FIA WEC: 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps Qualifying report

A dry session with some sunshine turned to rain by the time the Le Mans Prototypes drew close to the end of their session.  As has become the norm it was Toyota leading the way in the top category the #7 of Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway, the former setting a 1:53.812 which Conway proceeded to beat with a Spa WEC qualifying record of 1:53.683. The #8 Toyota almost half a second adrift on a combined average (1:54.243) secured the front row.   

“Nice lap, Kamui was quick in FP3 and again in Qualifying so the pressure was on, it was all looking good and the car was pretty hooked up so I was happy to cross the line a little bit quicker.” Conway said. “A good gap to the sister car. All credit to the guys on car#7 all weekend. Tomorrow is going to with conditions so its good to start in the right position. “

Toyota confirmed to SCG that the two cars/6 drivers are free to race each other as long as there is no contact with each other. Given the changeable conditions forecast for tomorrow we could well see some drama.

 

Third on the grid goes to the #17 SMP Racing BR / AER, boosted by its turbos and without restriction they were closer to Toyota pace but still half a second down (1:54.711) on the second place car.  Fourth is the normally aspirated Gibson Tech powered Rebellion #3 a further nine-tenths behind the SMP #17.  So despite the numbers in LMP1 there is still the prospect  of some good inter-team battles going on. 

#4 ByKolles effectively brought an early end to the session with a roll to a stop on pit straight, with the session Red Flagged with 5mins remaining.  The session did re-start, but as track conditions had deteriorated only the #50 Larbre Competition Ligier of Nick Boulle ventured out to no effect.

LMP2

The non-championship entry of G-Drive Racing #26 took the category pole with the Aurus 01 version of the Oreca 07. Jean-Eric Vergne clocked a lap within 3-thousands of a sec of breaking the 2-minute  barrier and Job Van Uitert (2:01.346) combined to set the average, a 2:00.674, breaking the previous LMP2 lap record.

“The car was absolutely amazing out there today. I felt that it was one of the best laps I ever drove in my life,” claimed Vergne. “Breaking the 2-minute barrier would have been nice, but it was more the gap we pulled on the other guys thanks to the lap that Job, all in all a very good qualifying.”

Without the non-championship interloper, we would have had a  Jackie Chan DC Racing category front row, with the might of #38 conquering its sister car the Fortune Cat #37. They were respectively six and nine-tenths behind the average of #26.  Speaking with Sam Hignett (Team Principal at JCDC Racing) he was content that they as championship would still get the pole point and suggested that the wet FP2 had indicated good pace for teams like them running the Dunlop wet weather tyres (#26, 28, 37 & 38). We ran it past our colleagues @theBPillar, and nothing indicative on pure pace, but perhaps we are looking at wear and sustainability over an extended wet duration.. Time (and race conditions) will likely tell us more.. 

Lets just hope they don’t need snow chains! 


A brief note of commendation to the squad in the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07.  Following the loss of sponsorship for their Malaysian predecessors, David Heinemeier-Hansson, Jordan King and Will Stevens have shown themselves to be a strong and competitive trio from the get-go. Lets hope they stay out of trouble and achieve further success this weekend.

GTE-Pro – Priaulx and Tincknell Fly!

The #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK team took pole in GTE Pro as Andy Priaulx and Harry Ticknell set a combined time of 2:12.885 record GTE-PRO pace once more, but it was Andy Priaulx who demonstrated that hooking up a lap was very much a trick for the old dog and not just the young pups like ‘H’!  The #97 Aston Martin Racing AMR crew of Maxime Martin and Alexander Lynn looked to be on for pole but were beaten out by a mere 0.067sec around the 7-kilometre Spa countryside.

Talking about his lap of 2:12.797 Andy Priaulx said “When you get to my age you can’t remember what happened yesterday! It was a nice special experience, Harry nailed a fantastic 12.9, I got back in the car, I knew I had to be on my A game to try and better that, it just came together really well… Those moments when you find that sweet spot in your driving and you give everything and it works, I’m just enjoying every moment, I look in the mirror and ask myself when am I going to stop racing and moments like that, I just want to carry on. Its still in me and I’m really enjoying it.”  

The BoP calculator is clearly at the top of its game around Spa as it is the #82 Team BMW MTEK BMW M8 GTE of da Costa/Farfus in third just 0.092 from pole themselves. As mentioned in our GTE Free Practice Report, it is good to see the men from Munich getting some pace under their belt, and it will hopefully bode well for a fascinating and variety packed race on Saturday.

Porsche and Ferrari seem to have gone off the boil, though wet weather conditions could certainly make the RSRs a strong proposition on raceday. Of course the cynic in the paddock may see this as gamesmanship a month prior to the double-points season finale, but we could never suggest that was a motivation to hold back flat out pace at this time, oh no never…  Both were some 1.2 seconds off the pole time, enough said. Lets see what the race brings.

GTE-AM

The sole casualty of the session was a lurid spin at Raidillon for the #70 MR Racing Ferrari 488 GTE. Ishikawa-san was exceptionally lucky to not do considerably more damage than he did, all of which is understood to be repairable. Indeed he recovered the car under its own power to the pit garage where we suspect a man with a coal shovel and bucket was required to empty the cockpit! The car took no further part in the session.

Pole for the very first time went to TF Sport #90 Aston Martin Vantage with a last lap effort from Salih Yoluc pipping the #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR. Yoluc and team-mate Charlie Eastwood set an average time 2:16.061 just 0.110 ahead of Cairoli/Roda in the RSR. 

“It was really amazing, its the first time I have been able to do a qualifying in WEC, so to go out and get pole was great,” said Eastwood. “In terms of the lap again it was one of the best I have done in the GTE car… We have been very close to it a lot of times this year, and Salih at the end to go quickest -AM driver to give us pole overall.” 

Third in category was #56 Project 1 Porsche RSR with a time of 2:16.390. The remainder were all in the 2:17 with the exclusion of the #86 Gulf Racing RSR (2:19.225) and the aforementioned #70 MR Racing Ferrari which failed to set a time.

Nick Holland - Sportscarglobal.com

Qualifying results

FIA WEC: Rain and sunshine on day 1 at Spa-Francorchamps

Spa-Francorchamps showed a few of its many faces yesterday during both 90 minute practice sessions for the 6 Hour race on Saturday. While the first practice session around noon managed to stay dry and was run in rather sunny and enjoyable conditions, the afternoon session was just the opposite. 

Rain started to come down just before the start of the session, and never really stopped falling down.  Conditions improved a little bit just over mid session, only to get worse again by the end of the session when the rain was really pouring down. SMP Racing dominated the dry morning session, but when the rain started to fall down in the afternoon it was business as usual with both Toyota’s on top of the timesheets.

The tricky conditions in the afternoon brought out a few red flags, SMP Racing the most unlucky team when Stephane Sarrazin lost control of his BR1 in Blanchimont and went hard into the barriers.  The car was brought back to the pits with what looked like some expensive damage both at the front and the back.
 

Sergey Sirotkin was the fastest in the dry and sunny midday session yesterday, setting the pace in the #17 SMP Racing BR1 with a best time of 1.56.264.  Sirotkin was just under 2 seconds faster than sportscar debutant and home driver Stoffel Vandoorne who had a quickest laptime of 1.58.236, putting both SMP Racing cars on top of the timesheets for the first time.  Both Toyota’s followed about half a second behind the SMP’s, with Sebastien Buemi in the #8 TS050 slightly quicker than Mike Conway in the #8.

Gustavo Menezes was the fastest Rebellion driver in 1.59.106.  The Bykolles Enso CLMP1/01 ran for the first time with its new Gibson engine, but was 7 seconds off the pace, with only Oliver Webb and Tom Dillman running in the first session of the day.

© Erik Junius - http://motorsport.image-ine.net/

It’s the first time the non hybrid LMP’s are allowed to race without any fuel restrictions per lap, and Sirotkin managed a lap time which was only 0.1 seconds slower than Toyota’s fastest time in last year’s free practice sessions. Qualifying times dropped significantly last year, but the SMP pace of yesterday morning gives a nice idea about the raw speed that is inside those privateer prototypes. 

Nico Lapierre was once again the fastest man in the LMP2 class, leading the way in his #36 Signatech Alpine Matmut in 2.03.441.  Jean Eric Vergne followed close in the #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01, 0.236 seconds behind Lapierre. Giedo van der Garde was quick in the Racing Team Nederland Dallara, setting the third fastest time, 0.9 seconds off the Alpine’s pace.  Pastor Maldonado in the #31 Dragonspeed Oreca and Gabriel Aubry in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca completed the top five.

GTE Pro couldn’t be any closer between the two leading cars. Maxime Martin in the #97 Aston Martin and Harry Tincknell in the #67 Ford GT setting exactly the same time of 2.15.290; not even a thousand of a second difference between both cars. Antonio Felix Da Costa was thid quickest in the #82 BMW M8 at 0.116 seconds. The 66 Ford GT of Olivier Pla and Nicki Thiim in the first Aston Martin both followed within a second of the leading Aston and Ford. Both Ferrari’s were at the back of the LMGTE Pro pack yesterday morning, although only 1.2 and 1.4 seconds slower than both leaders.

GTE Am was a close one too, with the first six cars within 0.9 seconds from each other.  Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche lead the dance in 2.17.068, just 0.070 seconds ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari. Matt Campbell in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche, Charlie Eastwood in the TF Sport Aston Martin and Jörg Bergmeister in the Project 1 Porsche (please bring your ELMS livery to the WEC), rounded out the top 5 in class. 

Fernando Alonso was outright fastest in the afternoon session; his best time of 2.19.483 was over 1.3 seconds quicker than Mike Conway in the second Toyota TS050 Hybrid. Vitaly Petrov in the #11 SMP Racing BR1 set the third quickest time (2.21.429), followed by Neil Jani in the #1 Rebellion R13.

In LMP2 Pastor Maldonado set a dominant pace of 2.27.682 in the #31 Dragonspeed Oreca.  The former F1 driver was 1.6 seconds faster than Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #28 TDS Racing Oreca and 1.7 seconds than Gabriel Aubry in the #38 Jackie Chan. Nicolas Boulle spun in the #50 Larbre Competition at La Source mid-session, without any damage to the car. 

The Aston Martins stayed quick in the Ardennes, Marco Sorensen now quickest in the #95 AMR Vantage in 2.32.648, just 0.025 seconds ahead of Gimmi Bruni in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR. Alexander Lynn put the second Aston Martin on third place, followed by Sam Bird in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari.

Porsche stayed on top in the GTE Am class, this time with the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing 911 of Matt Campbell who put himself right inbetween the Pro drivers with a laptime of 2.34.093. Oliver Beretta in the #70 MR Racing Ferrari and Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche completed the top 3 for the afternoon session. 

Results FP1
Results FP2

Kristof Vermeulen.
Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen, Erik Junius and JellyBaby.Media

FIA WEC: 34 cars to race at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps this weekend

The FIA World Endurance championship returns to the iconic Spa-Francorchamps this weekend for the penultimate round of the 2018/2019 super season ahead of the big finale in Le Mans.  While Toyota in LMP1 and Porsche in GTE Pro are miles away from the competition in the championship, LMP2 and LMGTE Am still have all to play for.

The weather forecast for Francorchamps looks very interesting to say the least.  While we had sunny weather and warm temperatures in the past years, 2019 might be the one race with some real “Spa-weather”.  Temperatures in the Ardennes are dropping down as from Thursday on with (heavy) rain predicted, (almost) freezing temps at night and even a hint for snow on Saturday.

Toyota arrives in Spa, one of their home tracks with the factory based in Cologne, leading both the drivers and manufacturers championship with the TS050 Hybrid.  The TS050 will be equipped in the team’s new low downforce spec, which has been tested recently in a 4.000 km test at Paul Ricard. 

With 151 points after 6 races, Toyota can secure the teams championship this weekend in Spa. They have an advantage over Rebellion Racing of 53 points (98) and 80 points over SMP Racing (71). In the driver’s championship Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alsono are in the lead with 135 points; 15 points more than Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway in the #7 Toyota. Gustavo Menezes and Thomas Laurent (Rebellion #3) are in third position with 81 points, followed by Mathias Beche with 73 points and André Lotterer & Neel Jani with 63 points. 

For the first time this season, the non-hybrid LMP1 cars will have no restriction in the amount of fuel energy they are allowed to use per lap. This means they will no longer have to lift and coast on the long high speed sections at Spa and finally are allowed to race flat out. Whether this will be the case at Le Mans too is still unclear at this moment.  The Rebellion, ByKolles and Dragonspeed however did get a weight increase.  Their minimum weight now up to 824 kg instead of 818 kg.  

At Rebellion, Andre Lotterer takes his seat back in the #1 R13 after missing out the last race in Sebring due to his Formula E commitments.  Both Rebellions are expected to be racing in their new low drag body kit which has been tested in Aragon last week.  James Allen will race the #10 Dragonspeed BR1 instead of Renger Van Der Zande. Allen had a strong performance with the team at Le Castellet, winning the opening race of the ELMS 2 weeks ago with Hedman and Hanley in the Dragonspeed LMP2. (Update: The #10 Dragonspeed entry will not race this weekend at Spa.  The team have not been able to acquire  the electronics that needed fixing after their DNF at Sebring.)

© Erik Junius - http://motorsport.image-ine.net/

A big driver change in the #11 SMP Racing BR1, where Belgian driver Stoffel Vandoorne will make his sportscar debut at Spa this weekend.  Even more, it’s only the second time the former F1 driver will race a closed cockpit car in his career.  Vandoorne, who now races in the Formula E championship, will take Jenson Button’s place in Spa and at Le Mans, racing together with Vitaly Petrov and Mikhail Aleshin. 

ByKolles will race its Enso CLM P1/01 for the first time with the Gibson engine after sitting out the 1000 miles of Sebring in March. Tom Dillman and Oliver Webb return to the Austrian team, and will be joined by Italian driver Paolo Ruberti.  Ruberti will make his debut in the LMP1 class, and returns to the FIA WEC after racing with the Larbre Corvette in 2016. 

The race for the title in LMP2 seems to be the one that will go down to the wire.  With the top 3 cars only separated by 7 points, all is still to play for between Jackie Chan DC Racing and Signatech Alpine Matmut.

Jackie Chan DC Racing has both of his cars in the top 3, separated by the Signatech Alpine Matmut.  The #37 Jackie Chan Oreca 07 leads the championship after rather win in Sebring with a completely new driver line-up.  With 130 points after 6 races, the Jota run Oreca has an advantage of just 5 points over the #36 Signatec Alpine.  The second Jackie Chan Oreca (#38) follows closely with 123 points. Best of the rest is the #31 Dragonspeed, which has collected 92 points so far. 

Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Pierre Thiriet are leading the drivers championship with 125 points, 2 points more than the #38 crew of Gabriel Aubry, Ho-Pin Tung and Stéphane Richelmi. The former drivers of the #37 Oreca are still in third place but won’t race anymore, so third place in the championship is basically for Pastor Maldonado and Roberto Gonzalez in the #31 Dragonspeed with 92 points. 

G-Drive is using the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps as their annual prep for Le Mans by with the recently rebadged Aurus 01 (Oreca) for the first time in the FIA WEC.  Roman Rusinov will share the car with Job Van Uitert and Jean-Eric Vergne, the latter one missing out the ELMS Le Castellet race due to a clash with Formula E in Rome.  After winning the race in 2017 and 2018, Rusinov & co will certainly be out for a third win in a row. 

Norman Nato, who took pole position for G-Drive at Le Castellet earlier this month, will now race with TDS Racing where he will replace Loic Duval.  Duval is tied with the DTM race at Hockenheim next weekend, but will be back with the team for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

Nicholas Boulle has been added to the #50 Larbre Competition Ligier JSP217.  He will join team regulars Erwin Creed and Romano Ricci in Spa.  Boulle is no stranger to LMP2 racing as he raced at Le Mans with Jackie Chan DC Racing last year, finishing 8th in the LMP2 class with David Cheng and Pierre Nicolet.  The American driver already ha some experience in Spa after finishing third in last year’s Spa 24 hours in the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari. 

Contrary to Sebring and Spa last year, all cars in LM GTE Pro will be driven by the team’s regular WEC drivers.  In other years, Spa was the ideal race for most teams to have their Le Mans line-up in the cars.  No driver changes to be noted, but an important change in the sporting regulations. As per decision by the FIA Endurance Committee, all Pro cars must be equipped with a homologated “Fuel Flow Meter”, starting at the Le Mans test day.  A decision that has been made with unanimous agreement of all LMGTE Pro manufacturers and the approval of the Endurance Commission.  So far the Fuel flow meter will only be used to collect data and won’t have any effect on the regulations or a restriction of the fuel flow as in LMP1.

After 6 of the 8 races in the Super Season, Porsche has built up a massive lead in the championship over the other manufacturers.  With a total of 227 points, Porsche leads Ferrari with 110 points.  A lead that big so the team from Stuttgart might be able to clinch the title even before the last race at Le Mans.  The battle for second place will be very intense though with just 2 points between Ferrari (127) and Ford (125).  Aston Martin isn’t far behind with 102 points so far, followed by BMW who have scored 87 points over the first six races of the season. 

Porsche also dominates the drivers championship, with Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen leading with 125 points.  Sebring winners Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz are in second place, with a total of 100 points.  Third place is for Ferrari drivers Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado with 80,5 points, followed by Ford drivers Olivier Pla and Stefan Mücke with 69 points so far.

Team Project 1 leads the GTE Am championship with a total of 103 points after 6 races.  Egidio Perfetti, Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Lindsey have an advantage of 25 points over the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Giancarlo Fisichella who have a total of 78 points so far.  9 points further down is the #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda with 69 points, with the #90 TF Sport Aston Martin right in their tail with 68 points. If Project 1 manages to win this race in Spa, they might take a big step to the WEC title in their first season in the championship. 

Two notable driver changes in the Am class, in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche and the #90 TF Sport Aston Martin.  Julien Andlauer won’t be able to make it to Spa due to his commitments in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland in Hockenheim.  He will be replaced in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR by Ricardo Pera who joins team owner Christian Ried and Matt Campbell .  Pera who races with Ebimotors in the European Le Mans Series already drove the #88 sister car during the 6 hours of Shanghai with Matteo Cairoli and Khaled Al Qubaisi.

Euan Hankey makes his return to the #90 Aston Martin Vantage of TF Sport alongside Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood. Since Silverstone last year, Jonny Adam raced the blue Vantage, but will now be replaced by Hanley who returns to the team for the first time since Le Mans 2018.

Track action in Belgium starts on Thursday with the first two 90-minute practice sessions.  Race start is scheduled for Saturday, March 3rd at 13h30.  If you’re heading to the track, bring your snowboots and winter jackets, they might come in handy this year. 

Timetable 

Entry list 

Event map

Kristof Vermeulen.
Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen, Erik Junius & Jellybaby.Media

FIAWEC: Stoffel Vandoorne to race with SMP Racing at Spa and Le Mans

SMP Racing has announced Stoffel Vandoorne as their third driver in the #11 BR1 prototype for the upcoming 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

Stoffel Vandoorne will replace Brendon Hartley, who was initially announced for Spa, and Jenson Button, who was believed to be back in the BR1 at Le Mans.  He will join Mikhail Aleshin and Vitalky Petrov in the #11 BR1.  Rumours are going round about Hartley getting a drive at Toyota next year if Alonso leaves the team, at Le Mans he is already tied to RLR Msport in the LMP2 class.  Hartley agreed to give way to Vandoorne in order to let him and the team be better prepared for the 24 hours race in June.   

The talented Belgian driver won the GP2 title in 2015 before racing with McLaren in Formula for 2 seasons from 2017 to 2018 besides Fernando Alonso. Vandoorne now races in the Formula E championship with HWA Racelab and is one of the simulator drivers for the Mercedes FA team, scoring his and the teams' first pole position in the series in Hong Kong and his first podium in Rome last weekend.

Stoffel Vandoorne said: “I am very pleased to join SMP Racing and drive the BR1 №11 prototype in my home race in Spa-Francorchamps and in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. The LMP1 cars are really demanding and their performances are very close to Formula 1. I will have the opportunity to re-join ART Grand Prix and a lot of people that I’ve been working with during my succesful campaign in GP2. Also, it´s great to work alongside such experienced drivers as Vitaly Petrov and Mikhail Aleshin. My objective is to contribute to the Team’s performance and work in collaboration with all drivers to develop the BR1 prototype and to make a good impression.”

SMP Racing driver Vitaly Petrov said: “I understand the decision of Jenson and I wish him and his family all the best. Our SMP Racing Team now needs a driver who will be able to successfully drive in the final two rounds of the FIA WEC and I'm happy that Stoffel has joined us. The race in Spa-Francorchamps will help him to get used to the championship and to prepare for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I hope he will adapt quickly and we will support him along the way”

SMP Racing driver Mikhail Aleshin also commented: “I welcome Stoffel to our team. He is a professional of the highest class and has a good experience, including in Formula 1, where he drove for the McLaren Team. It is great that Stoffel will spend with us several races. We thank Brendon who helped our team to finish on the podium at Sebring. Brendon drove perfectly and his input into the work on the BR1 was very valuable”

There are more changes due in the entry list for the upcoming 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.  More about that in an upcoming article next week. 

Kristof Vermeulen. 

FIA WEC: Spa-Francorchamps pre-race updates

#7 Toyota lost pole position 

The #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing lost its pole position yesterday afternoon due to an incorrect identification number for the car's fuel flow meter.  The decision saw the cancellation of all lap times in the qualifying session, ensuring that the car will start from the pit lane only after the last car in the field has covered the first lap and following directions from the Race Director.  Toyota declared "they accept full responsibility for the error, which had no impact whatsoever on car performance. The fuel flow meter which was used in the #7 was fully homologated and calibrated."

This means that the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Fernando Alonso, Kazyuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi will start from pole position. The #1 Rebellion R13 of Neel Jani, Andre Lotterer and Bruno Senna now joins the Toyota on the front row of the grid. 

#86 Gulf Racing Porsche to the back of the grid

The #86 Gulf Racing Porsche has been set back to the grid due to a pitlane infringement during qualifying. Michael Wainwright exceeded the pitlane speed limit and saw all his qualifying times cancelled.

Both Ginetta's withdrawn from the race

Yesterday evening, Ginetta released the following statement confirming that both G60-LT-P1 cars will not start for the opening round of the FIA WEC Super season at Spa-Francorchamps:

It is with great disappointment that we have to announce that Ginetta will no be releasing the two LMP1 cars that successfully ran at the FIA WEC Prologue at Paul Ricard earlier this month.

Unfortunately, funds promised have not arrived from TRS (China) to CEFC TRSM Racing (UK).

The required funds for Ginetta were due some time ago and whilst we understand that TRS (China) has been working with its sponsors to sort the issues, without payment, Ginetta cannot allow the cars to race.  Ginetta remains committed to working with CEFC TRSM Racing (UK) on this programme.

We are aware that CEFC TRSM Racing has visited TRS many times in China and can also confirm that TRS have visited Ginetta three times recently, the last time to attend a Royal visit. We have been informed by TRS that the current situation is a short-term cash flow problem and that the main funds are in place for payment before Le Mans.

Chairman of Ginetta, Lawrence Tomlinson said:“We’ve got to a situation where a UK-based team with excellent ability, kit and personnel, plus a pair of the latest LMP1 cars with confirmed and fully paid up entries for the 2018/19 FIA WEC (including two entries at Le Mans in both 2018 & 2019) are unable to race simply due to funds not flowing."

Rumours about financial woes have been going round the paddock all weekend, both Ginetta's only completing an installation lap at the practice sessions and staying in the garages during qualifying.  Apparently Manor's main sponsor CEFC China has been under investigation by the Chinese government concerning financial fraude.  How this will affect Ginetta's further involvement in the World Endurance Championship and the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans is still uncertain.  

Dragonspeed's tub damaged after Fittipaldi's shunt

The Dragonspeed BR1/Gibson in which Pietro Fittipaldi had a big shunt on the Raidillon has - as expected - been withdrawn from the race.  The car suffered from substantial damage on its tub.  

The FIA has published a new bulletin this morning stating Fittipaldi is well and his condition is stable.  He was operated on last nights for fractures to both his legs, and the operation went well. He remains under observation at the hospital.  The left leg, which suffered a complex fracture, has been satisfactorily operated upon. Pietro was completely conscious on exiting the Operating Suite and was able to describe what happened to him.  At 10.30h today he left intensive care.  His father was with him throughout the night.  

Busy pit walk and autograph session

Glorious sunshine this morning at Spa-Francorchamps and a good coming into the track for the opening race of the FIA WEC Super season.  The traditional pitwalk and autograph session was really packed, especially at the Toyota Gazoo Racing pitboxes where Fernando Alonso had his first taste of the fan-friendly and open atmosphere of the WEC paddock. 

The green flag for the 6 hours of Spa-Francorchamps will be waived at 13.30h local time here Belgium. 

6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps start grid

Text: Kristof Vermeulen

Pictures: JellyBaby.Media

FIA WEC: Toyota on pole in Spa, big crash for Fittipaldi on the Raidillon

Free Practice 3

It was under a cloudless sky and with perfect conditions the cars of the FIA WEC lined up at pit exit this morning for the third and final free practice session. It would be wrong to read too much into FP times, but Neel Jani in Rebellion #1 immediately shot to the top of the timing screen with his first flying lap of 1:57.617 then improved to 1:57.120 which remained the fastest time of the 60 minute session.

In GTE Pro, Blomqvist clearly missed the memo and put the BMW #82 to the top of class times 10 minutes into the session with a lap of 2:14.225. At 11:18am Sarrazin put the SMP Racing BR #17 3rd fastest overall with a time of 1:58.398. Meanwhile Pastor Maldonado in the Dragonspeed Oreca #31 topped the LMP2 times early on with a lap of 2:02.281.

Euen Alers-Hankey was the early leader of GTE Am times in the TF Sport Aston Martin with his lap of 2:15.778, but it was not long before Campbell in the #77 Proton Porsche snatched the quickest Am honours with 2:15.410.

At the half hour point, Rebellion had the top two times overall, thanks to a lap of 1:58.124 in the #3 car (2nd fastest). Bruno Senna had a minor oops in the #1 Rebellion with a harmless spin-and-continue around 11:36am. With 20 minutes remaining, Mike Conway in the #7 Toyota finally displaced the #3 Rebellion from 2nd fastest with a time of 1:15.939.

At the chequered flag of FP3:

In LMP1: it was the #1 Rebellion with the quickest time followed by the #7 Toyota Hybrid and the #3 Rebellion .

In LMP2: quickest was #31 DragonSpeed Oreca, 2nd #26 G-Drive Oreca and 3rd #38 DC Racing Oreca.

In GTE Pro: 1st #67 Ford GT, 2nd #82 BMW M8, 3rd #66 Ford GT

In GTE Am: 1st #77 Proton Porsche, 2nd #88 Proton Porsche, 3rd #90  TF Sport Aston Martin. 

FP3 results

GTE Qualifying

Andy Priaulx set an early time of 2:12.936 in the #67 Ford GT then Pla set a time of 2:12.420 the #66 Ford. In GTE Am it was Cairoli in Porsche #88 first to the top of the class times with a lap of 2:14.766 but Wainwright displaced him in the #86 with a time of 2:15.332. We then had a bewildering number of lap time deletions due to track limits abuse. Cars #86 #90 #91 #54 #98 (and possibly others) had laps deleted for track limit violations.

While we were trying to make sense of the situation the chequered flag came out. In GTE Pro the #67 Ford GT was fastest from #66 Ford with #91 Porsche in 3rd.  In GTE Am it was #77 Porsche fastest from #98 Aston Martin with #56 Porsche in 3rd. Update: The #86 lap times of Wainwright were deleted as a result of pit lane speeding.

LMP Qualifying

The LMP qualifying session was interrupted by two red flags. With only one flying lap time set (1:56.756 for Thomas Laurent in the Rebellion #3) the first red flag came out to retrieve the #17 SMP Racing BR (Sarrazin) stranded on the circuit with a hydraulic/electronic problem. After the restart Conway set a time of 1:54.679 in Toyota #7 just before Fittipaldi in Dragonspeed #10 speared into the tyres on the outside of the exit of Eau Rouge, bringing out a second red flag. DuringThe injured Fittipaldi was immediately treated and taken to the hospital by helicopter and barriers needed to be repaired before the session went on with 16 minutes on the clock.

At the restart it was a battle between the two Toyotas but ultimately it was an average time of 1:54.583 for Toyota #7 by Conway and Kobayashi that denied pole position to the #8 Toyota. Third on the grid will be the #1 Rebellion Racing R13 of Jani, Lotterer and Senna.

Update - 20:23 Friday 4th May - Toyota #7 penalised for technicality.

The pole position for Toyota #7 was denied after stewards determined that Toyota Gazoo Racing had made an incorrect declaration of the fuel flow meter. The offence under Art 6.1.4 of sporting regulations has brought Toyota a cancellation of lap times for the car, and it will start from the pit lane exit. The official stewards notice states: "Will start the race from the Pit lane and shall not join the race until the last car in the field has covered his first lap, and following Race Director instruction". This of course promotes the #8 car to pole position and Rebellion #1 to the front row of the grid. 

In LMP2 it was the 2:02.405 2 lap average by Nicolas Lapierre and Pierre Thirlet in #36 Signatech Alpine that claimed the class pole from #26 G-Drive Oreca and #38 JCDC Racing Oreca.  After the chequered flag there appeared to be an undignified minor contact between Gonzalez in #31 Dragonspeed and Ricci in #50 Ligier at final turn before pit entry, no damage evident.

The FIA distributed an official bulletin about the accident of Pietro Fittipaldi, about an hour after the qualifying sessions:

At 15:52 today, Friday 4 March 2018, the No 10 Dragonspeed BR Engineering BR1 left the track at high speed at Raidillon, Circuit de Spa Francorchamps. The incident occurred during the LMP qualifying session for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. 

The car was being driven by Pietro Fittipaldi of Brazil. 

The driver, who was conscious at all times, was attended immediately by the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Medical services and FIA Medical degelate Jacques Tropenat, extracted from the car and taken by helicopter to the Centre Hospitalier de la Citadelle de Liège with suspected fractures to both legs.  He is accompagnied by the Dragonspeed Team Manager and his condition is not life-threathening.

As soon as more information is available it will be communicated. 

Whether the team will be able to repair the car in time and race tomorrow is also unclear at the moment.

Qualifying GTE results
Qualifying LMP results

Text: Dave Davies/Kristof Vermeulen
Pictures: JellyBaby.Media

FIA WEC: Toyota sets the pace in Spa-Francorchamps

Fernando Alonso set the fastest time in the first free practice session at Spa-Francorchamps this afternoon.  The Spaniard went round the Ardennes in 1.58.392, 0.099 seconds faster than his co-driver Sebastian Buemi.  The #7 Toyota of Mike Conway was the second fastest LMP1, 0.237 seconds behind Alonso. 

Behind the Toyota’s, Thomas Laurent in the #3 Rebellion Racing R13 set the quickest time in the non-hybrid LMP1’s, 0.457 seconds behind Alonso.  An encouraging result, as the gap between Toyota and the other LMP1’s was feared to be much bigger (although it’s still too early to know how hard everyone haas been pushing).

Ben Hanley in the Gibson powered #10 Dragonspeed was the fastest of the BR1’s, setting a 1.59.321 as fastest time, still within a second of Alonso.  Closing out the top 5 was Bruno Senna in the #1 Rebellion R13. Egor Orudhzev was the quickest SMP driver on seventh place. CEFC TRSM Racing had a disappointing first session at Spa, none of the cars completing a lap around the track, sitting out the whole session in their box.  

As in Le Castellet, Pastor Maldonado immediately showed his pace in the LMP2 class, setting the fastest time in his #31 Dragonspeed Oreca 07 with a 2.03.494.  Andre Negrao in the #36 Signatech Alpine was second quickest, 0.640 slower than Maldonado. Jean Eric Vergne in the #36 G-Drive was third fastest ahead of both Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca’s.  

Ford dominated the GTE Pro class in the first session, with And Priaulx on top of the timetable in the #67 Ford GT, his fastest laptime 2.15.014.  Oliver Place in the #66 sister car followed in second place, 0.259 seconds behind.  Both Porsches took third and fourth place, but were over half a second off the pace of the Fords.  In its first official practice session in the FIA WEC Superseason, the BMW’s ended up sixth (#82) and eight (#81), just over 1.5 seconds behind Priaulx.  The new Aston Martin Vantage AMR’s closed the standings in the Pro Class. 

As expected, the quickest of the LMGTE Am cars mingled themselves inbetween the Pro cars.   Matteo Cairoli especially in the #88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche was hitting one after another fastest lap, ultimately setting a 2.16.601 which would have put him on seventh place in the Pro class.  Second fastest Am driver was Benjamin Barker in the Gulf coloured #86 Porsche, just under a second behind Cairoli.  Another Porsche on third and fourth place with Matt Campbell in the #77 Dempsey-Proton 911 and Jörg Bergmeister in the #56 Team Project 1.  Best of the rest was Pedro Lamy in the “good old” Aston Vantage V8 who clocked the fifth fastest time.

The second practice session saw Toyota scoring a 1-2 again.  After 90 minutes of on track action, which was interrupted by a full course yellow and 2 red flags, it was the #7 Toyota of Mike Conway who went fastest in 1.56.172. Kazuki Nakajima set the quickest time in the #8 TS050 Hybrid, 0.643 seconds behind Conway. Pietro Fittipaldi - who replaces Renger van der Zande - in the #10 Dragonspeed BR1 was third fastest in 1.58.835, giving in 0.924 seconds to the #7 Toyota.  Both Rebellion R13’s completed the top 5, Thomas Laurent quickest again in the #3, ahead of Neel Jani in the #1.  Both CEFC Ginetta’s only completed an installation lap in the final session, with rumours going through the paddock about funding issues with their title sponsor. 

Pastor Maldonado went quickest again in the LMP2 class, improving his time from the first session with over half a second to 2.02.991. The #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca of Nabil Jeffri moved up to second in 2.03.306.  Roman Rusinov in the #26 G-Drive set the third fastest time with Andrea Pizzitola behind him in fourth, and the quickest non-Oreca car in the #50 Larbre Competition Ligier.  Andre Negrao was quickest again in the #36 Alpina and set the fifth fastest time of the second session in 2.04.134. 

Ford stayed on top of the LMGTE Pro class, this time with the #66 of Stefan Mücke (2.13.733).  Gimmi Bruni in the #91 Porsche 911 squeezed himself inbetween both Ford GT’s, just under half a second behind Mücke and half a second faster than Harry Tincknell in the #67 Ford.  Kevin Estre in the #92 Porsche was fourth fastest with the two AF Corse Ferrari’s behind him. 

The top 3 places in the LMGTE Am class were all Porsche again.  Ben Barker outpaced both Dempsey-Proton Porsches with a laptime of 2.16.113, leaving Matt Campbell (#77) and Matteo Cairoli (#88) behind. Pedro Lamy was fast again in the #98 Aston Martin in fourth place, closely followed by Giancarlo Fisichella in the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari. 

The third free practice session is set to be run today at 11.00h .  Qualifying will take place this afternoon, starting at 15.00h for the GTE cars and 15.35h for the LMP’s.

Results Free Practice 1
Results Free Practice 2


Kristof Vermeulen
Pictures: © JellyBaby.Media