Japanese manufacturer on course for Le Mans victory at 20th try after Alonso leads 1-2 in Spa warm-up
The only warm-up race for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans has been run and won by Toyota and its superstar driver recruit Fernando Alonso.
The sole manufacturer still competing in the top prototype class of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with a hybrid car and seeking to win Le Mans for the first time at its 20th attempt, Toyota finished first and second in the weekend’s Six Hours of Spa in Belgium, two laps clear of its privateer opposition.
The second-placed TS050 Hybrid was the faster of the two Toyotas, having started from the pit lane and a lap down – because of an error with its fuel-flow meter in qualifying – to cross the finish line 1.444 seconds behind that of Spaniard Alonso, Switzerland’s Sebastien Buemi and Japan’s Kazuki Nakajima.
Alonso short-shifted in the closing stages to keep rising gearbox temperatures under control and team boss Pascal Vasselon ordered that the twin-turbocharged 2.4-litre petrol V6 Toyotas with an 8 megajoule (MJ) hybrid system consisting of a motor-generator at each axle not race each other after the last pit stops inside the final half-hour.
“It was always the plan to freeze the positions … we did not want to have the last laps with a lot of tension,” Vasselon said.
Other than a couple of wins in go-karts, it was dual Formula 1 world champion Alonso’s first victory since the Spanish Grand Prix of 2013 – his last year at Ferrari – and his only win at Spa-Francorchamps (the most revered of the world’s circuits still used for regular top-level racing) since his Formula 3000 season in 2000, the year before his F1 debut.
“A fantastic debut, an amazing job by the team, 1-2 in qualifying, 1-2 in the race, Kazuki and Sebastien at the start pulling away – they made my life a little bit easier,” Alonso said.
“Anything can happen in six hours – a lot of traffic, a lot of risky moments.
“I think we executed the race to perfection.
“We are ready for Le Mans (on June 16-17). Definitely the race is a lot tougher, 24 hours, a lot of issues may appear, but we are as prepared as possible (and there is a test day on June 3).
“I think we will go with confidence into the race.”
The second Toyota was driven by Britain’s Mike Conway, Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi and Argentina’s Jose Maria Lopez.
The third-placed car – driven by Switzerland’s Neel Jani, Brazilian Bruno Senna and German Andre Lotterer – was disqualified when its skid block was found not to conform at post-race scrutineering, promoting Swiss team Rebellion’s sister R-13 to the final podium place.
A Ford GT driven by Frenchman Olivier Pla, German Stefan Mucke and American Billy Johnson won the 10-car GTE Pro class after a race-long battle with a pair of Porsche 911 RSRs, while the Ferrari 488s and new Aston Martin Vantage AMRs and BMW M8s were never in the fight.
Whopper fine for Michelin
Michelin, which supplies 32 of the 35 full-season WEC entries, has been fined €250,000 – almost A$400,000 – by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) for failing to supply 720 tyres to it on time.
Under a new rule, the tyres were to be supplied to the FIA for storage and distribution to teams 24 hours before the first event of the ‘Super Season’ stretching through to next year’s Le Mans.
The rule is aimed at preventing tyre manufacturers rolling out developments of their range of rubber homologated for the entire season, according to Sportscar365.com.
“The breach of regulation compromises the sporting equity and fairness of all the WEC Super Season as the stability of the different tyre specifications delivered by Michelin will not be guaranteed in the future,” the FIA said.
The fine on Michelin is understood to be the largest in WEC history, with €50,000 to be paid immediately and €200,000 by next month’s Le Mans – and it is not certain the company will be able to supply the necessary tyres by then.
“The FIA and the ACO (the Le Mans organiser, Automobile Club de l’Ouest) were informed several weeks ago that the production capacity of our factory did not, at this period of the year, permit us to comply with this new stipulation in the regulations which requests Michelin to produce a quantity of tyres equivalent to the organisation of an additional race,” Michelin said.
“The explanations provided by Michelin to the FIA and the ACO were turned down.
“Michelin has taken note of the decision.”
Penske winning in sports car too
Not only is Team Penske now dominating Australia’s Supercars and America’s IndyCar, as well as being a frontrunner in NASCAR, it has just won its first race for Honda brand Acura in America’s sports car championship.
As with the Toyotas at Spa, Penske’s 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 Acura ARX-05s finished first and second in the race over 2 hours and 40 minutes at Mid-Ohio.
The victorious Acura was shared by the defending series champion, American Ricky Taylor, who defected from his father’s Cadillac outfit, and Penske’s three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, Brazilian Helio Castroneves. Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and American Dean Cameron drove the other Acura that finished less than 8.5 seconds behind.
A Mazda RT24-P prepared by Germany’s Team Joest and driven by Britain’s Oliver Jarvis and American Tristan Nunez was third, 26 seconds off the lead.
However, Portuguese pair Filipe Albuquerque and Joao Barbosa still lead the series after fourth place at Mid-Ohio in an Action Express Racing Cadillac Dpi-V.R.
Briscoe, Brabham on Indy 500 radar
Australia could yet have three drivers in the 102nd Indianapolis 500 on May 27.
Ryan Briscoe and Matthew Brabham are being mentioned as possible replacements for Brazilian Pietro Fittipaldi, who broke both legs in a huge sports car crash at Spa-Francorchamps’ famed Eau Rouge at the weekend.
Fittipaldi, 21, grandson of two-time Indy 500 winner and dual F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, was entered for the American classic with Dale Coyne Racing and was due to do the rookie orientation program at The Brickyard on May 15.
Briscoe, 36 and who recently became an American citizen, was an eight-time winner in IndyCar and had pole position for the 2012 Indy 500 before a switch to GT racing, most recently with Ford’s program run by Chip Ganassi.
Brabham, 24, who splits his time between Australia and the US and won the Stadium Super Trucks round in Perth at the weekend, raced in the 100th Indy 500 in 2016.
The two Australians already among the 35 entries for the 33 places in ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ are Toowoomba’s Will Power with Team Penske and James Davison in a third car to be run by the legendary A.J. Foyt.
The Penske and Foyt cars are Chevrolet-engined, while Coyne runs Honda power.
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