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WEC 6 Hours of Spa
5th to 7th May 2016
During three days Spa-Francorchamps lived in the wild rhythm of the World Endurance Championship, the second race in 2016 has kept all its promises. One thing is certain, this edition of the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps will be remembered with an incredible storyline and plot twists until the last moments!
The no.6 of Stéphane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kabayashi, and no.5 of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima Toyota TS050-Hybrids started the race from third and fifth places on the grid respectively, and they revealed their potential from lights-out. In the hands of Sébastien Buemi, the no.5 car was the first to show its strength. After an assertive start, the Swiss driver overtook the no.7 Audi R18 of Benoît Tréluyer on lap 9 before posting a sequence of quick laps to bridge the gap to the no.8 Audi of Lucas Di Grassi. By the 45-minute mark, Sébastien Buemi and the no.5 Toyota TS050-Hybrid were up to second spot and chasing the no.1 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley which led by 11 seconds, but the gap was closing fast. When the front-runners started to refuel on lap 22, Timo Bernhard was the first to pit. He took fuel and fresh tyres, but Sébastien Buemi - who stopped next time around - decided to double stint on the same rubber and, as a result, exited the pit lane in front.
By lap 35, Timo Bernhard was back on the heels of Buemi's Toyota and he soon managed to pass, but the Swiss driver responded immediately to recover the lead. In the heat of the action, at the beginning of lap 36, Bernhard's Porsche suffered a small impact which damaged his front-left tyre. The German had to complete one more lap of the 7km circuit before he could have the wheel replaced, significantly denting his chances of victory.
Thet left the no.5 Toyota in front, chased by the no.8 Audi of Lucas Di Grassi, Loïc Duval and Oliver Jarvis, while the no.6 Toyota was a lap back after being slowed by a collision with an LMP2 prototype, the car no.37 of SMP Racing.
There was then a long period of stablity which lasted until lap 87 when the run of the no.6 Toyota came to a halt. That promoted the no.2 Porsche of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb to third place and the order remained unchanged until lap 113 when the no.5 Toyota TS050-Hybrid retired from the lead with an engine problem.
That was to be the last major alternation to the LMP1 leaderboard and the no.8 Audi went on to collect the win, followed over the line by the no.2 Porsche and the no.13 Rebellion of Matéo Tuscher, Dominik Kraihamer and Alexandre Imperatori.
The final has been totally crazy in LMP2 after the splash & dash of the Alpine A460-Nissan no.36 of NIcolas Lapierre who saw the Ligier JS P2-Nissan no.31 of Pipo Derani take the lead. But the French took over the command and won with Gustavo Menezes and Stéphane Richelmi before the trio Luis Felipe Derani, Christopher Cumming and Ryan Dalziel, who returns from away after a difficult start to the race. The battle was also beautiful to the end for the 3rd place, and it's ultimately the Oreca 05-Nisan no.45 of Roberto Merhi, Richard Bradley and Matthew Rao who finished on the smaller step of the podium before the Ligier JS P2-Nissan no.43 of Filipe Albuquerque, Bruno Senna and Ricardo Gonzalez. 5th place for the Oreca G-Drive of René Rast, Roman Rusinov and Nathanaël Berthon who could claim better.
In LM GTE Pro, Ferrari dominated qualifying for the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. After spending the vast majority of the race in the lead, the no.51 488 GTE of Gianmarco Bruni and James Calado was halted by a mechanical problem (engine temperature) wih eight minutes to go. The win ended up in the hands of the no.71 sister car of Davide Rigon and Sam Bird. The no.67 Ford GT of Marino Franchitti, Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell claimed second spot, ahead of the no.97 Aston Martin of Richie Stanaway, Fernando Rees and Jonathan Adam.
In LM GTE Am, it's the Aston Martin Vantage of Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Paul Dalla Lana that was imposed before the AF Corse Ferrari of François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Rui Aguas; and the Labre Corvette of Pierre Ragues, Paulo Ruberti and Yutaka Yamagashi.
The no.6 of Stéphane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kabayashi, and no.5 of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima Toyota TS050-Hybrids started the race from third and fifth places on the grid respectively, and they revealed their potential from lights-out. In the hands of Sébastien Buemi, the no.5 car was the first to show its strength. After an assertive start, the Swiss driver overtook the no.7 Audi R18 of Benoît Tréluyer on lap 9 before posting a sequence of quick laps to bridge the gap to the no.8 Audi of Lucas Di Grassi. By the 45-minute mark, Sébastien Buemi and the no.5 Toyota TS050-Hybrid were up to second spot and chasing the no.1 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley which led by 11 seconds, but the gap was closing fast. When the front-runners started to refuel on lap 22, Timo Bernhard was the first to pit. He took fuel and fresh tyres, but Sébastien Buemi - who stopped next time around - decided to double stint on the same rubber and, as a result, exited the pit lane in front.
By lap 35, Timo Bernhard was back on the heels of Buemi's Toyota and he soon managed to pass, but the Swiss driver responded immediately to recover the lead. In the heat of the action, at the beginning of lap 36, Bernhard's Porsche suffered a small impact which damaged his front-left tyre. The German had to complete one more lap of the 7km circuit before he could have the wheel replaced, significantly denting his chances of victory.
Thet left the no.5 Toyota in front, chased by the no.8 Audi of Lucas Di Grassi, Loïc Duval and Oliver Jarvis, while the no.6 Toyota was a lap back after being slowed by a collision with an LMP2 prototype, the car no.37 of SMP Racing.
There was then a long period of stablity which lasted until lap 87 when the run of the no.6 Toyota came to a halt. That promoted the no.2 Porsche of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb to third place and the order remained unchanged until lap 113 when the no.5 Toyota TS050-Hybrid retired from the lead with an engine problem.
That was to be the last major alternation to the LMP1 leaderboard and the no.8 Audi went on to collect the win, followed over the line by the no.2 Porsche and the no.13 Rebellion of Matéo Tuscher, Dominik Kraihamer and Alexandre Imperatori.
The final has been totally crazy in LMP2 after the splash & dash of the Alpine A460-Nissan no.36 of NIcolas Lapierre who saw the Ligier JS P2-Nissan no.31 of Pipo Derani take the lead. But the French took over the command and won with Gustavo Menezes and Stéphane Richelmi before the trio Luis Felipe Derani, Christopher Cumming and Ryan Dalziel, who returns from away after a difficult start to the race. The battle was also beautiful to the end for the 3rd place, and it's ultimately the Oreca 05-Nisan no.45 of Roberto Merhi, Richard Bradley and Matthew Rao who finished on the smaller step of the podium before the Ligier JS P2-Nissan no.43 of Filipe Albuquerque, Bruno Senna and Ricardo Gonzalez. 5th place for the Oreca G-Drive of René Rast, Roman Rusinov and Nathanaël Berthon who could claim better.
In LM GTE Pro, Ferrari dominated qualifying for the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. After spending the vast majority of the race in the lead, the no.51 488 GTE of Gianmarco Bruni and James Calado was halted by a mechanical problem (engine temperature) wih eight minutes to go. The win ended up in the hands of the no.71 sister car of Davide Rigon and Sam Bird. The no.67 Ford GT of Marino Franchitti, Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell claimed second spot, ahead of the no.97 Aston Martin of Richie Stanaway, Fernando Rees and Jonathan Adam.
In LM GTE Am, it's the Aston Martin Vantage of Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Paul Dalla Lana that was imposed before the AF Corse Ferrari of François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Rui Aguas; and the Labre Corvette of Pierre Ragues, Paulo Ruberti and Yutaka Yamagashi.
| Pos. | No. | Driver / Co-driver | Car | Team |
| 1 | 8 | Di Grassi / Duval / Jarvis | Audi R18 | Audi Sport Team Joest |
| 2 | 2 | Dumas / Jani / Lieb | Porsche 919 Hybrid | Porsche Team |
| 3 | 13 | Tuscher / Kraihamer / Imperatori | Rebellion R-One - AER | Rebellion Racing |
| 4 | 12 | Prost / Piquet Jr / Heidfeld | Rebellion R-One - AER | Rebellion Racing |
| 5 | 7 | Fässler / Lotterer / Tréluyer | Audi R18 | Audi Sport Team Joest |
| 6 | 4 | Trummer / Webb / Rossiter | CLM P1/01 - AER | Bykolles Racing Team |
| 7 | 36 | Menezes / Lapierre / Richelmi (1st LMP2) | Alpine A460 - Nissan | Signatech Alpine |
| 8 | 31 | Dalziel / Derani / Cumming | Ligier JS P2 - Nissan | Extreme Speed Motorsports |
| 9 | 45 | Rao / Bradley / Merhi | Oreca 05 - Nissan | Manor |
| 10 | 43 | Gonzalez / Albuquerque / Senna | Ligier JS P2 - Nissan | RGR Sport by Morand |
