Race report
WEC Spa-Francorchamps
WEC Spa: Toyota claims 1-2 finish in hectic race
Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi continued Toyota’s unbeaten start to the 2023 World Endurance Championship at Spa, heading a 1-2 for the Japanese marque in difficult conditions.
James Newbold
Edited: May 1, 2023, 2:59 PM
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The polesitting trio’s #7 GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar beat the sister crew of Sebastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley that had started from the back of the grid after the latter’s qualifying crash by 11.637s.
The #7 car had pulled what appeared to be a decisive advantage with the assistance of two full course yellow interventions during the middle phase of the race, before two safety cars required following accidents for their Hypercar rivals brought the #8 car into play.
Kobayashi pulled a small gap on Hartley at the final restart, after Antonio Fuoco crashed the #50 Ferrari 499P LMH on cold tyres exiting the pits, before making his final stop on lap 126.
Hartley went two laps later before making his own final stop and initially led up the hill to Raidillon, but Kobayashi closed rapidly as the Kiwi gingerly brought his new left-side tyres up to temperature.
Such was Kobayashi’s momentum that he had to jink to the right and passed Hartley with all four wheels off the road to avoid a collision. The pass was investigated by the stewards, who in the dying moments handed Kobayashi a five-second penalty to be served at his next pitstop.
It was not enough to cost him the win, such was the margin that the Japanese had pulled on Hartley in the closing laps.
The podium was completed by the charging #51 Ferrari of James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi, as Calado passed the #5 Porsche 963 LMDh that Fred Makowiecki shared with Michael Christensen and Dane Cameron into Les Combes on the final lap.
The top four were the only Hypercars to finish on the lead lap in a race that was heavily impacted by tyre choice for the start.
Start action
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Both Toyotas, the two factory Penske-tended Porsches and the #3 Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R started on slicks on the greasy surface, which caught out several drivers and prompted an additional safety car lap before the race fully got under way.
Conway was ambushed by Giovinazzi, Nicklas Nielsen’s #50 Ferrari and the #2 Cadillac of Earl Bamber at the start and initially dropped as low as seventh as the drivers who started on wets initially made hay.
But a lap three safety car caused when Claudio Schiavone spun his #60 Iron Lynx GTE Am Porsche neutralised the early advantage gained from running on wets and allowed the slick runners to get their rubber up to temperature without losing time relative to the competition.
By the end of the second racing lap on lap 10, Conway had marched to the lead and was soon followed past Giovinazzi by Laurens Vanthoor’s #6 Porsche and Renger van der Zande in the guesting #3 Cadillac as the wet starters dashed for the pits.
Such was their time loss in bringing the new tyres up to temperature that all were a lap down when van der Zande crashed out of second 40 minutes into the second hour at Eau Rouge to bring out a second safety car. Thankfully, the Dutchman emerged unscathed from the frightening accident.
The #7 Toyota’s advantage was aided in the third hour when a complete loss of electrical power stranded Vanthoor at the Bus Stop, then a spin for Esteban Guerrieri’s Vanwall Vandervell 680 LMH on cold tyres into the Les Combes gravel brought out a full course yellow and meant Buemi had to take emergency service.
The #7 caught a fortunate break again when Lopez pitted just before a FCY for debris at Pouhon, while Hirakawa had to pit the #8 under green, but another safety car brought the second Toyota back into play when the Vanwall now driven by 1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve clashed with Francesco Castelacci’s GTE Am Ferrari approaching Blanchimont.
The safety car also negated the time loss for the #50 Ferrari resulting from a drive-through penalty incurred by Miguel Molina for traversing the white line at pit exit, but shortly after Molina had unlapped himself from Lopez and handed over to Fuoco the car impacted the barriers heavily after braking traction on cold tyres.
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In the #51 Ferrari that had lost time when Pier Guidi had to pit under FCY to replace a damaged wheel rim, Calado passed the sole surviving Cadillac now driven by Richard Westbrook and charged after Makowiecki to secure the final podium place.
Westbrook had to settle for fifth in the car he shared with Bamber and Alex Lynn, while Jota took an encouraging sixth place on its first outing with a customer 963 driven by Antonio Felix da Costa, Ye Yifei and Will Stevens.
Both Peugeot 9X8 LMHs encountered delays to finish seventh and ninth, with the #93 machine shared by Paul di Resta, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne leading the Glickenhaus-Pipo 007 LMH and the #94 Peugeot of Gustavo Menezes, Loic Duval and Nico Muller which spent time stranded on the pitlane.
#41 Team WRT Oreca 07 - Gibson: Rui Andrade, Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
WRT claimed victory in the LMP2 class with its #41 ORECA-Gibson 07 driven by Louis Deletraz, Robert Kubica and Rui Andrade.
Deletraz shadowed Tom Blomqvist’s #23 United Autosports ORECA into the pits with 12 minutes to go, where the Belgian crew turned around Deletraz around four seconds faster.
The United crew was left to rue the timing of the race’s second safety car, which came moments after Blomqvist had been lapped by Conway, which cost him a clear 44s lead.
Albert Costa, Fabio Scherer and Jakub Smiechowski completed the podium for Inter Europol Competition, after the Spaniard forced Andrea Caldarelli’s Prema ORECA into an error at the Bus Stop in the closing laps.
The GTE Am victory was claimed in comfortable fashion by the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo driven by Luis Perez Companc and Lilou Wadoux.
Wadoux stormed into the lead by passing Zacharie Robichon’s Proton Competition Porsche, and Rovera stroked home to win by 18.653s, as Corvette Racing recovered from losing a lap early on to finish second.
Championship leaders Ben Keating, Nico Varrone and Nicky Catsburg just held on to second from the TF Sport Aston Martin driven by Michael Dinan, Ahmad Al-Harthy and Charlie Eastwood, after Catsburg put up a strong defence in the closing laps.
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WEC Spa - Race results
Cla # Drivers Car Class Laps Time 1 7 Mike Conway
Kamui Kobayashi
Jose Maria Lopez Toyota GR010 - Hybrid HYPERCAR 148 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 View full results
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