Silverstone WEC: Toyota survives rain scare to take 1-2

Both of the Japanese manufacturer's TS050 Hybrids finished a lap clear of the field in the four-hour contest, with the #7 crew leading home the sister #8 car shared by Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and team newcomer Brendon Hartley by just under two seconds.

The two Toyotas swapped the lead multiple times throughout, with the first on-track move coming when Kobayashi passed Hartley just shy of the halfway mark on track after a rain shower.

Hartley repassed Kobayashi just before the penultimate round of stops, but the #7 was back ahead when Nakajima pitted to hand over the #8 car to Hartley, a lap before Kobayashi made way for Lopez in the sister car.

Lopez then built a buffer of some 10s in the latter stages, although Nakajima reduced that to less than half a second in the final half-hour before dutifully completing a 1-2.

Rebellion's #3 crew of Loic Duval, Pipo Derani and Nathanael Berthon completed the podium despite picking up two penalties for technical infringements, although the Swiss squad did enjoy two spells in the lead.

The first of these came after an early full-course yellow period triggered by the #6 Ginetta shedding its right-rear wheel. Both Toyotas pitted a lap later than the Rebellions, just as the FCY ended, allowing both Rebellions through into a short-lived 1-2.

The arrival of rain midway through the second hour shuffled the order again, as the Toyotas initially tried to brave it on slicks while the Rebellions both came in to change to wets.

At one stage the Toyotas were losing 15 seconds per lap to the Rebellions, and although the Japanese cars were able to take on wets without losing the lead, a subsequent safety car period - a result of a coming-together between Oliver Jarvis in the #6 Ginetta and Miguel Molina in the #71 Ferrari at Becketts - closed the pack up again.

The #3 Rebellion jumped back into the lead by coming in for slicks a lap earlier, but once again was powerless to prevent the Toyotas from getting by at the following restart.

Derani had already fallen some 20s down when the #3 car was given a stop-and-go penalty for a fuel flow infringement, before it was hit with another stop-and-go for the same offence in the final half hour.

Rebellion's #1 car, shared by Bruno Senna, Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato, had already been ruled out a podium by a slow three-minute stop, the result of Nato knocking over his mechanics, but was set to finish fourth before a late five-minute visit to the garage to fix a power steering problem dropped it to fifth in LMP1 behind the lead Ginetta.

Charlie Robertson, Egor Orudzhev and Ben Hanley enjoyed a largely smooth run in the best of the AER-powered G60-LT-P1s, albeit delayed by an off for Hanley on his out-lap at Luffield, narrowly overcoming the best of the LMP2 cars for fourth overall, four laps down.

The #6 Ginetta, which had already made multiple trips to the garage after losing its wheel early on, continued after Jarvis's incident and finished 17 laps down.

LMP2: Cool Racing wins on WEC debut

Victory in LMP2 and fifth overall went to newcomer outfit Cool Racing, whose #42 Oreca 07 was shared only by Nicolas Lapierre and Antonin Borga after Alexandre Coigny withdrew following a crash in Saturday's European Le Mans Series race.

Job van Uitert had built a sizeable advantage just shy of the halfway point in the #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca, but the second safety car period allowed the Cool Racing car to close right in, shortly after which Lapierre passed for the lead.

The TDS-run RTN car then faded when Frits van Eerd took over from van Uitert for the final hour, and in the end the Dutch gentleman driver was pipped to second by Toyota LMP1 reserve driver Thomas Laurent in the #36 Signatech Alpine Oreca.

Laurent, Andre Negrao and Pierre Ragues ended up 49 seconds down on the class-winning Cool Racing car, and two seconds clear of the RTN Oreca shared by van Eerd, van Uitert and Giedo van der Garde, who completed an all-Michelin podium in LMP2.

Best of the Goodyear runners was the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca in fourth, while United Autosports' WEC debut ended after just a handful of minutes after a suspected electrical issue left Paul di Resta stranded on track.

GTE: Porsche 1-2 with all-new car

Porsche's brand new 911 RSR-19 took victory in its first-ever race outing, as Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz led reigning class champions Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre in a 1-2 finish for the Weissach marque in the GTE Pro class.

Both Porsche crews gained considerable time over their opponents in the wet middle phase of the race, but their advantage was lost in the second safety car period, allowing the sole surviving #51 Ferrari 488 GTE of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi back into contention after an early puncture appeared to ruin its chances.

Pier Guidi picked off both Porsches to retake the lead after the restart, only to fall behind in the next pitstop cycle, and was challenging Christensen again when he served a drive-through penalty for overtaking under the safety car.

That meant the lead Aston Martin Vantage GTE of Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin was able to take the final podium spot, while Pier Guidi and Calado had to be content with fourth.

Ferrari did however take honours in GTE Am, with class returnee Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and WEC rookie Nicklas Nielsen taking the win in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari.

The trio finished a lap ahead of the works Aston Martin shared by Paul Dalla Lana, Darren Turner and Ross Gunn, while the MR Racing Ferrari of Motoaki Ishikawa, Kei Cozzolino and Olivier Beretta rounded out the class podium.

Race results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Time
1	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	129	4:00'57.709
2	8	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	129	4:00'59.610
3	3	Nathanael Berthon Pipo Derani Loic Duval	Rebellion R13	LMP1	128	4:02'35.108
4	5	Charles Robertson Ben Hanley Egor Orudzhev	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	124	4:01'20.815
5	42	Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny	Oreca 07	LMP2	124	4:01'22.238
6	36	Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues	Alpine A470	LMP2	124	4:02'11.549
7	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Job Van Uitert	Oreca 07	LMP2	124	4:02'13.971
8	37	Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	124	4:02'21.210
9	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	124	4:02'21.695
10	1	Bruno Senna Gustavo Menezes Norman Nato	Rebellion R13	LMP1	123	4:02'12.702
11	47	Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	122	4:01'19.970
12	33	Mark Patterson Kenta Yamashita Anders Fjordbach	Oreca 07	LMP2	122	4:02'14.610
13	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	115	4:01'15.704
14	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	115	4:01'19.506
15	97	Alex Lynn Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	115	4:01'21.990
16	51	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	115	4:01'31.758
17	95	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	114	4:01'29.20
18	83	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	114	4:02'44.660
19	98	Paul Dalla Lana Darren Turner Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	113	4:01'08.923
20	70	Motoaki Ishikawa Olivier Beretta Kei Cozzolino	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	113	4:01'19.885
21	86	Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	113	4:01'24.669
22	77	Christian Ried Matt Campbell Riccardo Pera	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	113	4:01'32.278
23	56	Egidio Perfetti David Kolkmann Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	113	4:01'41.570
24	90	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	113	4:02'09.221
25	62	Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	113	4:02'24.380
26	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	113	4:02'43.473
27	57	Ben Keating Felipe Fraga Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	112	4:00'59.253
28	6	Michael Simpson Oliver Jarvis Guy Smith	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	112	4:01'35.831
29	88	Thomas Preining Gianluca Giraudi Ricardo Sanchez	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	111	4:02'00.671
	71	Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	54	1:54'41.638
	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta	Oreca 07	LMP2	2	3'52.039
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