FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps - Final Hour

Into the final hour of the race, and the situation in LMP1 remains largely unchanged, with Romain Dumas leading in the #3 R18 Ultra, a lap clear of Marcel Fassler in the #1 e-tron quattro Hybrid. The #4 Ultra, in the hands of Marcos Bonanomi is running third, with Dindo Capello bringing up the rear in this Audi quartet, 38 seconds back down the track.

The “best of the rest” in P2, and heading the unofficial petrol class, is Nicolas Prost in the #12 Rebellion Lola Toyota, a full two laps down on the fourth Audi, and 90 seconds ahead of Jonny Kane in the #21 Strakka Racing HPD. Sixth place overall is being occupied by Guillaume Moreau and the Oak Racing #15. Andrea Belicchi is running 8th for Rebellion.

The far more entertaining battle is developing in LMP2, where Sam Hancock has managed to re-establish his lead in LMP2 and has 23 seconds over Robbie Kerr in the #25 ADR-Delta Oreca. After an impressive blitz earlier in his stint, though, Kerr’s pace has dropped off significantly of late, and that has allowed Warren Hughes to recover some of the ground lost by the #48 Murphy prototypes Oreca. The gap between them has narrowed to about six seconds.

19:39
Robbie Kerr pits for fuel, but no driver change, so Warren Hughes is back into second.

It is good to see the Dome up and running strongly again. Robbie Kerr rejoins after fuel only, which is interesting, considering how his pace had been slipping on the current set of tyres.

19:41
Sam Hancock and Warren Hughes both pit at almost the same time. Warren Hughes gets out of the car, new tyres are fitted, and there’s a driver change.

Simon Dolan has taken back duties in the Jota Zytek. Brendon Hartley is back into the Murphy Prototypes Oreca #48.

19:43
Fassler pits the #1 Audi R18 from second place.

Fassler then runs wide through Les Combes on his out-lap. He hits the kerb fairly hard.

Pitstop for the #45 Boutsen Oreca, which had been running fifth in LMP2, after a distinctly uneventful race.

19:47
A major off into the barriers for the #31 Lotus Lola, and it’s Renger van der Zande who climbs out of the cockpit and slams the door shut in disgust.

After those LMP2 pitstops, Simon Dolan emerged in second behind Robbie Kerr, but is talking three or four seconds a lap out of the ADR-Delta’s lead – the cost of not taking on tyres, which may not only see Kerr slip from the lead, but at this pace, Brendon Hartley will catch him too.

19:49
Guillaume Moreau and the team manager at Oak have both been called to Race Control, but Moreau is driving the #15 Pescarolo at the moment. Will he be required to pit? Was he involved in the accident that put the #31 Lola out of the race?

Kerr’s advantage over Dolan has shrunk to 17 seconds.

19:53
The #4 Audi R18 is into the pitlane for what will be the car’s final fuel stop.

Olivier Pla sets a new fastest lap for the #24 Oak Morgan, but the car is already out of contention, and running 20th overall, 8th in P2.

Oliver Jarvis has stepped into the #4 for the final stint, and is wisely seen weaving up the Kemmel Straight before arriving at Les Combes, to increase the heat in the R18’s tyres before he tackles the bends.

The #23 Signatech Oreca Nissan has rejoined the race, albeit in 35th position.

19:57
Brendon Hartley is picking up his pace again, and has set a new fastest middle sector and a 2:10848 for the #48 Murphy Oreca.

The #2 Audi runs wide and hops across the gravel, but rejoins. There appeared to be a slight puff of smoke from the back of the car before the incident.

Paul Daniels in the #55 Porsche is clipped into a spin at Rivage by Franck Mailleux in the 23 Signatech Oreca, just a lap after rejoining the race. The incident is under investigation.

20:01
The GTE-Am leader, the #67 IMSA Performance Porsche, is into the pits for a final stop and driver change. Anthony Pons takes over.

20:03
It is announced that there will be no further action regarding the incident between the #55 and the #23.

Robbie Kerr seems to have managed to re-establish his hold on the LMP2 lead, and the gap between the #25 ADR-Delta Oreca and Simon Dolan, chasing in the Jota Zytek, is still 13 seconds and growing. The margin between Dolan and Hartley stands at 50 seconds.

20:05
The #1 R18 pits from second with what looks like a puncture. The team replace tyres but Fassler remains in the car.

The foursome making up the lead battle in LMP2 are hard to separate in terms of lap times, and Heinemeir Hansson is keeping the Oak racing #35 within 17 seconds of the Murphy Oreca.

Fassler, second lap round, has posted a new fastest first sector for the #1 R18. The #1 has retained second, despite what was an unexpected pitstop.

Robbie Kerr does a 2:11 on what must be fairly tired tyres.

20:10
A new fastest race lap came from that first quick sector from Fassler, and he crossed the line with a 2:02.321.

Unnoticed here, Nick Leventis took over the Strakka HPD at the team’s last pitstop, and will be steering the #21 to the flag,  The re-liveried HPD, now resplendent with Union Jack on the dorsal fin, is running 7th now having just been passed by Andrea Belicchi in the #13 Rebellion Lola. That gives the Toyota-powered Lolas 5th and 6th overall, and the first two slots in the non-diesel class.

20:13
Oliver Jarvis pits the #4 R18 Ultra from third.

A new fastest race lap from Marcel Fässler, and the first sub-two-oh-two.

Robbie Kerr has opened out the gap to Sam Hancock to 18 seconds. Brendon Hartley is running strongly in third, and he has closed on Hancock.

20:18
We have the prospect of a revived battle for GTE-Pro, with the margin between Bruni, lying second, and Lietz, down to just seven seconds.

The #2 Audi is under investigation for a “pitlane infringement”. Apparently, Dindo re-started the engine before the team had finished working on the car.

Hartley has brought the gap down on Hancock to 17 seconds, and took three seconds out of the Jota Zytek’s advantage on that last lap.

Just seven minutes to go.

20:22
Dindo Capello pits the #2 R18 from fourth. Fuel, fresh tyres and water bottles for Dindo.

Lietz has just four seconds over Bruni now, and the Ferrari is gaining by half a second or so each lap.

The #2 must do a stop-go.

20:24
An astonishingly late pitstop for Robbie Kerr, and Simon Dolan goes through to take the P2 lead.

Dindo serves his penalty in the #2 and loses the position, so drops to fourth.

The #15 has a problem with the left rear and spins off opposite the old Bus Stop. He’s either lost the wheel, or the suspension has broken. He may not be able to get back to the pits. The car was running 8th, despite the three lights showing on the side of the car.

Just a second between the GTE-Pro leaders!

Kerr managed to get out on track again with 30 seconds over Hartley, so still third for the Murphy Prototypes Oreca.

Pla upsets the battle for the GTE-Pro lead, and the gap between Lietz and Bruni grows to almost three seconds, but there’s also only a few seconds back tom Mako in the #59.

Chequered Flag!

Romain Dumas takes the win for the #3 R18 Ultra, with Marcel Fassler second in the first of the Hybrids.

The race may be over, but there’s still a thrilling finish in GTE.

Simon Dolan takes the win in P2 for Jota Zytek, with Robbie Kerr holding on to second in the #25 ADR-Delta Oreca from Brendon Hartley, third for Murphy Prototypes.

Lietz takes the GTE-Pro win by just six-tenths of a second, with Makowiecki able to witness the last-corner duel for the flag from the #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari, and taking third just a few seconds behind.

So, a historic win for Audi, giving yet another new chassis a win first time out. Also a first podium at this level for a car powered by hybrid technology. In terms of reliability, all four R18s safely through the full six hours apparently without any problems. The question now is what these cars can do when they face serious competition, and it can only be regretted that Toyota was not here to offer that vital challenge.

The absence of the Toyotas effectively made the result today a foregone conclusion – it was all a matter of scale. If that made the overall result somewhat academic, and at times less than thrilling, this race did provide entertainment in many other ways, not least in the battles for LMP2 and GTE-Pro, which went all the way to the final lap.

Of the three teams on the LMP2 podium, the first and third-placed cars only took part as a result of the difficulties being encountered in the European Le Mans Series and the cancellation of the planned race at Zolder. The quality of the LMP2 field in the ELMS was acknowledged after the first round at Paul Ricard, but that strength has been emphasised here at Spa by the performances from Jota and Murphy.

Perhaps the most thrilling race came, as so often the case, from the GT categories. To have the first three cars separated by just a few seconds after six hard-fought hours is a remarkable testament to the quality of the competition in the Pro class. Added to that, a debut ACO-rules win for the revised 2012-spec Porsche 911 RSR 997.

Marcus Potts