WEC 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps 2023 - LMP2

Two of the LMP2 cars are about to fall into the clutches of a Toyota Hypercar.

There were eleven Oreca 07 cars entered by various teams in the 2023 WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.   Eight of these finished on the same lap.   The United Autosports car No.23 had taken pole in qualifying but in the race the No.41 WRT car took the honours after a faster last pit stop.  The racing was also close for third place but the Prema car made an error and thus Albert Costa and the Inter Europol team took the final podium spot.  The Alpine ELF cars were slowest in qualifying but the No.36 car took fastest lap in the race.

All eleven LMP2 cars are featured in this blogpost.  Photos are from the Friday practice and qualifying and Saturday's race.

The LMP2 Class winning Team WRT Oreca 07 driven by Rui Andrade, Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz.

The winning WRT LMP2 car.

2nd in LMP2 was this United Autosports Oreca 07 driven by Josh Pierson, Olivier Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist.

The United Autosports car leading the Iron Dames.

The United Autosport drivers.

3rd in the LMP2 class was this Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 driven by Jakub Smiechowski, Fabic Scherer and Albert Costa.

The third placed Inter Europol Competition car.

Albert Costa.

4th place in LMP2 went to the Prema Racing Oreca 07 driven by Felip Ugran, Bent Viscaal and Andrea Caldarelli.

The Prema Racing No.9.

5th place in LMP2 went to the United Autosports Oreca 07 driven by Frederick Lubin, Philip Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque.

United Autosports No.22.

The No.22 drivers.

6th place in LMP2 went to the Team WRT Oreca 07 driven by Sean Gelael, Ferdinand Habsburg and Robin Frijns.

The WRT No.31 car.

7th place in LMP2 went to the Alpine ELF Team Oreca 07 driven by Matthieu Vaxiviere, Julien Canal and Charles Milesi.

The Alpine ELF Team No.36 car.

8th place in LMP2 went the Alpine Elf Team Oreca 07 driven by Andre Negrao, Memo Rojas and Ollie Caldwell.

Both Alpines were the slowest cars in qualifying.

9th place in LMP2 went to the JOTA Oreca 07 driven by David Heinemeier Hansson, Pietro Fittipaldi and Olivier Rasmussen.

The No.28 JOTA car.

Pietro Fittipaldi.

10th place in LMP2 went to the Prema racing Oreca 07 driven by Doriane Pin, Mirko Bortolotti and Danil Kvyat.

Prema Racing No.63.

The Vector Sport Oreca 07 driven by Ryan Cullen, Matthias Kaiser and Gabriel Aubry only lasted 14 laps.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

LMP2 cars come of to the Kemmel straight accompanied by some LMGTE AM cars.

Two LMP2 cars exit La Source.

The Alpine enters the start finish straight followed by the Iron Dames.

2023 WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Fracorchamps - LMGTE -AM

 

Aston Martin and Ferrari during qualifying.

This post covers the LM GTE Class at the 2023 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. This was the third round of the 2023 World Endurance Championship following Sebring and Portimaõ.   The next stop is Le Mans so an important race in terms of preparation for the 24 hours.  I always like seeing the GT class and now the GTE Pro class has disappeared we are left just with the GTE AM competitors, but they are still worth watching.  There were GT cars from four manufacturers competing and three of them remained on the lead lap for the GTs (140 laps) and all of them was represented in the top four positions in the class.  Big congratulations to 22 year old French driver Lilou Wadoux who became the first woman to be a class winner in the WEC since it started in 2012.

GTAM cars late in the race with the leading Ferrari ahead of the field.

All of the LM GTE AM cars that were at Spa-Francorchamps for the 2023 WEC 6 hours and many of the drivers are shown below:

The GTAM winning Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO driven by Louis Perez Companc, Lilou Wadoux and Alessio Rovera during the race at Radillion.

The winning drivers. during the pit walk.  By finishing first Lilou Wadoux (centre) became the first woman to win her class in a WEC event. Louis to the left and Alessio to the right of her.

The sole Corvette at Eau Rouge early in the race.

Three abreast down the Kemmel straight with the Corvette closest to the camera.

Second in GT AM was this Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R driven by Ben Keating, Nicolas Varrone and Nick Catsburg.

The Corvette Racing team signing autographs during the pit walk, Bean Keating is on the left. 

The GT AM Aston Martin which took pole for the class in qualifying.

This Ort by TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR finished third driven by Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan and Charles Eastwood.

The drivers of the third placed Aston Martin.

The fourth placed GT AM Porsche in Raidillion..

The fourth placed Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR - 19 driven by Ryan Hardwick, Zacharie Robichon and Harry Tincknell going along the Kemmel Straight.

The Iron Dames Porsche closely followed by an Aston Martni,

Fifth place went to the Iron Dames Porsche 911 GTR - 19 driven by Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey.

The Iron Dames on the pit walk.

AF Corse Ferrari leading the Iron Dames at Eau Rouge.

The sixth placed AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO driven by Diego Alessi, Simon Mann and Ulysse De Pauw.

The No.21 Ferrari drivers.  Left to Right seated, Alessi, Mann, De Pauw.

The seventh placed Northwest AMR Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas.

The No.98 AMR drivers.  Left to Right - Mancinelli, Riberas, James.

The No.98 Aston leads the No.57 Ferrari.

The Kessel Racing Ferrari.

This Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE EVO driven by Takeshi Kimura, Scott Huffaker and Daniel Serra finished in eighth place.

The Kessel drivers.

The Dempsey-Proton Porsche leading a Ferrari through Eau Rouge.

The ninth placed Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR - 19 driven by Christian Ried, Mikkel Pedersen and Julien Andlauer.

Mikkel Pedersen.

The No.777 Aston leading a Ferrari.

The tenth placed D'Station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR driven by Satoshi Hoshino, Casper 

Stevenson and Tomonobu Fujii.

The D'Station drivers.   Left to Right - Hoshino, Fujii, Stevenson.

The eleventh placed Iron Lynx Porsche 911 GTR - 19.

Iron Lynx Porsche exiting Radillion.

The Iron Lynx drivers -  Left to Right - Alessio Picariello, Matteo Cressoni and Claudio Schiavoni.

GR racing Porsche descending towards Eau Rouge.

The twelfth placer GR Racing Porsche 911 GTR-19 driven by Michael Wainwright, Riccardo Pera

and Benjamin Barker.

The AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO was not classified after an accident in the race.

The No.54 AF Corse drivers - Left to Right - Thomas Flohr (Mr Vista Jet), Francisco Castellacci and Davide Rigon.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

After this qualifying accident in tricky condition, the No.56 Project 1-AO Porsche didn't start.

The No56 drivers during Friday's pit walk and thus before the accident.