Spa Post-Race Notebook

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI

***Ferrari’s victory in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps was its sixth overall in the FIA World Endurance Championship, with the Italian manufacturer earning its second ever 1-2 finish following the Qatar season opener. Victory for AF Corse in LMGT3 also means Ferrari swept both classes for the first time.

***James Calado earned his 15th WEC triumph across all classes, while Alessandro Pier Guidi earned his 14th and Antonio Giovinazzi his third, as the trio became the first back-to-back overall winners since Toyota trio Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez, who scored consecutive wins at Monza and Fuji in 2023.

***Calado, Pier Guidi and Giovinazzi now sit 18 points ahead of their Ferrari colleagues Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina in the drivers’ standings, with AF Corse Ferrari trio Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye still third, 36 points down, despite failing to score at Spa following an engine problem that necessitated a turbo change.

***In the manufacturers’ standings, Ferrari holds a mammoth 65-point lead over second-placed Toyota, while BMW is third, a further seven points behind.

***Ferrari’s race and test team manager Giuliano Salvi described the 499P’s margin over its competitors in qualifying as a “joke” but said he expected a closer race based on the evidence of Free Practice. “We saw in FP2 that the likes of Cadillac, Alpine and BMW were extremely strong, and it happened like that,” Salvi told reporters. “For sure Alpine was extremely quick, and the others had some problems.”

***Salvi added that the strategies of the No. 51 and No. 50 Ferrari crews were chosen by the respective crews themselves, as Pier Guidi built up a big lead ahead of a final splash and Nielsen opted for an aggressive fuel save to avoid making the additional pit stop. “There was not a clear optimal, so it was an easy job on my side, because the two crews went in the opposite direction,” he said. “So you don’t need to toss a coin!”

***On why the No. 50 crew opted to change drivers at the final stop, with Fuoco handing over to Nielsen, Salvi said it was down to the Danish driver’s fuel-saving ability that helped the team secure victory in last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. But he said Nielsen’s 27-lap stint, two laps more than normal, was “not the best solution in hindsight.”

***He added that the No. 50 car was “probably” the quicker overall of the two works Ferraris, “but on a sub-optimal strategy, so that’s why they finished behind.”

***Sebastien Buemi was visibly delighted with finishing fourth in the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid he shared with Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, up from a lowly 15th on the grid. “We were the sixth or seventh-fastest manufacturer, which means we should be between P12 and P14, so to finish P4, it feels like a win to be honest,” said the Swiss driver. “If you look at the lap times the [No. 51] Ferrari did at the end, my best lap was a second-and-a-half off. I am proud of what we achieved.”

***Buemi told Sportscar365 ahead of the race that he has not yet made a decision on whether he will prioritize the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo or the clashing Berlin Formula E round. The Swiss driver came to Spa having just scored a victory in the Monaco round of the all-electric series. “We’ll do Le Mans and then we will see,” he said.

***Team WRT boss Vincent Vosse indicated that the two drivethrough penalties that the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 received for speeding first in the pit lane and then under Full Course Yellow were connected, saying: “I think there was a bad manipulation with the pit limiter and [it] released the virtual safety car [limiter]. I think it was something which was done during the driver change and this gives us the issue and the penalty.”

***Notably, the two BMWs were the only cars in the field to make consistent use of Michelin’s Soft compound of tires at Spa. “It was a decision due to our analysis and tests and everything. I think it was not a bad decision,” said Vosse.

***Stewards gave the No. 15 BMW a reprimand for a pit lane infringement that was similar to the swap that Ferrari carried out under safety car during the race. A bulletin issued outlined that the car, with Kevin Magnussen at the wheel, stopped in front of the scrutineering garage for a few seconds before rejoining, with stewards concluding from their investigation that the manoeuvre was intended to allow the No. 20 sister car to perform its pit stop without the No. 15 machine in its working area in front of it.

***Magnussen had a scare earlier in the race when he took to the grass on the Kemmel Straight to avoid LMGT3 traffic, joking afterwards: “There’s not a lot of grip out there.”

***He added: “I just got on the wrong side of two GT cars and got on the grass but I didn’t lose anything. I had to commit. The two GTs went side by side just as I was passing around them and then i ran out of space. I had to get off the throttle and try and get back on the tarmac again, but I didn’t lose any positions.”

***The sister No. 20 BMW, meanwhile, was retired towards the end of the race with a brake issue, with BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos telling Sportscar365 that the decision to stop was made out of safety concerns.

***Roos told Sportscar365: “Robin [Frijns] said that the brake pedal got longer and as we couldn’t directly see any issue, we said we would stop the car for safety reasons. Because anyway we dropped back already, also due to the the slow puncture we had. We had to come in anyway and then we said it’s too risky to do anything. So this was a shame because the car showed a very strong performance throughout the race.”

***Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s Alex Lynn said he was satisfied to finish the race where the No. 12 V-Series.R had started, in fifth, ahead of the sister No. 38 car. “I feel like it was our first proper race that we executed well as Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA and I’m proud that we started our season properly today,” said the Briton.

***JOTA co-founder Sam Hignett outlined Cadillac’s test plans for next week’s group outing at Paul Ricard, which features a Michelin tire test on Wednesday. He explained: “The [race] cars will be fitted with the components – the gearbox and the suspension — that will do the Le Mans race. The idea is to put 100 kilometers on those components, so both cars will just do a rollout, which is maximum 100 kilometers, and sign those components off as suitable for the race. The third car will be our test car, and that car will be doing a performance test for ourselves on the first day [before the tire test].”

***The only Hypercar manufacturer that won’t be present for the second day of the Paul Ricard test is Peugeot, which will instead perform a single day of running at Monza on May 20. Aston Martin will also be in action at the Italian track for two days, on May 19-20, as it prepares for its first Le Mans with the Valkyrie.

***Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach couldn’t hide his frustration after a race in which the two factory Penske-run 963s finished ninth and 12th, the German marque’s lack of competitiveness in qualifying carrying over into the race.

***Laudenbach commented: “Quite simply, we need to acknowledge that the conditions for a better result weren’t there. As always, we will analyze why, especially since the 24 Hours of Le Mans is up next. But I think there is also a massive need for action outside of our organization. The race speaks for itself.”

***Despite the No. 83 Ferrari’s engine-related woes, Kubica, Hanson and Ye returned to the track and finished 39 laps down, completing the 70 percent distance necessary to be classified. This guaranteed them maximum points in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams over the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche 963, which dropped out of the race early on with a transmission problem.

***Alessio Rovera’s win in LMGT3 was his seventh across all classes and his third at Spa after his 2021 and 2023 triumphs, also with AF Corse. Simon Mann and Francois Heriau meanwhile picked up their second wins, having won with Rovera last year at Bahrain.

***TF Sport trio Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating retain a slender advantage in the LMGT3 drivers’ standings despite finishing only 13th at Spa, now sitting four points ahead of Rovera, Mann and Heriau and six clear of Akkodis ASP Lexus duo Arnold Robin and Finn Gehrsitz.

***Addressing the Corvette Z06 GT3.R’s lack of competitiveness at Spa, Keating didn’t pull any punches with his official quote following his stint, saying: “I would say this is not racing. This is driving around the course waiting for someone else to make a mistake. I feel like it’s a waste of time to be here, and I’m quite angry about it.”

***A fuel pump problem was the cause of the demise of the No. 87 Lexus of Razvan Umbrarescu, Clemens Schmid and Jose Maria Lopez, which joined the No. 31 Team WRT BMW and No. 95 United Autosports McLaren on the list of LMGT3 retirements.

***Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director Floury says Yuichi Nakayama, who made his WEC debut driving for ASP at Spa, would be a candidate to step in for Lopez at Le Mans should the Argentinian driver be needed by the Toyota Hypercar squad, for which he will serve as unofficial reserve driver. In such a scenario, Floury ruled out pulling Esteban Masson out of his VDS Panis LMP2 drive to plug the gap left by Lopez at ASP.

***Proton Competition Ford driver Ben Tuck, who was part of the No. 77 crew that finished fourth in LMGT3, won the Goodyear Wingfoot award that is now voted for by fans, seeing off competition from ASP’s Robin, who led the opening stages from pole, AF Corse driver Francesco Castellacci and Proton stablemate Stefano Gattuso.

***Organizers announced a three-day crowd figure of 98,874, surpassing last year’s total of 88,180 and setting another WEC record outside of Le Mans.

***Attention now turns towards preparations for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the test day taking place on June 8 ahead of the race itself on June 14-15.

Davey Euwema contributed to this report