FIA World Endurance Championship – Silverstone Six Hours Report

Toyota utterly dominated a rain-shortened opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Silverstone on Easter Sunday.

With heavy rain falling in the final hour, the decision was made to red flag the race with 26 minutes still to run, confirming the victory for the #8 Toyota of Anthony Davidson, Sebastian Buemi and Nicolas Lapierre. Even with the shortened race, Toyota had never been seriously threatened for the win, as Audi suffered a double retirement and Porsche did not have the pace over six hours to realistically challenge the Japanese factory.

Pole sitter Alex Wurz led a close LMP1 battle in the early stages, briefly losing the lead to Andre Lotterer during the first few laps, with the Porsche’s keeping a watching brief in 5th and 6th places. The first serious rain of the race fell from the grey sky at the end of the first hour, and it was during this phase of the race that Toyota made the decisive move. The Oreca-run team placed their cars on different strategies, with the #7 car pitting for wets, and #8 being sent out on intermediates. It was here that Buemi laid the foundations for the win, at times taking over 20 seconds per lap out of the competition as the track dried. With the both Audi cars struggling along with the #7 Toyota on the wrong tyres, the #8 car was never headed, taking the victory by over a lap.

Porsche capitalised on Audi’s double retirement, marking their return to top flight prototype racing with a podium finish for the #20 car of Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendan Hartley, albeit two laps down on the winners. It was not a perfect day for Porsche, with the #14 car retiring early in second hour with suspension damage and hydraulic problems following a lost wheel. The new 919 Hybrid did not have the ultimate pace to challenge for the win, but the Porsche team will be pleased to get a car on the podium on their LMP1 debut.

Audi had a nightmare Sunday at Silverstone, with both cars retiring with tub damage following two heavy accidents before half distance. Lucas Di Grassi was caught out by the rain at the end of the first hour, spinning off and hitting the barriers hard. The Brazilian managed to get the #1 car back to the pits, but the damage was too extensive to repair and the car was out. The #2 car was out at half distance, Benoit Treluyer hitting the barriers at Woodcote on a damp track, ripping both front wheels from the chassis. The Frenchman tried bravely to get the car running again, but the car was beached in the gravel, ending Audi’s interest in the race.

Rebellion gave their venerable Lola – Toyotas a final send off with a 4th place finish for a charging Nick Heidfeld, Mathias Beche and Nicolas Prost. Heidfeld’s triple stint during the middle of the race was fantastic to watch, but the privateers finished six laps off the lead at the end of the race. The team must be hoping the new R-One chassis can take the fight to the factory teams when it debuts at Spa in a fortnight. The #13 Rebellion retired early on with gearbox trouble.

A four car LMP2 field was headed by the G-Drive Racing Morgan after a race long tussle with the KCMG Oreca-Nissan. Romain Rusinov, Olivier Pla and Julien Canal took the victory after a stop and go penalty in the 4th hour for KCMG, taking the car of Tsugio Matsuda, Richard Bradley and Matthew Howson out of contention for the win. The two SMP Racing entries were never in the fight, and the team lost one car at half distance with fuel pump failure.

In GTE Pro, Porsche took first and second, with the #92 car of Richard Lietz, Marco Holzer and Fred Mackowiecki overhauling their team-mates right at the end. As the heavy rain fell in the 5th hour, the #91 car dived into the pits for wet tyres. The #92 stayed out as the safety car was called, ensuring the victory and a one-two finish for Porsche. Aston Martin took third, Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke snatching the podium from the AF Corse Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander after a stop – go penalty and a small pitlane fire for the Ferrari factory squad.

In GTE Am, Aston Martin took victory with the all Danish #95 crew of Nicki Thiim, David Heinemeier Hansson and Kristian Poulsen leading their team-mates Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Christoffer Nygaard home.

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