Toyota Dominates at Barcelona to Seal Eighth Manufacturers’ Title

Photo: Charly Lopez/DPPI

Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa dominated the 6 Hours of Barcelona as Toyota secured the FIA World Endurance Championship manufacturers’ title in style with a 1-2.

The Japanese manufacturer was rapid in both wet and dry conditions in Spain and a victory never really looked in doubt from the first hour as the No. 8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid that started on the front row ultimately took the checkered flag 0.583 seconds clear of the sister car of Nyck de Vries, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi as they closed up for a photo finish.

The 1-2 ensured that neither BMW nor Ferrari can now overhaul Toyota in the manufacturers’ race — an eighth such title for the marque — while it will be an intra-team battle for the drivers’ honors as well with the No. 8 crew enjoying a 17-point advantage as no other pairing can usurp them.

Toyota stamped its authority on the race from the very first lap, which proved disastrous for Genesis Magma Racing after it had enjoyed such a strong Saturday by qualifying first and third.

Local driver Dani Juncadella moved the No. 19 Genesis GMR-001 into the lead at the first corner as he passed both Buemi and Andre Lotterer in the polesitting No. 17 Genesis.

But Juncadella then skated off at Turn 5 further around the lap amid the wet conditions and this gave Buemi the lead in the No. 8 Toyota and from there it was dominant.

Juncadella plummeted to the tail of the Hypercar pack and it was not long before Lotterer began to drop away as well.

Buemi continued to lead through two safety car periods in the opening hour, with almost the entire field electing to pit during the second of these.

But BMW attempted to roll the strategic dice as Rene Rast did not pit in the No. 20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 amid its attempts to try to stay in title contention, although this gamble unravelled when it was shown the black-and-orange flag for having tire pressures that were too low.

Rast therefore had to stop immediately and tumbled to the rear of the field, while that crew’s woes were compounded by it also being handed a 20-second penalty for the illegal pressure.

Meanwhile, the driver on a charge in the opening stint was Nyck de Vries in the sister No. 7 Toyota, which had only qualified ninth.

De Vries was up to third following the first two cautions and then usurped Miguel Molina in the No. 50 Ferrari 499P to make it a Toyota 1-2.

And the Japanese cars were never really troubled from there on, despite the No. 8 picking up a five-second penalty for a start procedure infringement.

This was served during the second round of stops and put Brendon Hartley behind the No. 7 car of Mike Conway.

But Hartley was flying on his slick tires as the track had started to dry and was able to blast ahead of Conway a couple of laps later.

Hartley pulled clear of the sister car and they disappeared 30 seconds up the road of the No. 50 Ferrari in third before a safety car was required in the fourth hour after the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Zacharie Robichon had spun into the Turn 7 gravel.

The Toyotas had a couple of lapped cars between them and the Ferrari on the restart and were untroubled over the final two hours to claim the manufacturers’ title in style.

There were some nerves about the possibility of rain returning inside the final half hour, although this never materialized.

The No. 8 did lead by over ten seconds inside the final hour but this closed to 0.583 seconds at the flag as the Toyotas crossed the line in a photo finish.

The battle for the last spot on the podium was enlivened in the final couple of hours by the No. 36 Signatech Alpine A424 moving to third by opting for an offset strategy by short-fuelling.

But this ultimately failed to pay dividends with the No. 50 Ferrari of Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen regaining third in the final round of stops, some 39 seconds off the lead.

The No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series. R finished fourth after opting to leave its final pit stop until the last 20 minutes with Jack Aitken holding off the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica in the closing stages, despite being on older tires.

The second Cadillac was sixth ahead of the No. 15 WRT BMW that picked up a 10-second penalty earlier in the race for a robust battle with the No. 38 machine.

The No. 36 Alpine of Jules Gounon and Victor Martins fell to eighth after having to change a tire in the final ten minutes, while the No. 009 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie was ninth.

It was a miserable race for the No. 51 Ferrari that had started down in 14th, risen firmly into the top-ten but then struggled massively for pace on the initial set of slick tires, while James Calado was delayed by the limiter sticking on at the end of a Full-Course Yellow period.

Genesis’ torrid contest continued as several issues compounded repeated off-track moments in the opening hours as the GMR-001s were ultimately classified 11th and 16th.

Manthey Porsche Scores Dominant First Win of Season

The No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo dominated the LMGT3 contest as Yasser Shahin, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz secured the manufacturer’s first win of the season.

The Porsche led from inside the first hour and finished up 4.750 seconds ahead of the No. 10 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Antares Au, Tom Fleming and Marvin Kirchhoefer, after the latter passed the No. 69 WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Dan Harper with 11 minutes to go.

The triumph represented Porsche’s first WEC LMGT3 victory since last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Polesitter Au led initially from pole in the No. 10 McLaren but struggled in the wet conditions and began falling down the order after the first VSC.

Shahin moved into the lead and the No. 92 Porsche remained consistently at the front thereafter as the two TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs ran second and third at this stage.

But the points-leading No. 33 car’s race was hampered by Ben Keating having to stay out on wets for longer than planned as the Hypercars in the neighboring pit boxes both stopped and TF had to wait.

A 10-second penalty for Jonny Edgar further dented the Corvette’s charge, while a strong middle phase of the race brought the No. 69 WRT BMW into contention and Harper moved into second place in the fourth hour.

However, Harper had Kirchhoefer in the No. 10 McLaren — which had recovered from a puncture while a charging Fleming was at the wheel — right on his tail.

The BMW was just about able to keep the McLaren at bay and pitting a lap later failed to bring Kirchhoefer ahead in the final round of stops.

However, Harper, Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson were denied runner-up spot when Kirchhoefer finally dived ahead at Turn 1 in the closing laps.

The No. 34 Corvette of Salih Yoluc, Peter Dempsey and Charlie Eastwood was fourth and remains in title contention with the sister car of Keating, Edgar and Nicky Catsburg only finishing seventh, falling behind the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Francois Heriau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera and the No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

This means Edgar’s points lead over the No. 92 crew has been cut to 18, with the No. 34 Corvette four points further back going into the Monza finale.

Source: Sports Car 365