A thrilling finale to the 6 Hours of Spa played out yesterday as Toyota claimed its first 1-2 finish since the 6 Hours of Shanghai in 2014.
Sébastien Buemi held off Kamui Kobayashi in the final stage amid light rain on the legendary 7km Spa-Francorchamps circuit to win by just 1.992s in a grandstand finish.
It was the second consecutive victory for the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 HYBRID of Buemi and his teammates Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima.
Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi, driving as a duo after teammate José María López was ruled out through a back injury, looked to have been in prime position to take the win but were unfortunate to lose out in both of the Full course Yellow periods.
Porsche LMP Team took third place with the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid team of Brendon Hartley, Earl Bamber and Timo Bernhard, while the sister #1 crew of Neel Jani, André Lotterer and Nick Tandy took fourth position.
In LMP2 Alex Lynn, Roman Rusinov and Pierre Thiriet claimed victory from the #31 Vaillante Rebellion trio of Bruno Senna, Nicolas Prost and Julien Canal.
It looked like it would be a close finish between the two but a final hour issue for the Vaillante Rebellion ensured that G-Drive took maximum points from the weekend.
The Headlines from the final stages at Spa….
- Sebastien Buemi crosses line to win 6 Hours of Spa for #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing as he and teammates Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davison celebrate second consecutive WEC win
- Thrilling end to race as Kobayashi catches Buemi. Swiss ace hangs on to win by just 1.992s
- #7 Toyota TS 050 Hybrid takes second after losing out on Full course Yellow periods
- Porsche place third and fourth as #2 919 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley, Timo Bernhard and Earl Bamber head #1 car of Nick Tandy, Neel Jani and Andre Lotterer
- #4 ByKolles Racing ENSO CLM Nismo finishes p6 overall in hands of Oliver Webb, Dominik Kraihamer and James Rossiter
- LMP2 class falls to G-Drive racing as Alex Lynn, Roman Rusinov and Pierre Thiriet convert pole position in to well-judged win
- Lynn and Thiriet celebrate first ever FIA WEC wins
- Bruno Senna grabs second in LMP2 for Vaillante Rebellion in last 30-minutes to seal second consecutive runners-up position for Brazilian and team mates – Nico Prost and Julien Canal
- Silverstone winners – #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing trio of Ho-Pin Tung, Oliver Jarvis and Thomas Laurent take final rung on podium to keep points lead in class
At the 2017 edition of the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, 61,000 people enjoyed the action and atmosphere from the WEC plus the three support series over the three days of the event. The huge crowds on race day (Saturday 6 May) profited from bright sunshine, incredible track battles and great entertainment on and off track.
The next round of the FIA World Endurance Championship will be the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 17/18 June. See you at the greatest sportscar race of them all!
