After last month’s dramas during and after the race at Silverstone, England, the FIA World Endurance Championship heads to the famed Spa-Francochamps circuit in Belgium for the penultimate race prior to next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. While Team Porsche earned the victory thanks to a post technical inspection infraction found on the on track winning Audi Sport Team Joest R18 coupe, the early favorite for the Grand Prix of Endurance in France could very well be determined in the six hours of action to come on a circuit of permanent layout plus public roads, perhaps the closest to what the teams and drivers will face in June.
Of course, not everything will be based on technical prowess and rulings. An overaggressive move by Porsche driver Brendon Hartley led to a major crash near the midway point at Silverstone that denied the primary car an overall win and as a result Audi’s set of drivers were able to outclass the remaining Porsche’s driving trio. While the German marques appear to be on par with each other, with possibly a minor nod toward Porsche’s 919 Hybrids at this point, Toyota Gazoo Racing continues to languish a little bit behind the leaders in LMP1. Despite debuting a brand new challenger, the TS050 Hybrid at Silverstone featuring a new hybrid power system, the Japanese manufacturer appears stuck behind the two rabbits. If the lack of pace continues at Spa, it could prove detrimental for Toyota at Le Mans, a circuit known for very long Mulsanne straightaways.
While the battle rages on in LMP1, the action in the lower LMP2 division is also potent. Silverstone notably saw two North American based camps emerge as the early top runners. In their FIA WEC debut, Mexican Ricardo Gonzalez’s Ligier coupe based team took the victory over a greatly improved Extreme Speed Motorsports team, also utilizing a Ligier with Nissan power. With the rules limiting teams to only two full blown professional pilots, the focus in the battle to come in Belgium is on Gonzalez’s teammates in former Team Joest driver Filipe Albuquerque and former Formula One driver Bruno Senna, versus ESM’s exciting new prospect Pipo Derani and longtime IMSA veteran Ryan Dalziel. Albuquerque showed his speed in the late stages of the Six Hours of Silverstone to secure the race win for RGR last month, while Derani was impressively quick in the early stages and at the finish, similar to his overall race winning drives for ESM at both the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year.
However, there are others in the LMP2 mix, with G-Drive Racing having two potent entries. Another former Audi Team Joest driver Rene Rast leads the ORECA coupe entry that placed just behind the fight between RGR and ESM at Silverstone, while the second team features an open top Gibson 015S prototype that is fresh off a dominating win in the European Le Mans Series opener, held a day before the FIA WEC opener also at Silverstone.
The battle in the grand touring Pro and Amateur categories is also worth following. AF Corse leads the Ferrari camp with two car lineups in both divisions. The emergence of British based driver Sam Bird at Silverstone will be worth following this weekend in Belgium. In addition to AF Corse, the attention is also affixed on Prodrive’s Aston Martin Racing team likewise. Prodrive also features two-car entries in both divisions, with perhaps a more threatening challenge coming in the Amateur class, a division where they came within an hour of winning last year at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Amateur class trio of Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda, and Pedro Lamy could even rival some of the lineups in the Pro category. Minus the IMSA GT Le Mans teams who will prepare to cross the Atlantic later this month to begin Le Mans preparations, AF Corse and AMR provide the best chances for FIA WEC-based machinery to win the Grand Prix of Endurance next month.
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