To reach the top step on the podium at the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps this year, it took starting from the pole…with the exception of the LMP1 class since Porsche was unable to cash in on yesterday's performance. Toyota swept second and third places for the first time since 2014. Yet the results are misleading as fierce battles went down in all four classes.

In LMP1, Toyota had been the decided favorite on paper due to its aerodynamic choice being better suited to the Belgian circuit than Porsche's. But, the advantage proved relatively insignificant since the German and Japanese cars were in the lead at the refuelings, until it was time to cross the finish line, and the two Toyota TS050 HYBRIDS, separated by less than two seconds, advanced the Porsche 919 Hybrid by 35 seconds. Yet, the best lap went to Brendon Hartley with the #2 Porsche, in 1'57.638, only one-tenth of a second faster than the #7 Toyota's fastest time (1'57.722).

Though the New Zealander most likely regrets clipping the rear of the #36 Alpine LMP2 driven by two-time Le Mans winner Romain Dumas at the Arrêt de Bus chicane an hour from the end of the race (the Race Direction summoned both drivers after the race), the 16 seconds he lost in the pits while the mechanics changed out the front hood were probably not enough for him to have snatched first place from Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima, winning their second victory in a row after Silverstone.

After a flawless race, the driver line-up of the #8 car will leave the Ardennes with a lead of 17 points on the #2 Porsche (Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber), third, whereas the #7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID trio Mike Conway (brilliant in Belgium), Kamui Kobayashi and José María López - prohibited from taking the wheel after his accident at Silverstone - have marked the points for second place.

The second Porsche, the #1 driven by Neel Jani, Audi transplant André Lotterer and Nick Tandy (five wins at the 24 Hours between them), and the third Toyota, making its first appearance in preparation for Le Mans, failed to play a role in the fight for victory, like ByKOLLES Racing Team's #4 car, the only non-hybrid prototype. However, the sixth place finish of the trio James Rossiter, Dominik Kraihamer and Oliver Webb seems like a win after the big let-downs of Silverstone and especially the Prologue, official pre-season testing sessions at Monza, where the car was only able to complete a few laps. It's a just reward for the whole team who worked hard through the winter to install a new engine in the car.

All competitors in the LMP2 class worked new engines as well in compliance with new technical regulations in effect since January 1st. Only one supplier, Gibson, furnished new engines to the entire field, decisively dominated by G-Drive Racing's Oreca 07, one of the only cars in the class to have avoided an incident. Curiously, despite the dust-ups and mechanical troubles (the #31 Vaillante Rebellion with a lengthy refueling stop and Alex Brundle in Jackie Chan DC Racing's #37) and the two incidents for François Perrodo (TDS Racing's #28) in the Campus turn and Tristan Gommendy (Jackie Chan DC Racing's #38) at the top of the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge, the LMP2 field rallied through since there was only one retirement for newcomer Tockwith Motorsports and its Ligier JS P217.

So the Russian team G-Drive Racing's #26 Oreca 07 (Alex Lynn, Roman Rusinov and Pierre Thiriet), the development of which is handled by TDS Racing, won the battle with a 53-second lead on Vaillante Rebellion's #31 Oreca 07, despite a 10-second penalty incurred for contact with the #66 Ford GT and for the contact made by Bruno Senna, joined this season by Julien Canal (three class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans) and Nicolas Prost, with the #36 Alpine A470 (based on an Oreca 07 chassis) at the beginning of the race.

The defending champion French team, fifth, proved unlucky once again: after the safety car was deployed, it lost all hope for a podium finish after an incident with the Porsche LMP1 in the Belgian Ardennes. The debuting #35 Alpine A470, sixth, fared no better and watched its chances quickly fade after Nelson Panciatici was pushed by Silverstone LMP2 winner Oliver Jarvis at the wheel of Jackie Chan DC Racing's #38 Oreca 07 who rounded out the podium along with Ho-Pin Tung and Thomas Laurent.

Though in the LMP2 class incidents were not a major concern, the same cannot be said for LMGTE Pro. AF Corse's Ferrari 488 GTE remained neck-and-neck for the six hours of the race, putting on a stunning show. Though the cars driven by Sam Bird and Alessandro Pier Guidi made contact, the two men - teammates with Davide Rigon (#71) and James Calado (#51), respectively - delivered Ferrari a one-two ahead of the #66 Ford GT driven by Stefan Mücke, Olivier Pla and Billy Johnson, on the heels of a long climb after an incident with Vaillante Rebellion's #31 Oreca. As if on parade, the two Ferrari 488 GTEs finished ahead of the two Ford GTs, the two Porsche 911 RSRs and the two Aston Martin Vantages, the last four having failed to infiltrate the Ferrari/Ford duel.

Aston Martin enjoyed much more success in LMGTE Am than it did in LMGTE Pro, with victory for Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Paul Dalla Lana, who watched the win die with the #98 Vantage in the last lap at Silverstone following contact with Spirit of Race's Ferrari. The three drivers held their lead through the end of the race on Dempsey-Proton Racing's fast (best in-race lap) #77 Porsche 911 (Cairoli-Ried-Dienst) and the surprise winner at Silverstone, Clearwater Racing's #61 Ferrari (Mok-Sawa-Griffin).

The competitors will reunite on June 4th for Test Day of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, third round of the World Endurance Championshp (FIA WEC), which will take place on June 17th and 18th.

Results

Photo (Copyright - Pascal Saivet/VSA): The #8 and #7 Toyotas beat out the #2 Porsche at the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.