A thrilling finale to the 6 Hours of Spa saw Toyota claim its first 1-2 finish since the 6 Hours of Shanghai in 2014.
Sébastien Buemi held off Kamui Kobayashi in the final stage amid light rain on the legendary 7 km Spa-Francorchamps circuit to win by just 1.992s. It was the second consecutive victory for the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 HYBRID of Buemi and his teammates Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima.
Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi, driving as a duo after teammate José María López was ruled out through a back injury, looked to have been in prime position to take the win but were unfortunate to lose out in both of the Full Course Yellow periods.
Porsche LMP Team took third place with the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid team of Brendon Hartley, Earl Bamber and Timo Bernhard, while the sister #1 crew of Neel Jani, André Lotterer and Nick Tandy took fourth position.
In LMP2 Alex Lynn, Roman Rusinov and Pierre Thiriet claimed victory from the #31 Vaillante Rebellion trio of Bruno Senna, Nicolas Prost and Julien Canal. It looked like it would be a close finish between the two but a final hour issue for the Vaillante Rebellion ensured that G-Drive took maximum points from the weekend.
The LMGTE Pro class saw a 1-2 finish for the AF Corse Ferrari team after a thrilling battle throughout the six hour race.
Early in the race a sensational fight between the #71 Sam Bird and Davide Rigon 488 GTE challenger and the #51 car of Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado entertained fans as the cars touch several times fighting for position.
Eventually Bird broke free in the final stint of the race to take his and Rigon’s second win in as many years at the Belgian track.
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing placed third and fourth with Olivier Pla, Stefan Mucke and Billy Johnson in the #66 Ford GT leading the sister #67 car.
Andy Priaulx, Harry Tincknell and Pipo Derani fought back from fuel related issues to retain their GT FIA World Endurance Drivers Championship points lead.
It was a disappointing day for Porsche GT Team and Aston Martin Racing as they had to make do with lower points scoring positions.
LMGTE Am saw the #98 Aston Martin Racing take the win with Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda. They celebrated a hat-trick of wins at Spa, adding their 2017 success to victories in ’15 and ’16.
The Aston trio overcame an early penalty for a grid procedure infraction to fight back and take the win by 30-seconds and take over the lead in the LMGTE Am class standings.
The Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSR finished in second place after a race long hunt of the Aston by Marvin Dienst, Christian Ried and Matteo Cairoli.
Clearwater Racing’s Matt Griffin, Keita Sawa and Weng Sun Mok took third at to secure second place in the points standings.
The next round of the FIA World Endurance Championship will be the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 17/18 June.
Race results
1 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing BUEMI / DAVIDSON / NAKAJIMA Toyota TS050 – Hybrid LMP1 H M
173 6:00:11.490 7 3 1:58.039 213.6
2 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing CONWAY / KOBAYASHI Toyota TS050 – Hybrid LMP1 H M
173 6:00:13.482 1.992 1.992 7 98 1:57.722 214.2
3 2 Porsche LMP Team BERNHARD / BAMBER / HARTLEY Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 H M
173 6:00:46.773 35.283 33.291 8 122 1:57.638 214.3
4 1 Porsche LMP Team JANI / LOTTERER / TANDY Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 H M 173 6:01:36.9281:25.438 50.155 7 121 1:58.046 213.6
5 9 Toyota Gazoo Racing SARRAZIN / KUNIMOTO / LAPIERRE Toyota TS050 – Hybrid LMP1 H M
171 6:00:34.406 2 Laps 2 Laps 7 2 1:58.020 213.6
6 4 Bykolles Racing Team WEBB / KRAIHAMER / ROSSITER Enso CLM P1/01 – Nismo LMP1 M
161 6:02:00.467 12 Laps 10 Laps 7 2 2:05.801 200.4
7 26 G-Drive Racing RUSINOV / THIRIET / LYNN Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 D
160 6:00:20.772 13 Laps 1 Laps 8 3 2:06.073 200.0
8 31 Vaillante Rebellion CANAL / PROST / SENNA Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 D
160 6:01:14.053 13 Laps 53.281 8 81 2:06.869 198.7
9 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing TUNG / JARVIS / LAURENT Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 D
160 6:01:35.040 13 Laps 20.987 8 108 2:06.458 199.4
10 13 Vaillante Rebellion BECHE / HEINEMEIER HANSSON / PIQUET JR Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 D
159 6:00:18.787 14 Laps 1 Laps 9 69 2:05.950 200.2
11 36 Signatech Alpine Matmut DUMAS / MENEZES / RAO Alpine A470 – Gibson LMP2 D
159 6:01:07.690 14 Laps 48.903 9 3 2:06.447 199.4
12 35 Signatech Alpine Matmut RAGUES / NEGRÃO / PANCIATICI Alpine A470 – Gibson LMP2 D
158 6:00:56.527 15 Laps 1 Laps 9 117 2:06.094 200.0
13 24 CEFC Manor TRS Racing GRAVES / HIRSCHI / VERGNE Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 D
158 6:01:01.863 15 Laps 5.336 9 3 2:06.286 199.7
14 25 CEFC Manor TRS Racing GONZALEZ / TRUMMER / PETROV Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 D
158 6:01:06.462 15 Laps 4.599 8 3 2:07.996 197.0
15 28 TDS Racing PERRODO / HANLEY / COLLARD Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 D 158 6:02:07.159 15 Laps1:00.697 9 125 2:06.295 199.6
16 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing CHENG / BRUNDLE / GOMMENDY Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 D
156 6:01:53.613 17 Laps 2 Laps 9 113 2:06.481 199.4
17 71 AF Corse RIGON / BIRD Ferrari 488 GTE LMGTE Pro M
151 6:02:19.002 22 Laps 5 Laps 5 4 2:17.370 183.5
18 51 AF Corse CALADO / PIER GUIDI Ferrari 488 GTE LMGTE Pro M
150 6:00:44.349 23 Laps 1 Laps 5 3 2:17.503 183.4
19 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK MÜCKE / PLA / JOHNSON Ford GT LMGTE Pro M
150 6:01:14.870 23 Laps 30.521 5 3 2:17.447 183.4
20 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK PRIAULX / TINCKNELL / DERANI Ford GT LMGTE Pro M
150 6:01:56.833 23 Laps 41.963 5 3 2:17.555 183.3
21 91 Porsche GT Team LIETZ / MAKOWIECKI Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE Pro M 149 6:00:36.503 24 Laps 1 Laps 5 3 2:17.989 182.7
22 92 Porsche GT Team CHRISTENSEN / ESTRE Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE Pro M 149 6:01:28.596 24 Laps 52.093 5 3 2:17.045 184.0
23 97 Aston Martin Racing TURNER / ADAM / SERRA Aston Martin VANTAGE LMGTE Pro D
148 6:00:47.244 25 Laps 1 Laps 5 104 2:19.135 181.2
24 95 Aston Martin Racing THIIM / SØRENSEN / STANAWAY Aston Martin VANTAGE LMGTE Pro D
148 6:01:31.505 25 Laps 44.261 5 2 2:18.411 182.2
25 98 Aston Martin Racing DALLA LANA / LAMY / LAUDA Aston Martin V8 Vantage LMGTE Am D
146 6:01:23.995 27 Laps 2 Laps 5 4 2:19.413 180.9
26 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing RIED / CAIROLI / DIENST Porsche 911 RSR (991) LMGTE Am D
146 6:01:55.105 27 Laps 31.110 5 126 2:19.074 181.3
27 61 Clearwater Racing MOK / SAWA / GRIFFIN Ferrari 488 GTE LMGTE Am M 145 6:00:49.337 28 Laps 1 Laps 5 125 2:19.390 180.9
28 54 Spirit of Race FLOHR / CASTELLACCI / MOLINA Ferrari 488 GTE LMGTE Am M
144 6:00:21.977 29 Laps 1 Laps 5 131 2:19.632 180.6
Not classified
34 Tockwith Motorsports MOORE / HANSON / CHANDHOK Ligier JSP217 – Gibson LMP2 D
151 5:50:48.333 12 3 2:08.354 196.4
86 Gulf Racing UK WAINWRIGHT / BARKER / FOSTER Porsche 911 RSR (991) LMGTE Am D
76 3:09:43.548 4 26 2:20.479 179.5 2 By Melissa Warren
