After crashing out in Portimão the No. 7 Toyota Hybrid found redemption with the overall WEC win in the 6 Hour of Spa.
- It was the second consecutive win in Spa for the No. 7 and the 42nd WEC win for Toyota.
- Team WRT did the Spa-Francorchamps LMP2 double as they repeated their 2022 victory.
- Lilou Wadoux becomes the first female driver to win a WEC category as Ferrari wins LMGTE.
Two weeks removed from their last overall WEC victory Toyota Gazoo Racing won again Saturday. This time at Spa-Francorchamps, and this time it was the No. 7 leading at the checkered flag ahead of their sister car which won in Portimão.
Still the win for car driven by Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi was the second consecutive win in Spa for the No. 7 and the 42nd WEC win for Toyota.
“That was a fantastic job from the whole team to get the maximum result possible from this race,” Kobayashi said. “Thank you to the team and everyone who supports us for their big effort to achieve this.
“It has been a challenging week, particularly in terms of tire management. When you have new tires you have massive grip but you get degradation so it was not easy to decide how much to push. We can be very happy to be here with a one-two after no issues during the race, considering how challenging it has been. In my stint I was fighting with the 8 car and it is never easy to fight against your team-mate but I think we made a good show. Now we aim to keep this going for Le Mans.”
The No. 8 Hybrid Hypercar crewed by Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa overcame those issues and followed in second and Toyota now leads the Hypercar manufacturer standings by 33 points over Ferrari after three races.
“Second place is a great recovery drive,” Buemi said. “Starting 36th on the grid and coming back to second place, after actually fighting for the win, is a real achievement.”
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 to claim the marque’s second podium in two races.
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 scores Spa-Francorchamps LMP2 double
Rui Andrade, Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz took victory in LMP2.
WEC
In LMP2 Team WRT did the Spa-Francorchamps LMP2 double as they repeated 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
Deletraz and Blomqvist fought in a tight battle in the final hour of the race with Deletraz able to vault the United Autosports car in a dramatic late splash and dash pit-stop.
Inter Europol Competition rounded out the podium after Albert Costa chased down the No.9 Prema entered car driven by Andrea Caldarelli in the closing stages.
Lilou Wadoux becomes first ever woman to win FIA WEC class
Wadoux became the first female driver to win a WEC category.
WEC
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 chequered flag 18.6 seconds ahead of the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R driven by Nicolas Varrone, Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating.
For the second race running Catsburg fought off massive pressure from the pole sitting ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR driven by Charlie Eastwood to hold on to second and extend the U.S entered teams points lead.
The next round of the FIA WEC is the “big one” – the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which takes place from 10-11 June.
Keyword: Toyota Takes Second Consecutive WEC Overall Win On Historic Day At Spa