Toyota fends off challenge from Alpine to win Spa 6H

Toyota Gazoo Racing has taken the first win of the Hypercar era by winning the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, with Alpine second after a closely-fought contest.

Toyota initially led the race one-two as the #36 Alpine had a slow start and dropped behind some of the LMP2 runners. Once the French squad settled into the race, it began to up the pace and was able to capture the lead on the pitstop cycle after two hours of racing.

The two teams then continued to trade the lead back and forth throughout the pitstop cycles until a full course yellow for debris saw Alpine pit under caution and drop behind the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, with the #8 behind in second.

Victory hopes for the #7 crew then went up in smoke when Kamui Kobayashi made a mistake at Bruxelles, slid off the track and beached the car in the gravel. To make matters worse, they then also had to serve a drivethrough penalty for an earlier incident when Jose Maria Lopez rear-ended the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19.

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With the strategy advantage in the hands of the #8 Toyota, Sebastien Buemi took the car to the flag. Its victory was solidified when the Alpine had to make its final stop early due to a puncture, rendering it unable to close the gap to the leading Toyota.

Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima took their first race win since the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere taking second place in the #36 Alpine A480-Gibson upon its top class debut.

Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez finished third overall in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, a lap down.

United Autosports dominant in LMP2

United Autosports started their LMP2 title defence with a dominant display, taking a near-unchallenged class win.

Fabio Scherer, Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson started from pole in the #22 United Autosports ORECA 07-Gibson and were hardly challenged as they eased to a dominant win.

The only team to put up something resembling a challenge was the #29 Racing Team Nederland ORECA 07-Gibson, which briefly took the lead in the early stages, but with Frits van Eerd behind the wheel, the team dropped back and United Autosports was able to pick up the win.

The fight for the remaining podium remained close throughout, including a breathtaking moment between Antonio Felix da Costa and Ferdinand Habsburg that saw the pair go side-by-side through Eau Rouge and Raidillon.

Mechanical issues for the #26 G-Drive Aurus (oil leak) and #31 Team WRT ORECA (clutch) eliminated them from a tight battle, allowing the two JOTA entries to complete the podium.

The #28 JOTA ORECA 07-Gibson initially looked set for second place until it was given a penalty for unsafe driving by Tom Blomqvist as a result of contact with the Alpine at Eau Rouge.

Instead, the #38 ORECA 07-Gibson sister car of Antonio Felix da Costa, Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzalez finished second in class, with the #28 of Blomqvist, Stoffel Vandoorne and Sean Gelael being dropped to third.

Finishing off the podium, but taking the first win in the LMP2 Pro/Am standings, is the #29 Racing Team Nederland ORECA 07-Gibson of Job van Uitert, Giedo van der Garde and Frits van Eerd.

#92 Porsche dominates GTE Pro

In GTE Pro, Kevin Estre and Neel Jani scored a lights-to-flag victory in their first race as a duo.

The #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 led the race from pole position and was barely challenged as the two Ferraris finished a distant second and third.

Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado finished second in the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, with Miguel Molina and Daniel Serra third in the #52 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.

The #63 Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia and Oliver Gavin, who had his final race as a professional driver, had a fairly anonymous race to fourth in class while the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Richard Lietz and Gianmaria Bruni finished a distant fifth after a pair of punctures.

AF Corse open title defence with victory in GTE Am

Francois Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera have taken class victory in GTE Am,

The #33 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Ben Keating, Dylan Pereira and Felipe Fraga started from pole, but Matt Campbell came in and charged up in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19 to take the lead early on before a charging Rovera put the #83 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo in the lead.

It remained there for the rest of the race, taking the class lead and victory ahead of Keating, Pereira and Fraga.

A podium for the #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Alessio Picariello, Andrew Haryanto and Marco Seefried fell away with a late penalty.

This meant that the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Giorgio Sernagiotto, Roberto Lacorte and Antonio Fuoco completed the podium instead.