BMW scores maiden Hypercar win in chaotic finish

BMW executed an alternative strategy to perfection to claim its maiden World Endurance Championship victory in a chaotic, incident-packed Spa-Francorchamps 6 Hours race.

A decision to short-fuel in the opening pitstop propelled the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh of Rene Rast, Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Frijns to the lead, which the trio consolidated when a safety car in the penultimate hour forced all hypercars to the pit at the same time.

Frijns then pulled away from rivals in the final two stints, guiding the factory WRT team to a home win in Belgium. 

At the start of the race, Will Stevens got a great run from Raidillon in the #12 Cadillac V-Series.R, passing the polesitting #94 Peugeot 9X8 of Loic Duval at Les Combes to snatch the lead.

The two Alpine A424 LMDhs jumped to second and fourth by the end of the hour, split by the #94 Peugeot, while Kevin Magnussen underlined BMW’s pace by charging from 10th to fifth in the #15 car.

With the opening round of pitstops complete, the #20 BMW had leapt to the front of the field with a shorter pitstop, while Brendon Hartley had jumped to second in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid by pitting early and undercutting rivals. However, both cars were significantly low on fuel, leaving those on the conventional strategy – led by the #12 Cadillac – firmly in the hunt.

During the middle section of the race, the #20 BMW continued to extend its advantage at the front, going for an aggressive approach when most rivals opted to conserve fuel and tyre life. At its peak, van der Linde’s lead over the #12 Cadillac stood at 52 seconds, although it would come down to 40 seconds later.

Meanwhile, the battle for third place on track raged on, with Antonio Felix da Costa putting the #35 Alpine A424 ahead – and potentially in the net lead – with a faster in-lap and pit service in the third hour.

The complexion of the race changed completely with just over two hours to go when Matteo Cressoni went wide at Les Combes and spun into the path of the #94 Peugeot 9X8 of polesitter Malthe Jakobsen who, on cold tyres, could do little to avoid the Mercedes-AMG GT3. The subsequent safety car put everyone on the same strategy, leaving the #20 BMW firmly in the lead ahead of the #8 Toyota and the #35 Alpine.

Frijns quickly built a gap of eight seconds in the next stint, but his advantage was wiped out when the safety car was deployed again at the start of the final hour. Alessandro Pier Guidi was running in a strong position in the #51 Ferrari 499P when the Italian was hit from behind by the #32 BMW M4 GT3 of Augusto Farfus, who in turn appeared to have made contact with Ayhancan Guven in the #91 Porsche.

After a prolonged safety car, Frijns perfected the restart to remain in the lead, but the race was neutralised yet again as Alex Riberas spun in the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie while chasing da Costa’s Alpine for fifth.

That set up a 24-minute dash for victory, with Frijns leading from Magnussen, who had jumped to second in the pitstop cycles. The Dutchman had no trouble keeping his rivals behind, taking the chequered flag by just under two seconds to score the first WEC win for BMW’s LMDh programme.

Magnussen fended off a late attack from the #50 Ferrari of Miguel Molina, who had the luxury of four new tyres, completing a remarkable 1-2 for BMW.

The #50 Ferrari had a topsy-turvy race at Spa, with Molina guiding the car to second behind Stevens in the second hour before a slow pitstop cost the crew 20 seconds and left it outside the top 10. But Molina, Fuoco and Nielsen gradually worked their way back and eventually completed the podium positions.

Fourth place went to the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH of Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell, after Gamble passed the #7 Toyota of Kamui Kobayashi with just four minutes left on the clock.

The #7 Toyota emerged as the highest-placed from the Japanese manufacturer after the sister #8 car that was running in second position lost a heap of time by pitting in green conditions just before Pier Guidi’s accident.

AF Corse’s satellite #83 Ferrari crewed by Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye finished sixth, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, Paul Di Resta and Nick Cassidy in the sole surviving Peugeot.

Newcomer Genesis scored its maiden points in the WEC, with the #17 GMR-001 shared by Pipo Derani, Mathys Jaubert and Andre Lotterer benefiting from late-race drama to take eighth. The sister #19 car ran into electrical issues in the first hour and spent several laps in the garage, ending up 13th.

The #12 Cadillac of Stevens, Norman Nato and Louis Deletraz lost a heap of time in the fifth hour after contending for the win early in the race, ending up ninth. The top 10 was completed by the recovering #8 Toyota of Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa.

Alpine came away from the race empty-handed after da Costa went off the track at the final restart and damaged the front end of the #35 A424. He had been running fifth.

The #38 Cadillac retired from the race with a loss of drive following a first-hour collision between Earl Bamber and the #92 Manthey Porsche 911 GTR R of Yasser Shahin at Turn 12.

McLaren triumphs in LMGT3

#10 Garage 59 McLaren 720s GT3 EVO: Antares Au, Thomas Fleming, Marvin Kirchhofer

Photo by: Paul Foster

Garage 59 took top honours in the LMGT3 class, with Antares Au, Tom Fleming and Marvin Kirchhofer taking the top spot in the #10 McLaren 720S GT3.

Following late heartbreak at Imola, fortune smiled for McLaren and its new LMGT3 Garage 59 as the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 that had led since the second hour was hit with a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release. 

Francois Heriau had leapt from sixth to third in the first stint, before a quick pitstop propelled him in the lead in the third hour. The #21 Ferrari remained at the front through various stages of the race until the AF Corse crew was penalised for blocking Kirchhofer’s McLaren at the exit of the pitlane during the final round of pitstops.

Ian James, Mattia Drudi and Zacharie Robichon were elevated to second in the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 as a result of the sanction, while the #92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R of Richard Lietz, Shahin and Riccardo Pera completed the podium from 12th on the grid.

Proton endured a tough day at Spa, despite both its cars leading certain stages of the race. Eric Powell drove the #77 Ford Mustang GT3 to the front with a bold pass over Tom van Rompuy’s Lexus at Eau Rouge. However, just 14 minutes into the race, he ran too wide over the kerbs at Stavelot and beached the car in the gravel, triggering the first safety car appearance of the day.

The #88 Ford led the second hour in the hands of Stefano Gattuso, but a drive-through penalty for track limits while running in second left it further down the order.

The polesitting #87 Lexus RC F GT3 shared by van Rompuy, Hadrien David and Esteban Masson remained in the hunt for the podium until the final hour, when it mysteriously slowed down on track at the same time the #51 Ferrari LMH stopped with terminal damage.

Spa-Francorchamps 6 Hours results

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