Toyota had the quickest cars at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship super season, but skid block issues disqualified both of their cars, with Rebellion Racing inheriting the win and also making history, as this is the first overall victory by a privateer entry since the start of the modern iteration of the FIA WEC in 2012.
As expected, the Toyotas were quick to secure their 1-2 at the start of the race, while SMP Racing and Rebellion Racing saw the No. 11 BR1 and the No. 1 Rebellion fighting alone for third as the No. 17 BR1 and the No. 3 Rebellion were recovering ground after a first corner contact that sent both cars to a spin.
The No. 92 Porsche was leading the LMGTE-Pro class with some ease while the Aston Martin hunt season was open, with the No. 97 car being gobbled down the pack and the No. 95 car was kept honest by the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari, which left both Vantages in defensive mode. The end of the first hour saw the Astons relegated to 5th and 7th in class, while the No. 67 Chip Ganassi Ford jumped to second.
The Oreca show was dictating the LMP2 class with Jackie Chan DC Racing in front with the No. 37 and the No. 38 cars, with the best non-Oreca appearing only in fourth as the No. 29 Team Nederland Dallara was the only car that was close to threat the Oreca pack.
The moments before the halfway saw lots of debris flying and some positions shuffled, with punctures for the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari and the No. 38 DC Racing Oreca, a door damage for the No. 66 Chip Ganassi Ford and a suspension collapse for the No. 28 TDS Oreca, which spiced things in the highly contested LMP2 and LMGTE-Pro classes, although the respective class leaders, the No. 37 DC Racing Oreca and the No. 92 Porsche, remained without closer threats.
Despite attempts of putting the No. 8 Toyota in front, the No. 7 Toyota not only stayed in the lead but also had a good margin around the fourth hour. Behind Toyota’s own matters, Rebellion Racing placed the No. 1 and No. 3 cars in third and fourth, leaving the No. 17 SMP BR1 in fifth.
For the final hour, the LMP1 and LMP2 classes were totally in favor of Toyota and Jackie Chan DC Racing, while the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari was holding position in LMGTE-Pro while the No. 91 Porsche was trying to reduce the gap in its already tortured tires, while LMGTE-Am had the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche in command. None of the leaders had issues to carry on to the finish line and celebrate victory.
The problems appeared after the race, when both Toyotas were disqualified due to breaches in the skid block sizes, as the No. 7 car had 9 mm deflections on both sides of it, while the No. 8 car had deflections of 6 mm in the right and 8 mm in the left. Another car that saw the ban hammer was the No. 91 Porsche due to ground clearance breach, as it was measured at 48 mm instead of the required 50 mm.
With the post-race disqualifications, the No. 3 Rebellion inherited an almost unlikely win for an LMP1 privateer, with the No. 1 Rebellion completing the Swiss 1-2 and the No. 17 SMP BR1 completed the overall and LMP1 podiums, while the No. 67 Chip Ganassi Ford and the No. 92 Porsche jumped to second and third in LMGTE-Pro.
The events at Silverstone leave only two points of margin between Toyota and Rebellion in the standings, being it 66 points against 63. The LMP2 battle is even closer, with the No. 36 Signatech Alpine having 72 points against 68 from the No. 38 DC Racing Oreca and 61 of the No. 37 DC Racing Oreca.
Porsche commands the LMGTE-Pro class with 117 points against 77 from Ford and 71 from Ferrari, and things repeat in LMGTE-Am as the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton has 76 points against 43 from Clearwater Racing.
Now it’s time to travel to Asia as Fuji Speedway, Toyota’s home ground, will host the 6 Hours of Fuji on October 12th.
PHOTO: Rebellion Racing
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