TOYOTA MAKES HARD WORK OF ITS MAIDEN HYPERCAR WIN AT SPA
Toyota took victory in the first race of the World Endurance Championship’s new Hypercar era at Spa in Belgium last weekend, although it faced a tough battle to claim the honours from the only other contender in the division.
The two new GR010 Hybrids locked out the front row, but an error by Kamui Kobayashi meant the car he shared with Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway was delayed. That handed the initiative to the sister machine of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima, which itself had to battle to overcome a penalty for a pitstop infraction.
They nevertheless finished over a minute clear of the Alpine A480Gibson of Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negro and Matthieu Vaxiviere.
Filipe Albuquerque, Phil
Hanson and Fabio Scherer crewed the LMP2-winning United Autosports Oreca while French star Kevin Estre and Neel Jani shared GTE Pro spoils for Porsche. In the GTE Am division, the AF Corse Ferrari line-up of Nicklas Nielsen, Francois Perrodo and Alessio Rovera prevailed.
The event had been held amid controversy over the pace of the LMP2 cars, which pushed the top division machines hard and Toyota has called for a rethink on the pace of the various classes.
l Briton Oliver Gavin, who finished fourth in the GTE Pro division for Corvette Racing in the C8.R machine at Spa alongside Antonio Garcia, has announced his immediate retirement from driving.