(Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sébastien Buemi pick off the second consecutive FIA
WEC victory for Toyota at Spa. (Photo courtesy Vincent Wouters)
Nicolas Lapierre took the No. 8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid to a 1 minute and 13-second victory over Loic Duval’s No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro, in a race that saw an early challenge from Porsche until both of the 919 Hybrids ran into trouble.
Audi, meanwhile, struggled in the early stages but showed encouraging moments in the second half. But it wasn’t enough to derail the Japanese manufacturer from another near-perfect run, in the dress rehearsal to next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Lapierre shared the winning Toyota with Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi, whose middle stint solidified their advantage, just as the remaining contending Porsche faltered.
While the No. 14 Porsche stretched out into an early lead, the Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas-driven entry lost its advantage by the second hour due to Lieb stalling the car in the pits, which propelled Buemi to the lead.
The real trouble, however, struck with two-and-a-half hours to go when Dumas slowed on track with electrical issues. With the guidance of his crew, the Frenchman managed to solve the glitch on-board but dropped from second to fourth as a result and crucially one lap behind.
Porsche’s misfortunes opened up the door for the No. 1 Audi, which along with its sister diesel-powered prototypes, struggled for speed and fuel mileage, to finish second in the hands of Duval, Tom Kristensen and Lucas di Grassi.
Source : Speed
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