Winners and Losers: 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
- Evan Veer
- 8h
- 6 min read
Written by Evan Veer, Edited by Aaron Carroll
The six hours of Spa-Francorchamps has yet again shown itself to be a highlight on the World Endurance Championship (WEC) calendar, with a constant stream of on-track action mixed in with strategy near the end keeping the race entertaining all the way through.
As the last race before the series’ crown jewel race at Le Mans, and the most similar track-wise, Spa is always an important measuring point for the teams to see where they stand ahead of the 24 hours spectacle.
With Spa proving to be the best test ground ahead of Le Mans, that gives all the more reason to check out the winners and losers of the race.
Winners: Alpine No.36
If anyone still doubted whether Alpine have what it takes to become regular contenders for Hypercar victories, then this weekend will have taken all those doubts away. Starting sixth on the grid, the team would have surely hoped to be in the fight for a podium come raceday, but Frédéric Makowiecki’s opening stint immediately made it clear that they had the potential to take the fight to the Ferraris up front.
Once the No.36 broke free from the main Hypercar pack it became the fastest car on track. They eventually took the lead with an incredible overtake on the No.51 Ferrari into Eau Rouge and a perfectly executed undercut on the No.50 that had led up to that point.
Jules Gounon kept the car into the lead until an unfortunately timed safety car dropped the No.36 back into third. In the final two hours Mick Schumacher did everything in his power to reclaim the top spot, but was ultimately not able to catch up on his worn out tires.
Even if the result might have felt slightly disappointing at the time, the sustained pace of all three drivers in the No.36 combined with a lack of notable mistakes within the team can only be an encouraging sign heading into Le Mans.
There is still a lot to prove for Alpine as they seek redemption for their utterly disappointing run last year, when both cars suffered a catastrophic engine failure less than six hours into the race.
Losers: Peugeot
If there’s any team familiar with the extreme ups and downs in racing it’s Peugeot, having come close to success on several occasions only to crash out or even to run out of fuel on the very last lap, and this weekend was no different.
The team did well in qualifying as the best non-Ferrari on the grid, finishing fourth. Throughout the first half of the race, both Peugeot 9x8s regularly headed the main pack in Hypercar, showing that the car is capable of wheel-to-wheel racing as well.
But then, halfway through the race, the troubles began; a gamble on strategy saw the No.93 lead for half a stint until it was forced to pit and dropped all the way to the back of the pack, only for another safety car to come out and grant all of the cars ahead an almost free pitstop.
With the No.93 relegated to 16th, all hopes rested on the No.94 in the hands of the young Malthe Jakobsen, but a seemingly innocent moment of contact with the No.20 BMW snapped the left rear suspension and put an unfortunate end to the No.94’s race.
With high-ranking Peugeot staff attending the race ahead of a rumoured extension to Peugeot’s Hypercar commitment, and possibly even an entirely new car, this was the race that could have symbolically put an end to the French marque’s misery, but instead it devolved into yet another unfortunate display of their struggles with the 9X8.
There is most definitely reason to be optimistic for Le Mans however, with the car looking more competitive and reliable than ever before. The biggest challenge standing between Peugeot and winning the crown jewel of endurance racing on their home soil is to stay out of trouble for the entire twenty-four hours.
Winners: Ferrari
Regardless of what some might say there is no way to make a list of winners for Spa that does not include Ferrari. The 499P has proven to be an absolute monster in qualifying conditions yet again with a dominant 1-2-3 on the grid in Hypercar. While a good starting position is certainly helpful, the team’s race performance in both Hypercar and LMGT3 shows how strong the team has become in race execution as well.
In the face of challenges from the No.36 Alpine and No.20 BMW the team kept a near perfect strategy, while also showing willingness to split their strategies unlike in previous seasons. With a three-race winning streak in the WEC and having won every Le Mans that it has participated in, there is no doubt the Ferrari 499P is the absolute favorite heading into June.
Loser: The Porsche 963
There is no other way to describe Porsche’s weekend than to call it painfully unremarkable. At no point in the weekend did any of the cars from either the factory team or the customer Proton car show anything resembling competitive pace.
In terms of on-track action the only moments that stood out were the No.5 Penske‘s spin on the first lap and the No.99 Proton suffering a sudden gearbox failure later on.
Of course some will argue that the balance of performance (BoP) left the manufacturer without a chance, but the deficit shown in both qualifying and the race is well beyond the effects of a few extra kilograms of ballast. At the same time their rivals Toyota also suffered a lack of speed in qualifying but managed to fight their way back up to the top come race day.
While it is not the end of the world it is certainly not the preparation that Pascal Wehrlein and Nico Müller had hoped for in their only WEC race before Le Mans in the 963, and as things stand Penske looks unlikely to fill the last big gap in their trophy cabinet this year.
Winners: BMW No.20
Despite only being left with two drivers - with Sheldon van der Linde competing in the IMSA round at Laguna Seca instead - the No.20 BMW put up another great showing at Spa after their second place finish in Imola.
Despite starting way down the field the team slowly worked its way up, and after a well-timed safety car intervention the No.20 solidified its position in the fight for the podium positions.
The No.20 was definitely the car that saw the most action during the race, with the highlight being the three car battle with the No.36 Alpine and No.51 Ferrari. After trading positions back and forth the BMW ultimately came out on top, only to lose the place again when its tires fell off a cliff.
While the No.20 BMW’s pace was fairly similar to that of the Peugeots and Cadillacs, the thing that set them apart was their willingness to take risks, both in the car and on the pit wall. Although a brake issue may have cost them the result they deserved, BMW team WRT can certainly be happy with the form it has shown this season so far.
Loser: ‘The discourse’
It is understandable to be disappointed when your favourite team underperforms expectations, and of course, the BoP is not always perfect and will sometimes slightly favour one manufacturer over another.
However, the way the online discussion derailed this weekend is well beyond reasonable, and in many ways put a sour note under what was otherwise an incredible race.
As soon as qualifying was over, it was impossible to go onto any online endurance racing community without running into constant complaints about Ferrari’s pace, or Toyota’s lack thereof, and sarcastic remarks accusing the FIA of being biased in some way.
There is room for a respectful discussion here, but entire communities being set alight with streams of negative comments worsens the racing experience for everyone involved.
While changes in the BoP have always sparked some discussion since its introduction to the top class, how negativity dominated the overall discussion this time makes it a true low point of the race week at Spa.
As we prepare for Le Mans, it is important to not get caught up in heated discussions over a few kilograms of ballast while losing the racing we love out of sight. This goes for both us fans as well as the teams themselves - Le Mans should be the highlight of the year, so above all make sure to enjoy it!
