FIA WEC 6 hours of Spa 2018

Saturday, May 5th, marked the kickoff of the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship Superseason. This was the first race of an extended season that will see the championship transition to a winter championship. This season will include two 6 Hours of Spa and two 24 Hours of Le Mans. Since 2019, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, held in June, has been the season finale. Especially with a whole new group of LMP1 prototypes joining the field for the first time in a long time, we didn't want to miss the season kickoff. However, things had already gone wrong in Friday's qualifying session, when Pietro Fittipaldi broke his legs in a heavy crash at Eau Rouge. His Dragonspeed BR01 LMP1 was too badly damaged to participate. It also eventually came to light that Ginetta was having problems with promised sponsorship money from China that hadn't been paid out. During the elaborate opening ceremony, we saw the garage doors close for the two Ginettas and for the Dragonspeed. So, before the race even started, we'd already lost three LMP1 prototypes. When the race started, Giedo van der Garde and his Racing Team Nederland LMP2 were really picking up speed. He overtook several competitors and quickly took the lead in his class. Unfortunately, they ended up stalled in the pits for a while due to technical problems. We noticed we didn't see them pass us for a while along the track. Sadly, no Dutch class win, but it certainly gives us hope for Le Mans! At the top, the race was completely dominated by Toyota, with the win going to the #8 car driven by rookie Fernando Alonso (where do we know that one from again). The team's #7 car had to start from the pit lane a lap down after a penalty. But the Toyotas were so fast that they made up the difference and (on team orders) finished second, two laps ahead of the rest of the field. So yes, we definitely miss Porsche and Audi... Now that Toyota has the only hybrid LMP1s, we're worried about Le Mans. The rest of the cars in that class, with their brand-new cars, didn't seem to be able to keep up. But who knows, Le Mans might still be as unexpected as in recent years. In GTE, the victory ultimately went to Ford #66. The team's other car quickly ended up in the tire barriers at Eau Rouge with a loud bang. At the end of the race, the #17 SMP Racing BR01 LMP1 spontaneously took off. Just after Eau Rouge, at Radillion, the car driven by Isaakyian literally left the track and did a double somersault, ending up in the tire barriers. Fortunately, Isaakyian was unharmed in this accident. When I rewatched the videos, I was actually disappointed; I had been there taking photos a while earlier... Luckily, I have other photos: