. 

The Rebellion struggled over the course of a race that was wet for much of the first four hours.  Nato dropped behind the ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01 a couple of laps after the race went green as he struggled on his first set of Michelin wets. 

Nato was the first of the LMP1 field to stop, switching to a new set of wets on lap 16, which turned out to be the wrong call. He was back in the pits for slicks shortly before the safety car returned to the track, which put him behind the LMP2 class leaders. 

The Rebellion was a full lap down by the time the conditions finally improved and was never able to get back on terms with the Toyotas.

The returning ByKolles entry shared by Tom Dillmann, Bruno Spengler and Oliver Webb ran third behind the Toyotas early on until slowing with electrical gremlins. A trip to the garage to fix an engine sensor in the the final hour dropped the car to the back of the field. 

LMP2: United Autosports wins again

United Autosports took a third straight victory in LMP2 with Paul di Resta, Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque in the #22 Oreca.

The Racing Team Nederland Oreca that led for much of the first half of the race finished third behind the Cool Racing Oreca once bronze-rated Frits van Eerd took over from his faster teammates Giedo van der Garde and Job van Uitert.

Van Eerd played a role in triggering Laurent's big crash at Blanchimont while the pair were battling over second in class, as the Dutch driver moved across on the Signatech car as both were trying to navigate the GTE Am class Red River Sport Ferrari.

Signatech's demise helped Nicolas Lapierre move up to second in the Cool Racing car he shares with Antonin Borga and Alexandre Coigny.

JOTA Sport's two Goodyear-shod cars had a race to forget, with the #38 car ending up fourth after appearing to struggle early on in the wet conditions and the sister #37 car losing eight laps with an early brake balance issue.

GTE: Porsche's reigning champions get first win of the season

Porsche pair Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen took their first win of the 2019/20 season after coming out on top five seconds ahead of the best of the Aston Martins.

The occupants of the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19, who were reinstated on pole having initially been sent to the back of the grid, benefitted from a well-timed change to slick tyres before spending the latter part of the race battling both Aston crews.

Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn led in the #97 Vantage GTE into the final stint by virtue of not stopping during the final safety car period, but a brief off and a late splash for fuel dropped them to third behind the points-leading #95 car of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen.

Thiim and Sorensen had dropped to the rear of the field with a puncture in the second hour but the subsequent safety car period allowed them to get back in the fight.

Ferrari's pair of works 488 GTEs had starred when conditions were at their worst but dropped back when the track dried out. James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi ended up as the Italian marque's best finishers in fourth place in the #51 car, closely followed by the #91 Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz.

GTE Am honours went to the AF Corse Ferrari shared by Nicklas Nielsen, Francois Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard just ahead of the best of the Dempsey-Proton Porsches, the #77 car of Christian Ried, Riccardo Pera and Matt Campbell.

Race results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Gap
1	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	143
2	8	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	143	34.170
3	1	Bruno Senna Gustavo Menezes Norman Nato	Rebellion R13	LMP1	142
4	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta	Oreca 07	LMP2	140
5	42	Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny	Oreca 07	LMP2	139
6	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Job Van Uitert	Oreca 07	LMP2	139
7	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	139
8	33	Mark Patterson Kenta Yamashita Anders Fjordbach	Oreca 07	LMP2	138
9	47	Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	137
10	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	135
11	95	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	135
12	97	Alex Lynn Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	135
13	51	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	135
14	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	135
15	71	Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	135
16	83	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	134
17	77	Christian Ried Riccardo Pera Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	134
18	90	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	134
19	56	Egidio Perfetti Laurents Hörr Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	133
20	88	Gianluca Giraudi Ricardo Sanchez Lucas Legeret	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	133
21	57	Ben Keating Felipe Fraga Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	133
22	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	133
23	62	Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	132
24	37	Ho-Pin Tung Ryan Cullen Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	132
25	98	Paul Dalla Lana Augusto Farfus Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	131
26	86	Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	130
27	4	Tom Dillmann Bruno Spengler Oliver Webb	ENSO CLM P1/01	LMP1	126
28	35	Nobuya Yamanaka Nick Foster Jr. Roberto Merhi	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	122
29	36	Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues	Alpine A470	LMP2	106
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