Spa Post-Race Notebook

Photo: Charly López/DPPI

***BMW claimed its first overall victory in a sports car world championship race in nearly 45 years in last weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, with a 1-2 result for BMW Team WRT. The German manufacturer’s most recent triumph on the sports car world stage came in the 1981 Nürburgring 1000km, which was won by Hans-Joachim Stuck and Nelson Piquet at the wheel of a BMW M1.

***More recently, BMW’s last overall win in an ACO-rules race came in the 1999 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a Schnitzer-run BMW V12 LMR with drivers Joachim Winkelhock, Pierluigi Martini and Yannick Dalmas. However, it had since racked up several American Le Mans Series victories with the V12 LMR, as well as more recently, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP wins with the M Hybrid V8.

***Sheldon van der Linde, who shared the winning No. 20 BMW with Rene Rast and Robin Frijns, became the first African driver to win a WEC race overall, and is the series’ first South African winner, following Angola’s Rui Andrade, who has taken both LMP2 and LMGT3 class honors.

***Team WRT is the fourth team to win a WEC race overall and in the LMP2 class, joining Rebellion Racing, Signatech Alpine and JOTA Sport. Additionally, the Belgian squad has now won in three WEC classes (Hypercar, LMP2, LMGT3), joining elite company such as AF Corse.

***WRT team principal Vincent Vosse said: “We couldn’t have dreamed of a better home race. I’m super happy and incredibly pleased for the whole team. The drivers did a perfect job, and the team was fantastic with the right strategy calls at the right time. Next up is the big highlight at Le Mans. We couldn’t go there with a better feeling.”

***With BMW, the first new Hypercar winner since Cadillac at Sao Paulo in 2025, picking up a long-awaited win, it leaves Peugeot, Aston Martin and newcomers Genesis as the only active manufacturers yet to win in the class. BMW additionally joins Audi and Porsche, legends of the LMP1 era, as the third German brand to win a WEC race overall.

***Saturday’s victory was the seventh win by a LMDh-based prototype, with four previous triumphs from the Porsche 963 (three with Porsche Penske Motorsport, one Hertz Team JOTA), Dallara (Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA) and ORECA (Alpine)

***With van der Linde absent from last month’s season opener due to his WeatherTech Championship commitments, Rast and Frijns have vaulted into the Hypercar drivers’ championship lead as a duo, nine points ahead of Toyota Racing’s Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa.

***BMW also now leads the Hypercar manufacturers’ world championship, with a seven-point margin over Toyota and Ferrari a further ten points back in third. Aston Martin and Alpine, meanwhile, are tied for fourth in the standings entering next month’s double points-paying 24 Hours of Le Mans.

***A post-race investigation into the gap between the Nos. 20 and 15 BMWs approaching the race’s final restart with 24 minutes to go resulted in no further action from the stewards. A similar investigation was also made into the gap between the first and second-placed LMGT3 cars at the time as well and also resulted in no penalty.

***Saturday’s race marked only the second time in Hypercar history that neither a Toyota nor a Ferrari led a single lap in the race. The first occurrence was at last year’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, a race largely dominated by Cadillac.

***While the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P was taken out of the race by the No. 32 WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Augusto Farfus, the No. 50 car completed the podium, and nearly pulled off a second place result with Antonio Fuoco heavily pressuring the No. 15 BMW of Kevin Magnussen in the closing laps. This came after the car lost 20 seconds in the second hour with an issue with the left-front tire change.

***Ferrari’s Head of Endurance Race Cars Ferdinando Cannizzo said: “There’s a slight bitter taste because we interpreted the strategy well knowing we were not the favorites. Thanks to our consistency we managed to climb back up with all the cars, we were a little unlucky with the pit stop for the number 50 and it’s a shame about the incident that put the number 51 out of the race.”

***Farfus says he apologized after spearing into the Ferrari 499P at La Source putting the Hypercar out of the race. The Brazilian blamed the Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Ayhancan Guven behind for the clash, but officials deemed the Italian at fault and handed him a drive-through penalty that was converted to a 32-second sanction.

***Farfus told Sportscar365: “I braked diagonally, aiming to block, because it was the last two laps before the pit stop. I was braking diagonally, he moved and he hit me so hard that I could not stop, I was full brakes and I just end up hitting the Ferrari. I feel really sorry for the Ferrari. I ended up hitting a car which had absolutely nothing to do with our race. I went to Ferrari to apologize even though I was just a passenger on the hit.”

***Sebastien Buemi regretted that a “silly mistake” not to fully refuel the No. 8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid just as the Virtual Safety Car came out in the final hour, which he felt cost the car a potential podium as it had to pit again immediately afterwards. The Toyota had vaulted up the order by opting for an alternate strategy having pitted inside the first hour and was running a distant second at the time of the VSC.

***Buemi told Sportscar365: “We just need to understand why we did that and how to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” The Swiss driver described the car as “mega” after only qualifying 16th and added, without the fuel blunder: “We would’ve, I guess, at least got out P2 and I guess we could’ve kept that position.”

***Genesis Magma Racing picked up the pieces while other Hypercar contenders hit trouble in the closing stages to score its first points with an eighth-place finish in just the second race for the GMR-001. However, Pipo Derani said the No. 17 car’s race was far from straightforward.

***The Brazilian told Sportscar365: “We had a little issue with the powertrain from the moment I got in the car and the team did a good job trying to bring the car to the checkered flag. I’m proud of that and I’m proud of those little achievements that only we know about. We had something quite significant, and we managed to get the car to the checkered flag.”

***Despite not “fully expecting” points so early in the car’s competition history and requiring a “bit of luck” Derani insisted Genesis still has plenty of work to do. “It’s an honor to be able to achieve our first points, but feet on the floor,” he said. “We still have our biggest task ahead, the most difficult race for us will be in just a few weeks’ time and we still feel like we have to do a lot.”

***The sister No. 19 Genesis didn’t fare as well, with Dani Juncadella losing seven laps in the garage due to early race electrical issues, while Mathieu Jaminet slowed on track in the fourth hour with power steering issues.

***While Hertz Team JOTA was unable to capitalize on the early race pace for the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R, which led for 42 laps, the team’s No. 38 entry encountered a plethora of issues, beginning with an incident between Earl Bamber and the No. 92 Manthey Porsche of Yasser Shahin that resulted in a left-rear puncture and left-hand side contact with the wall. Bamber then reported a brake hydraulics issue, which sent the car to the garage before it was ultimately retired with gearbox failure when Sebastien Bourdais climbed aboard.

***JOTA team co-owner Sam Hignett said: “Ultimately, it wasn’t the result we were hoping for, but there are still a lot of positives for us to take away from the weekend. We learned a huge amount as a team, and those lessons will be important heading into Le Mans. During the race, we also took the opportunity to work through a few things with a view to prepare for Le Mans, which we hope will pay dividends in a month’s time.”

***One of the most dramatic moments came on race’s second-to-final restart with just over 30 minutes to go when the No. 009 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie of Alex Riberas crashed out on the Kemmel Straight while attempting to pass the No. 35 Alpine A424 of Antonio Felix da Costa.

***The team’s sister No. 007 entry of Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell scored a career-best fourth place result, thanks to Gamble’s last-race pass on the No. 7 Toyota of Kamui Kobayashi.

***McLaren became the first LMGT3 manufacturer to claim wins with two different teams, following United Autosports’ triumph at Circuit of The Americas last year, and Garage 59’s class win, in only its second series’ start. The Andrew Kirkaldy-led team has claimed the 75th win in the major classes by teams representing the UK.

***While Marvin Kirchhoefer, Tom Fleming and Antares Au came out on top, bouncing back from an alternator issue that denied them a debut victory last time out at Imola, the team’s sister No. 58 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Alexander West, Finn Gehrsitz and Benji Goethe rallied for a fifth place class result.

***Kirkaldy said: “After the massive disappointment at Imola, everyone has worked so hard to make sure we could bounce back quickly. The pit stops were perfect; the drivers did a fantastic job – every member of the team was on it today. It has been a challenging week leading up to today as we have had a few issues with the car, so this win is a great reward for all of that work. I also want to mention Benji’s final stint – that was the best driving I have ever seen from him!”

***Au, in only his third WEC start, meanwhile, becomes the first driver from Hong Kong to win a WEC race.

***Alessio Rovera lamented another missed class victory in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo he shared with Francois Heriau and Simon Mann after the crew received a five-second penalty for an unsafe release from their final pitstop. The late safety cars left Rovera unable to bridge the gap and, despite crossing the line first, the No. 21 was classified fourth in LMGT3.

***Rovera told Sportscar365: “It’s the third time we finished first at the checkered flag and then there’s a penalty. This time I knew about the penalty and tried to push at the maximum. I was already on the limit in the first stint and didn’t have so much left. In the end, it’s a lot of points lost.”

***One of the beneficiaries of the Ferrari’s penalty was the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Ian James, Zach Robichon and Mattia Drudi. The latter was in the thick of the LMGT3 podium fight late on but, after retiring from the Imola opener with suspension woes, Drudi told Sportscar365 he did not want to take too many risks.

***Drudi said: “Last year I felt like we weren’t the luckiest car sometimes so it was nice today to get some luck back with the penalties – today was crazy with the amount of penalties for track limits. For the last seconds I was trying to take care of the car and get the result.”

***A second consecutive third place class finish for the No. 92 Porsche trio of Richard Lietz, Ricardo Pera and Yasser Shahin has put them out front in the LMGT3 championship standings, four points ahead of the No. 10 Garage 59 drivers, with the pilots of the No. 69 WRT BMW one further point behind in third, after not scoring any points on Saturday.

***Proton Competition driver Stefano Gattuso won the Goodyear Wingfoot award, which came in a fan vote on social media.

***The sister No. 77 Proton Ford Mustang GT3 EVO briefly led the race in the opening stages, thanks to an impressive move on pole-sitter Tom van Rompuy by American driver Eric Powell through Eau Rouge. However, Powell then spun into the gravel trap at Campus corner, dropping the car two laps behind and bringing out the first of three safety car periods.

***Powell said: “I made a small mistake which had big consequences but I finally feel that I’ve figured out how to drive this Mustang to the best of its potential, especially with the tires. The pace was really strong and the Mustang felt so good to drive today. The whole team worked very hard and I wanted to repay them all with a good result and so to make the mistake makes me feel bad for them all.”

***Adding insult to injury, the No. 77 Mustang was handed a 1 minute, 56.848-second penalty post-race penalty due to co-driver Ben Tuck not meeting the 1 hour and 45-minute minimum drive time by some four minutes in the race.

***Ford Racing global director Mark Rushbrook, who was on-site at Spa, revealed that it has not yet established a timeframe on when it will unveil its LMDh car, although he confirmed on-track testing will begin in August, with a rollout at Paul Ricard. “It’s going to be on track testing before we properly unveil it,” he said. “The first time people see it will be spy shots and then we’ll unveil it at some point after that. To be frank, we don’t have a plan on where we’re going to show it.”

***Rushbrook told reporters that more than 70 percent of the Hypercar team’s staff have already been hired for the in-house effort. He also ruled out Ford running a third car in next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans but said that possibility exists in future editions of the French endurance classic.

****The WEC reported a record attendance of 101,606 people over the three-day event, marking the largest-attended WEC race outside of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Last year’s reported attendance at Spa was 98,874.

***Attention now turns towards preparations for Le Mans, with the test day taking place on June 7 ahead of the twice-around-the-clock enduro itself on June 13-14. The ACO released the finalized entry list last week, which has filled in notable gaps in terms of several driver lineups.

Stephen Lickorish contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John