FIA WEC, Silverstone - Brief Race Wrap Up

Audi take the top two steps on the podium, as their 2013 R18 e-tron Quattro proves to be more than a match for the 2012 Toyotas.

Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval will lift the RAC Tourist Trophy, McNish the fifth Scot to do so – Kristensen becomes the first Danish winner and Duval the eighth Frenchman.

That came after a stunning battle between the two Audis for the final hour, an aggressive strategy call from #1 Race Engineer Leena Gade looked to have handed the advantage to her car but an enforced tyre change from McNish after a late spin proved to make the difference, the Scot emerging from the pits with 40 minutes to go with a 33 second deficit and setting about the task in hand in truly awesome style with a drive that ranks amongst his very best.

It’s a big WEC points boost for Audi too with Toyota debuting their first 2013 car at Spa (as the #7) alongside a still 2012 vintage #8.

Rebellion scored a 1,2 in the LMP1 Privateer stakes after Nick Leventis’s assisted exit from the race. They’ll be looking forward to Spa too where we expect some very good news from the Swiss owned team.

It’s a multi chassis podium in LMP2, all three on Dunlop rubber, all too were Nissan powered, as were the top eight finishers in class (though there may be some doubt about the Greaves car’s final result with Michael Marsal having felt unable to do the time required for the Am driver after yesterday’s ELMS shunt).  If the Greaves car is excluded then it will put the Pecom Oreca Nissan (on Michelin rubber) onto the bottom step of the podium.

Stop Press - "The third placed #41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Nissan was given a one lap penalty when Michael Marsal failed to respect the minimum driving time of 1h15m, moving the team down to 5^th in the LMP2 result.  The nr49 Pecom Racing Oreca was promoted to third place and the nr 35 Oak Racing Morgan to 4^th."

Delta ADR were fast all day and there were broad smiles from all concerned including James Walker who would dearly like to have his two race deal extended – If performance alone was the only determinant then his display this weekend alongside Tor Graves and the impressive Antonio Pizzonia would surely be enough.

There were frustrations for the Oak Racing squad but the day saw some impressive fast running from three of their Morgan chassis (the Chinese owned KCMG car impressed early on).  Olivier Pla, David Heinemeier Hanssen and Alex Brundle struggled with a tyre problem almost throughout and the #35 car too was in the mix until it too hit problems.

Tom Kimber Smith was on epic form at the end of the race, closing down and passing the #35 car twice in the closing hours.  

Aston Martin win GTE Pro with Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke and a delighted Bruno Senna just too fast for the Ferrari boys here, this despite the fact that the #97 car had no traction control for most of the race.  The sister #99 car came home a fighting third for a fine double podium for the famous British marque.

The handsome looking new 911 RSR had flashes of real speed for Porsche AG Team Manthey but could not sustain its attack over the race distance.

GTE-Am saw another grandstand finish, this time for second position, though the manner of the Larbre Corvette’s pass for the position on the *Star Ferrari has led to a post race protest from the #81 team.

The win though completed a fantastic day for Aston Martin Racing with Allan Simonsen, Kristian Poulsen and Kristoffer Nygaard taking the win in the #95 Vantage GTE, Jamie Campbell-Walter just fell short of making it all four AMR cars on the podiums but fourth will do for the #96 squad for starters!

A race that came alight at the very end but a good start all round for the WEC  - We’ll have much more to come next week from this paddock and from some of the personalities that occupy it – For now though it’s goodnight from Silverstone.