LMP @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015
The LMP1 race.
Porsche and Audi Sport were both aligning 3 cars dominating the LMP1 class. The former World Endurance Champion, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing was a bit behind the German manufacturers with 2 cars.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
After taking 1-2-3 in qualifying, the Porsche Team led the first half of the race. The second half of the race saw a strong fight for the lead, which changed several times, between Porsche #18 and Audi Sport #7. Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler (Audi Sport #7) won.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
After four hours in the race, Andre Lotterer, took the Audi Sport #7 for the first time into the lead during a hard fight with Porsche #18. Audi’s strategy to keep the tires for a third and last stint, and a brilliant take over from Benoit Treluyer (Audi #7) to Lieb (Porsche #18) enabled Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler to take a second victory of the season. The Audi Sport #7 team crossed the checkered flag 13,424 sec. ahead of Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani with the Porsche #18.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
With this second victory, Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer scored maximum race points (50), and extended their FIA World Endurance Drivers' Championship advantage over Lieb, Dumas and Jani to 14 points.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
In the FIA World Endurance Manufacturers Championship, Audi Sport moved further ahead of Porsche with 17 points lead while Toyota dropped to the third position, six points behind Porsche, with six races left in the season.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
Neel Jani (Porsche #18) moved up to first place after Porsche #17 received a stop-and-go penalty. Romain Dumas extended the lead to 27 seconds. From mid-race, Marc Lieb and Neel Jani had a strong fight with Benoït Tréluyer (Audi Sport #7)for the lead, which changed several times. With 19 laps to go, Neel Jani had his last splash-and-dash and finished the race in second place.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015
The #17 Porsche of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley, and Mark Webber qualified in pole positionand maintained the lead, until Brendon Hartley was issued with a 15-second stop-and-go penalty for using a run-off area after he outbraked himself into the last corner. A damper change during the driver change costed even more time. Webber managed to improve to third during a double stint, one lap down, with Hartley setting a new lap record for the WEC at Spa with a 1m57.972 lap, 3.2 seconds quicker than the previous best time. Bernhard's, Hartley's and Webber's third-place finish meant they moved into fifth place in the FIA World Endurance Driver’s Championship.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
Filipe Albuquerque, Marco Bonanomi and René Rast (Audi Sport #9) started the race from eighth place with a different body version for higher aerodynamic downforce. Audi used the race at Spa for a technical comparison of both concepts with respect to Le Mans and the other WEC races. When car #‘9’ lost its left-hand side window three hours into the race, the team replaced the left door at the next pit stop. Despite this small repair job, the driver squad had improved to fourth place when the checkered flag fell.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
The #2 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing TS040 of Stephane Sarrazin, Alex Wurz and Mike Conway had an early battle with the #9 Audi R18, and eventually finished three laps behind the leaders in fifth.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
The third Porsche 919 Hybrid (#19) with Earl Bamber, Nico Hülkenberg and Nick Tandy, started second but had to go back to the garage early in the race after a collision with the #91 Porsche 911 of Kevin Estre. The Porsche mechanics replaced the damaged parts and had the car back on track in less than four minutes. From 9th position, they recovered to finish sixth.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
The #8 Audi Sport of Oliver Jarvis, Loic Duval and Lucas Di Grassi initially improved to position two. An electrical problem that required two pit stops cost the squad several laps four hours into the race. In the last hour, the team had to replace the front hood again after damage caused in a duel. In the last few laps Jarvis ended up in the tire wall at Turn 14 after going straight on, but managed to get the car to the flag, to be classified in 7th overall.
The #1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing had a bad start on Thursday, when Kazuki Nakajima suffered a fractured vertebra during a heavy practice accident in wet conditions. The car had been rebuilt after the accident but hit problems with a sticking throttle and had to return to the pits several times, costing more than 20 minutes. Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi, the reigning world champions, eventually finished 8th, 14 laps down. The trio dropped to fourth position in the driver’s championship, swapping with their teammates moving to third.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
The sole LMP1 privateer entry, #4 Team Bykolles CLM P1/01-AER, completed 46 laps before hitting technical issues which sidelined the Austrian team for the second race in a row.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
LMP2 podium
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
#38 Jota Sport of Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell and Mitch Evans won the (LMP2) category. Evans had a drive-through penalty for jumping the start. Tincknell and then Evans, moved up through the field to take the lead after passing co-pole sitter Julien Canal in #26 G-Drive Racing entry, and held it for most of the race.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
#28 Ligier of Pipo Derani, Ricardo Gonzalez and Gustavo Yacaman scored another second place finish to add to the one they recorded in Silverstone. Two second place finishes and one pole position ensured that Pipo Derani/Ricardo Gonzalez and Gustavo Yacaman topped the LMP2 Drivers points, as JOTA Sport #38 did not score because it was only a race by race entrant.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
#43 Team Sard Morand Morgan Evo-SARD of Ragues, Webb, Amberg competed the LMP2 podium.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2015.
#26 G-Drive Racing Ligier-Nissan, which won the opening round at Silverstone, was leading the class on the same lap as the JOTA Gibson, but suddenly the Ligier slowed down, with smoke coming from the engine bay. The Rusinov, Canal and Bird #26 car was recovered to the pits to take the chequered flag last overall but to be classified in 10th place of the LMP2 class.
