Toyota Takes Dominant 6H Silverstone Victory

Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima chalked up their third consecutive FIA World Endurance Championship victory at the Six Hours of Silverstone.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing trio, driving the No. 8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, beat the Japanese manufacturer’s sister No. 7 car after the pair were closely matched throughout the race.

Buemi overtook Kamui Kobayashi on the run down to Vale in the final hour and grew the gap beyond the final round of pit stops.

The Swiss driver took the checkered flag 19.264 seconds ahead of Kobayashi, who shared the pole-sitting Toyota with Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway.

The lead fluctuated between the two hybrid cars during the race, with Alonso passing Conway in hour three before Lopez repaid the favor by getting past Nakajima in the fourth hour.

The No. 7 then had a slow penultimate stop in hour five after Toyota elected to affix a new rear wing, bringing Buemi onto Kobayashi’s tail. 

In third was the No. 3 Rebellion Racing R13 Gibson which finished four laps adrift of the winner.

Gustavo Menezes, Mathias Beche and Thomas Laurent crossed the line 45 seconds ahead of the sister Rebellion driven by Andre Lotterer and Neel Jani, while the sole remaining No. 17 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1 AER was a further 27 seconds back in fifth.

The SMP car shared by Egor Orudzhev and Stephane Sarrazin appeared able to match the pace of the Rebellions but it lost 40 seconds at its final stop when Orudzhev came to a halt at pit entry.

The Russian squad’s sister BR1 retired early in the race after a mechanical issue took hold while Mikhail Aleshin was running third. 

Jackie Chan DC Racing Claims 1-2

The Jota Sport-run Jackie Chan DC Racing outfit took its first LMP2 win this season as Ho-Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry and Stephane Richelmi led a 1-2 result for the team.

Tung, who incurred an early drive-through penalty for jumping the start, emerged from his final stop with 35 minutes to go holding a five-second lead over Jazeman Jaafar in the identical No. 37 Oreca 07 Gibson.

Jaafar closed the gap in the closing stages but ultimately fell 1.9 seconds short of his team-mate at the finish.

Signatech Alpine’s Nicolas Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet and Andre Negrao rounded out the podium in their Alpine A470 Gibson despite incurring a 75-second stop and hold penalty for pitting under a closed pit lane during the race’s only safety car.

That third-hour stoppage was caused by debris strewn from a GTE-Pro class Ferrari after contact with the No. 17 SMP BR1.