Some facts and figures after the WEC 6 Hours of Spa
The recent WEC 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps was notable for many things – not least battles in all four classes from start to finish. Here are some interesting facts and figures from the second round of the 2014 season…
· It was Toyota Racing’s third WEC win in a row (including victory at Bahrain in 2013) and a 100% winning record in 2014 for the No.8 Toyota TS040.
· Nicolas Lapierre extends his WEC race winning total to six, more than any other Toyota Driver and equalling the winning record total of Messrs Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer.
· Audi score its first podium of the year and the first for the 2014 R18 e-tron quattro.
· Rebellion got the brand-new No.12 R-One to the finish in a near faultless display.
· Two wins in a row for the No.26 G-Drive Morgan Nissan, and an impressive four FIA WEC race wins in a row for Roman Rusinov after winning the last two races in 2013 too. He also claims a record-winning class total of 6 races.
· Olivier Pla and Julien Canal also claim two in a row, of course, and Canal has a 100% winning record in FIA WEC LMP2 competition.
· JOTA Sport continued its impressive record in this race – Simon Dolan has been a part of the team’s three consecutive WEC Spa podium finishes, including its win in 2012. Harry Tincknell gets a WEC podium finish on his Championship debut.
· Marc Gene has finished on the podium in 4 of his 5 WEC appearances (he finished 4th on his other appearance).
· KCMG score their second consecutive podium of the year.
· Dunlop swept the podium, as, unsurprisingly, did Nissan! It was Dunlop’s eighth consecutive LMP2 class win and Nissan’s 13th.
· In LMGTE Pro, World Champions Gimmi Bruni, AF Corse and Ferrari scored their first win of the year. That’s the team’s ninth Pro win in WEC and Bruni has been at the wheel in all of them. He extends his class-winning record in WEC competition…it was Toni Vilander’s second class win.
· Porsche finished second but extended its podium finishing record with the 911 RSR to five consecutive podiums extending back to Fuji 2013.
· For the No.71 crew of Davide Rigon and James Calado it was a hard-fought first WEC podium finish and, for Calado, his first podium finish in sportscars.
· It was a WEC LMGTE Am first for Luis Perez Companc who now has wins in two classes to his name, the Spa result joining a pair of LMP2 wins with Pecom – each won in different years.
· It was a fourth consecutive LMGTE Am podium finish for the AF Corse family – with three different cars, No.61 at Spa, No.81 at Silverstone and the last two races of 2013 for 8Star Motorsports.
· Second and third fell to Aston Martin Racing, a late run by Richie Stanaway grabbing second for the Silverstone class winners in the No.95 car, a third consecutive podium for No.95 and for Kristian Poulsen.
· David Heinemeir Hansson retained a 100% podium finishing record in the class and scored his 8th class podium finish in the WEC. Richie Stanaway scored his second FIA WEC podium finish, and now has second place class finishes in both LMGTE Pro and Am to his name.
· The No.98 car’s last moment splash-and-dash relegated the car to third, but it was a second consecutive podium of the year for the crew.
· It was a seventh WEC podium finish for Christoffer Nygaard, a fourth for Pedro Lamy, and a second (consecutive) podium for Paul Dalla Lana
· AF Corse has now scored 22 podium finishes in WEC competition, plus a further 10 for Pecom Racing, five for 8Star Motorsports and one for SMP Racing – an impressive grand total of 38! That includes 15 class wins (in three different classes): 9 LMGTE Pro, 2 LMGTE Am, plus 2 each for Pecom and 8Star.
· It is the 30th (and 29th) podium finish in WEC for Aston Martin Racing.
With thanks to Graham Goodwin
