WEC Season 5: 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2016 LMP race

LMPWEC

May 1

Written By Car Racing Reporter

📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2016.

The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2016 was the second of nine rounds of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship.

📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2016.

The two Porsche 919 Hybrids started in the front row, with the reigning world champions Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber in pole position with their #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid. Next to them was sister-car #2 of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb.

📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2016.

Brendon Hartley (Porsche 919 Hybrid #1) led the race from pole position until the first round of pitstops.

📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2016.

Twenty minutes after the start, Porsche 919 Hybrid #2 slowed due to a hybrid system problem and began lapping slower than most of the LMP1 runners as Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb were unable to utilize the car's full electric power capability for the remainder of the event.

📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2016.

In the meantime, Sebastien Bruni with his Toyota #5 did a tremendous first stint by getting ahead of Conway (Toyota #6) to move into fourth place overall. A bit later, he took over Treluyer (Audi #7) for third place. Then we witnessed a mano a mano with di Grassi (Audi # 8) until Buemi elected not to change tires and gained the overall lead.

With Timo Bernhard at the wheel, the Porsche 919 Hybrid #1 took the lead back from Buemi (Toyota #5). The two drivers diced for the lead but the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid picked up a puncture due to debris on the track enabling Buemi to reclaim his position.

Davidson, taking over from Buemi on board of Toyota #5, was able to increase his advantage over Duval (Audi #8) despite two caution periods reducing lead. Davidson handed over to Nakajima who had to pit for his mechanics to repair a rear-end issue, allowing Oliver Jarvis (Audi #8) to take the lead.

📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2016.

After inheriting the lead, Audi #8 drivers Oliver Jarvis, Lucas Di Grassi and Loïc Duval succeeded in maintaining it for the remainder of the race and secured the team's first victory of the season.

📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2016.

Porsche 919 Hybrid #2, driven by Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb finished second, 2 laps behind the winners, maintaining their strong momentum as they did not finish lower than second in the last five FIA WEC races.

#13 Rebellion Racing car of Dominik Kraihamer, Alexandre Imperatori and Mathéo Tuscher came in third.

#12 Rebellion Racing Rebellion R-One AER driven by Nicolas Prost, Nelson Piquet JR, Nick Heidfeld ended fourth.

📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2016.

#7 Audi needed repairs to its floor after driving over a kerb and came back in the race in 15th place overall. Fässler closed the gap to Heidfeld in the #12 Rebellion Racing but was spun by Albuquerque's RGR Sport car after moving in front of him upon lapping him at La Source. This resulted in heavy damage to the #7 Audi car's front end, littering debris on the track. Benoît Treluyer, Marcel Fässler and Andre Lotterer ended fifth overall, 5 laps behind winners.

#4 Bykolles Racing Team driven by Trummer, Webb and Rossiter ended sixth with their CLM P1/01 – AER, 9 laps behind winners.

After fighting for P1 with Buemi, Timo Bernhard, (Porsche 919 Hybrid #1) suffered a front-left puncture falling to fourth place behind Buemi and the two Audi. He handed over the Porsche 919 Hybrid #1 to Webber after a replacement of the front nose as the degrading of the tire caused bodywork damages. Webber had to return to the pit lane with a new front left puncture and was pushed back to the garage for ten minutes of bodywork repairs. One more hour was necessary afterwards to change the front-axle energy retrieval system. The race was definitively over for 2015 world champions (Brendon Hartley, Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber) who ended the race in 26th place overall and seventh in the LMP1 class, 48 laps behind the winners.

Despite being in the lead after a Homeric fight with Porsche 919 Hybrid #1, Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima (Toyota #5) had to spend lots of time in the garage for repairs.

They eventually returned to the track to gain championship points. They ran on electrical power to end last, 50 laps behind winners.

Conway (Toyota #6) locked his tires and collided heavily with Victor Shaytar's #37 SMP Racing car going into the Bus Stop chicane. Conway immediately drove into the pit lane for repairs to his car's front end and served a drive-through penalty for his collision with Shaytar. #6 Toyota had to retire due to an engine failure caused by an electrical fault

Car Racing Reporter

Reporting endurance races from the 80th till now with 24 Hours of Le Mans, 1.000 km and 6 Hours races at Austin, Daytona, Imola, Le Mans, Monza, Nurburgring, Petit Le Mans, Portimao, Sebring, Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, The Glen, …

https://www.carracingreporter.com