WEC: Toyota double win at Spa

The Toyota factory team took the winning double at the classic Belgian circuit of Spa, finishing first and second in the third round of the WEC season.

The 6 Hours of Spa race took place in difficult conditions with mixed weather on a track that dried up after rain and was full of incidents. At the same time, it was she who gathered the largest audience in 2023: more than 70 thousand spectators watched her from the stands of the autodrome and the surrounding hills.

The #7 Toyota crew of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and José-Maria Lopez won, but not because he started the race from pole. Bold tactics were the key to success, as the trio decided to take a chance and start on slicks, even though the road surface was still wet from the rain. Many other racers, including Ferrari hypercar drivers, chose to be more careful and started on rain tyres.

On the first lap of the race, Conway fell back to 7th position, but the rain didn’t let up and the safety car soon left the track, so the rivals, including both Ferrari hypercars, pitted to change tyres, which was associated with severe time loss.

Crew No. 7 took the lead, after which only teammates, driving the exact same Toyota sports prototype, could overtake them, although they started last after a failed qualifying, but eventually finished second 16 seconds behind the leaders.

“It was a crazy race with the safety cars coming out from time to time, eroding our lead,” said Conway after the finish. “But all my teammates confidently rode their segments of the distance and the team achieved an excellent result.”

Also on the podium was the crew of the #51 Ferrari, thanks to James Calado overtaking the Porsche #5 hypercar on the outer turning circle of Les Combes on the final lap of the 6-hour race. Third place at Spa could be seen as something of a consolation prize for the Ferrari factory team: the speed of the 499P meant victory, but poor tactics and a late race crash by crew #50 prevented that.

In the LMP2 class, where the competition is fiercest, as everyone drives the same Oreca sports prototypes with Gibson engines, the battle for podium places also continued until the very last laps. As a result, the crew of the Belgian WRT team consisting of Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Rue Andrade won. A shorter final pit stop put them ahead of United Autosports rivals, taking the lead in their category and holding onto this position until the finish.

It is also worth noting that in the GTE Am class victory was taken by the AF Corse No. 83 crew, including Alessio Rovera, Luis Perez Kompank and 22-year-old Frenchwoman Lilu Vadou, who became the first woman to win the WEC , albeit in a separate category.