[WEC Race] 6 Hours of Spa

[veeten]

Peugeot with best lap, 2:05.180.... 1.5 seconds ahead of the Toyota.

The French have arrived!

[veeten]

Scratch that, now 2:03.338 for the Caddy...
Folks, it's now what we wanted.

[joeb]

Red flag, not sure for what at this point. numerous cars are listed as STOP on track but no word in Race Control.

[kvenom]

Porsche and Cadillac listed as stopped, did they have a coming together?

[joeb]

Originally Posted by kvenom

Porsche and Cadillac listed as stopped, did they have a coming together?

Team manager for car 5 (Porsche) has been summoned to the race director....

[veeten]

Is that the blue or yellow Caddy that is listed as stopped?

[veeten]

Ah, it is Van der Zande and Cameron. This should be interesting...

[Toyotats03OUS]

Ferrari just did a 2:01.8

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Toyotats03OUS

Ferrari just did a 2:01.8

They found some speed in between the yellow and red flags.

[kvenom]

Lotterer has stopped on track in the number 6 FCY

[Toyotats03OUS]

I think it is safe to say that we will see the lap times drop to 1:59

[veeten]

Now Ferrari, ....
I said that FP2 would be the session that " tells no tales", looks like I was right.

[veeten]

Ferrari 1-2 now.

[Toyotats03OUS]

Still 14 mins in left, but it looks like toyota is focusing on set up, not really going for fast laps.

Another red flag

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by joeb

Three dry compounds? I may be getting the IMSA and WEC tyres confused but I thought they only had 2 compounds for Hypercar to choose from, while in IMSA, the series chooses which tire to use on a race by race basis?

They offer 2 everywhere but LM but from 3 built, or at least that's what it sounded like.

Sounds like in this case they were not sure about safety, and we know Michelin and safety tire concerns, so they asked to bring all 3 and FIA agreed

[v8supes]

Cadillac suffered a fire apparently. Hope its not too bad.

[veeten]

The racing press is going to be all over this session, both the writers and bloggers. Toyota just got surprised at just how fast the competition has become. With Ferrari now the team to watch.,..

[Toyotats03OUS]

Originally Posted by veeten

The racing press is going to be all over this session, both the writers and bloggers. Toyota just got surprised at just how fast the competition has become. With Ferrari now the team to watch.,..

I think ferrari has been there, but I do not think that FP2 is a good representation of where everyone actually is, toyota did not bother to put a fast lap on fp2 as it seems like they are focusing on set up. but I expect toyota to be 1 and 2 in qualy.

I am happy to see Peugeot up there in the mix!

[Matador]

Originally Posted by veeten

The racing press is going to be all over this session, both the writers and bloggers. Toyota just got surprised at just how fast the competition has become. With Ferrari now the team to watch.,..

Or maybe they bought some construction material from Porsche?

[J Jay]

It looks good, but let's wait until qualifying at least before declaring the fight is back on.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by joeb

Three dry compounds? I may be getting the IMSA and WEC tyres confused but I thought they only had 2 compounds for Hypercar to choose from, while in IMSA, the series chooses which tire to use on a race by race basis?

You’re right, it’s a special for Spa. It was requested by Michelin and announced last weekend.

From the technical bulletin before the race:

Due to:
- the unpredictable weather in Spa-Francorchamps,
- the lack of experience of the HYPERCAR tyre usage without tyre heating devices,
- the unique tyre specification for wet weather conditions and the variety of cars in the category,
Michelin is kindly requesting the possibility to declare the three 2023 tyre specs available for the WEC SPA
event for driver’s safety purpose.
The availability of the three specifications for all Competitors of the HYPERCAR category allows Michelin to provide the right tyres for each weather conditions.
No extra quantities to be used are requested.
This exception is requested for the WEC Spa event only.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by veeten

Now Ferrari, ....
I said that FP2 would be the session that " tells no tales", looks like I was right.

But if you look at the top speeds from the definitive FP2 session, I sense a BOP change coming....

Another one!?

[Adam43]

It occurs to me that in a successful BoP what you’d see race to race in a season that has a lot of new competitors is a field that that is close, but with a small advantage to the established team, and those gaps would vary almost randomly from track to track and with different conditions, but slowly close up to the established team.

Although we’ve not even had a race here yet.

Toyota remain favorites, the others are closer, …

[Toyotats03OUS]

Originally Posted by Adam43

It occurs to me that in a successful BoP what you’d see race to race in a season that has a lot of new competitors is a field that that is close, but with a small advantage to the established team, and those gaps would vary almost randomly from track to track and with different conditions, but slowly close up to the established team.

Although we’ve not even had a race here yet.

Toyota remain favorites, the others are closer, …

It is going to be tough to beat toyota here, I expect Toyota to go under 1:59 in quali, and from what we have seen so far during previous races, I expect their race pace to be untouchable.

[Adam43]

Oh yes, I agree, they are clear favorites despite Ferrari’s pace.