6 hours of Spa-Francorchamps
Course:CIRCUIT DE SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
SPA PAIN
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing lost a likely victory in the second round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) when mechanical issues hit both cars at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium today.
TOYOTA, which started the race as manufacturers’ World Championship leaders, led comfortably after four hours and looked set to take victory in the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, its first since 2014.
But engine problems for both TS050 HYBRIDs put them out of contention. The #5 of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima was classified 26th, but earned 12 points in terms of manufacturers’ World Championship points. The #6 of Stéphane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi retired.
Prior to the mechanical issues, the two TS050 HYBRIDs demonstrated significantly improved performance. The #5 had been leading by over a minute, with the #6 in third after an earlier accident with a lapped car required it to pit for repairs.
TOYOTA’s next race is the Le Mans 24 Hours on 18 June, when 250,000 spectators will witness the 84th edition of the world’s most famous endurance race. Prior to that, the official test day at Circuit de la Sarthe takes place on 5 June.
RACE RESULTS
| Pos | N° | Cat | Driver | Car | T | Laps | Total Time | Gap | Best time | Best speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | LMP1 | Lucas DI GRASSI, Loïc DUVAL, Oliver JARVIS | Audi R18 | M | 160 | 6:00'32.112 | 1'59.952 | 210.2 | |
| 2 | 2 | LMP1 | Romain DUMAS, Neel JANI, Marc LIEB | Porsche 919 Hybrid | M | 158 | 6:00'54.770 | 2 Laps | 1'59.140 | 211.6 |
| 3 | 13 | LMP1 | Mathéo TUSCHER, Dominik KRAIHAMER, Alexandre IMPERATORI | Rebellion R-One - AER | D | 156 | 6:01'05.018 | 4 Laps | 2'04.022 | 203.3 |
| 4 | 12 | LMP1 | Nicolas PROST, Nelson PIQUET JR, Nick HEIDFELD | Rebellion R-One - AER | D | 155 | 6:01'31.523 | 5 Laps | 2'04.398 | 202.7 |
| 5 | 7 | LMP1 | Marcel FÄSSLER, André LOTTERER, Benoît TRÉLUYER | Audi R18 | M | 155 | 6:01'37.733 | 5 Laps | 2'00.062 | 210 |
| 6 | 4 | LMP1 | Simon TRUMMER, Oliver WEBB, James ROSSITER | CLM P1/01 - AER | D | 151 | 6:01'29.131 | 9 Laps | 2'05.137 | 201.5 |
| 7 | 36 | LMP2 | Gustavo MENEZES, Nicolas LAPIERRE, Stéphane RICHELMI | Alpine A460 - Nissan | D | 151 | 6:02'07.889 | 9 Laps | 2'09.849 | 194.2 |
| 8 | 31 | LMP2 | Ryan DALZIEL, Luis Felipe DERANI, Christopher CUMMING | LIGIER JS P2 - Nissan | D | 151 | 6:02'11.468 | 9 Laps | 2'10.678 | 192.9 |
| 9 | 45 | LMP2 | Matthew RAO, Richard BRADLEY, Roberto MERHI | Oreca 05 - Nissan | D | 151 | 6:02'12.958 | 9 Laps | 2'10.154 | 193.7 |
| 10 | 43 | LMP2 | Ricardo GONZALEZ, Filipe ALBUQUERQUE, Bruno SENNA | LIGIER JS P2 - Nissan | D | 151 | 6:02'13.353 | 9 Laps | 2'11.209 | 192.2 |
| 11 | 26 | LMP2 | Roman RUSINOV, Nathanaël BERTHON, René RAST | Oreca 05 - Nissan | D | 150 | 6:01'56.635 | 10 Laps | 2'09.317 | 195 |
| 12 | 38 | LMP2 | Simon DOLAN, Giedo VAN DER GARDE, Jake DENNIS | Gibson 015S - Nissan | D | 148 | 6:02'26.430 | 12 Laps | 2'10.556 | 193.1 |
| 13 | 30 | LMP2 | Scott SHARP, Ed BROWN, Johannes VAN OVERBEEK | LIGIER JS P2 - Nissan | D | 146 | 6:01'01.652 | 14 Laps | 2'13.149 | 189.4 |
| 14 | 71 | LMGTE Pro | Davide RIGON, Sam BIRD, | Ferrari 488 GTE | M | 145 | 6:02'44.667 | 15 Laps | 2'18.485 | 182.1 |
| 15 | 44 | LMP2 | Tor GRAVES, Will STEVENS, James JAKES | Oreca 05 - Nissan | D | 144 | 6:02'14.704 | 16 Laps | 2'09.580 | 194.6 |
| 16 | 67 | LMGTE Pro | Marino FRANCHITTI, Andy PRIAULX, Harry TINCKNELL | Ford GT | M | 144 | 6:02'45.331 | 16 Laps | 2'19.999 | 180.1 |
| 17 | 97 | LMGTE Pro | Richie STANAWAY, Fernando REES, Jonathan ADAM | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | D | 144 | 6:02'47.164 | 16 Laps | 2'19.970 | 180.1 |
| 18 | 77 | LMGTE Pro | Richard LIETZ, Michael CHRISTENSEN, | Porsche 911 RSR (2016) | M | 142 | 6:01'08.585 | 18 Laps | 2'20.461 | 179.5 |
| 19 | 98 | LMGTE Am | Paul DALLA LANA, Pedro LAMY, Mathias LAUDA | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | D | 140 | 6:00'52.343 | 20 Laps | 2'20.763 | 179.1 |
| 20 | 83 | LMGTE Am | François PERRODO, Emmanuel COLLARD, Rui AGUAS | Ferrari F458 Italia | M | 139 | 6:00'34.035 | 21 Laps | 2'20.679 | 179.2 |
| 21 | 50 | LMGTE Am | Yutaka YAMAGISHI, Pierre RAGUES, Paolo RUBERTI | Chevrolet Corvette C7-Z06 | M | 139 | 6:01'07.670 | 21 Laps | 2'21.312 | 178.4 |
| 22 | 78 | LMGTE Am | Christian RIED, Wolf HENZLER, Joël CAMATHIAS | Porsche 911 RSR | M | 139 | 6:01'07.831 | 21 Laps | 2'22.027 | 177.5 |
| 23 | 86 | LMGTE Am | Michael WAINWRIGHT, Adam CARROLL, Ben BARKER | Porsche 911 RSR | M | 138 | 6:02'10.095 | 22 Laps | 2'22.461 | 177 |
| 24 | 37 | LMP2 | Vitaly PETROV, Kirill LADYGIN, Victor SHAYTAR | BR01 - Nissan | D | 136 | 6:00'57.083 | 24 Laps | 2'11.550 | 191.7 |
| 25 | 88 | LMGTE Am | Khaled AL QUBAISI, David HEINEMEIER HANSSON, Patrick LONG | Porsche 911 RSR | M | 136 | 6:01'28.729 | 24 Laps | 2'21.807 | 177.8 |
| 26 | 5 | LMP1 | Anthony DAVIDSON, Sébastien BUEMI, Kazuki NAKAJIMA | Toyota TS050 - Hybrid | M | 114 | 6:06'21.258 | 46 Laps | 1'59.740 | 210.6 |
| 27 | 1 | LMP1 | Timo BERNHARD, Mark WEBBER, Brendon HARTLEY | Porsche 919 Hybrid | M | 112 | 6:00'57.448 | 48 Laps | 1'58.431 | 212.9 |
| 28 | 35 | LMP2 | David CHENG, Ho-Pin TUNG, Nelson PANCIATICI | Alpine A460 - Nissan | D | 143 | 5:46'41.380 | 17 Laps | 2'10.461 | 193.3 |
| 29 | 51 | LMGTE Pro | Gianmaria BRUNI, James CALADO, | Ferrari 488 GTE | M | 140 | 5:51'06.508 | 20 Laps | 2'18.619 | 181.9 |
| 30 | 27 | LMP2 | Nicolas MINASSIAN, Maurizio MEDIANI, Devi MARKOZOV | BR01 - Nissan | D | 123 | 4:54'17.337 | 37 Laps | 2'10.862 | 192.7 |
| 31 | 66 | LMGTE Pro | Billy JOHNSON, Stefan MÜCKE, Olivier PLA | Ford GT | M | 100 | 4:50'51.661 | 60 Laps | 2'20.230 | 179.8 |
| 32 | 6 | LMP1 | Stéphane SARRAZIN, Mike CONWAY, Kamui KOBAYASHI | Toyota TS050 - Hybrid | M | 87 | 3:23'08.845 | 73 Laps | 2'00.177 | 209.8 |
| 33 | 42 | LMP2 | Nick LEVENTIS, Danny WATTS, Jonny KANE | Gibson 015S - Nissan | D | 78 | 3:08'35.677 | 82 Laps | 2'11.581 | 191.6 |
| 34 | 95 | LMGTE Pro | Nicki THIIM, Marco SØRENSEN, Darren TURNER | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | D | 40 | 1:36'17.650 | 120 Laps | 2'19.687 | 180.5 |
GET THE COMPLETE RACE RESULTS AND CHRONO
Toshio Sato, Team President
“We saw positive signs in terms of performance but the end result is very hard to take. Thanks to the great effort from the team in Cologne and Higashi-Fuji, we showed a clear improvement compared to Silverstone. We consistently set very strong lap times and were able to lead the race until the last two hours. But unfortunately we experienced damaged engines on both cars. Now we will urgently address what has happened and find counter-measures before Le Mans.”
Anthony Davidson (TS050 HYBRID #5)
“Obviously it is really disappointing, having looked so good earlier in the race. I really feel we deserved it today and it was cruelly taken away due to a problem we have never seen before. In all of the kilometres we have done in testing, we have never seen such a problem. Now we have to dust ourselves off and get ready for Le Mans.”
Sébastien Buemi (TS050 HYBRID #5)
“We cannot be happy but we have to take the positives. We were leading the race by a long way and I don’t remember the last time that happened. The performance was there and that is the positive out of this weekend. Now we focus on Le Mans and fight back.”
Kazuki Nakajima (TS050 HYBRID #5)
“A difficult day for us. I think we did everything right in terms of tyre choice, downforce level and strategy. The positive side is that we were really competitive and we showed we can fight. But it’s disappointing to end like this, because it was a great chance to win. I feel sorry for all the team.”
Stéphane Sarrazin (TS050 HYBRID #6)
“It was a very difficult day; the most difficult for us in a long time. We had strong performance and both cars should have finished on the podium. We looked good and that’s encouraging for Le Mans. We have the car to fight and we have one month to get ready.”
Mike Conway (TS050 HYBRID #6)
“That was tough. I made a mistake, touching an LMP2 car and that damaged our race. After that we were pushing as much as we could and got up into the podium places. We had a good strategy and things were working out. We could have had two podium finishes today but it wasn’t to be.”
Kamui Kobayashi (TS050 HYBRID #6)
“Unfortunately it is a disappointing result for us. We showed the performance but we couldn’t show the result which is a real pity. The encouraging fact is the strong performance of the TS050 HYBRID, so we are looking forward to Le Mans.”