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Frijns Was Surprised To Break Away From Hypercars in Wet

WRT LMP2 driver Robin Frijns didn’t expect to gap Hypercars during wet stint at Spa…

Photo: MPS Agency

Robin Frijns said he was ‘a bit surprised’ that the Hypercar runners weren’t able to close the gap and overtake him in the wet conditions leading up to halfway at the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa.

LMP2 driver Frijns shot up to the lead of the rain-affected race when Team WRT opted to switch to wet tires during the first of three red flags, meaning he had the advantage when the rain began to fall.

When the rest of the field came into the pits to switch to wets, it allowed the No. 31 Oreca 07 Gibson to assume the overall lead.

Frijns would maintain that lead for a significant chunk of the race, managing to stay in front of the faster Hypercar runners until the track began to dry out.

While Toyota Gazoo Racing technical director Pascal Vasselon explained that the LMP2 car’s advantage in the wet was logical, Frijns himself expressed surprise that he was able to stay in the overall lead for so long. 

“It was a bit surprised by that,” Frijns told Sportscar365.

“I mean, I was in the overall lead and I had a clear view but still, I expected them to come back after a couple of laps.

“But they didn’t, so I kept on opening a gap.

“But you saw that when it was getting dried up, we didn’t have a chance compared to the Hypercars to fight them, but it is a different class at the end of the day.”

The Dutchman did admit that he never had any illusions of a potential upset victory, but was instead hoping for conditions to improve.

“I wasn’t really hoping for anything if it was going to be dried up or full wet, but wasn’t hoping that there was so much water on track because that was just too sketchy,” he added.

“We had aquaplaning, which is too dangerous.”

“So I was quite happy that there were red flags, because it was just not safe to continue.”

Nose, Splitter damage from Ultimate Collision

Frijns handed the No. 31 WRT car over to co-driver Rene Rast for the final stint, but the German would have a difficult time in the latter stages of the race.

First, Rast locked up and ran wide at Les Combes, from which he escaped unharmed, but was later involved in a hairy encounter with the No. 35 Ultimate Oreca of Jean-Baptiste Lahaye.

Lahaye spun on the exit of Bruxelles and was left stranded on the middle of the track, leaving Rast no room to avoid a collision with the Frenchman.

“A very scary stint, especially because of the conditions as well, because I had two Full Course Yellows, and after the Full Course Yellows, the tires cooled down so you basically start the race again on cold brakes and cool tires in these conditions,” Rast said.

“That’s very tricky. Once, I had rear locking I lost the car under braking and went straight. 

“And then the Ultimate car spun in front of me and I couldn’t avoid it at all.

“I was fully on the brakes, locking up but couldn’t really go left or right, so I hit him.”

While Rast was able to continue and bring the car to victory, he explained that the hit was not without consequences.

“Unfortunately, this broke the splitter and the nose of the car,” he explained.

“So after that I had huge vibrations and lots of understeer.

“Luckily it was just five minutes before the end, so we just stayed out and luckily won the race.”

Davey Euwema is Sportscar365's European Editor. Based in The Netherlands, Euwema covers the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, among other series.

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