Autovolt Magazine

Toyota Win Opening Round of FIA WEC

After a tough Easter weekend, Toyota were there overall victors, finishing with a 1-2 at the Silverstone 6 hour race. Drivers, Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sebastian Buemi drove the winning car in an exciting and eventful race, cut short by bad weather and red flagged.

The UK held up it’s reputation for both crowd pleasing racing plus that most British of things, the weather, which was also on full show on Sunday.

Toyota TS040 Leads the Pack

The No.8 Toyota led for most of the race with the TS040 performing perfectly according to plan. The No.7 Toyota car came in second, having completed one lap less than the lead car. Of significant note was third place which was taken by the Porsche Team and their new No.20 919 Hybrid driven by Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley.

Unfortunately for Audi, neither of their R18 e-tron quattro’s managed to finish the race. The No.1 car, driven by Lucas di Grassi at the time fell off the track putting the car out of the race. Similarly, the No.2 car driven by Benoit Treluyer followed suit which led to the race’s only safety car incident. The other Porsche 919 Hybrid, car No.14, also failed to finish the race due to a hydraulic problem.

In all, much was learnt that will be taken to the next FIA WEC event, the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on the 3rd May. The 2014 FIA WEC season is officially underway and it’s fantastic to see such close competition amongst the all hybrid competitors of the LMP class.

 

Photos: Toyota