Alonso Stripped Off WEC Win as Both Toyotas Disqualified

The No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrid triumphed at the end of the 6 Hours of Silverstone. Meanwhile, the No. 7 Toyota completed the 1-2 after leading a large portion of the race. Unfortunately a damaged floor affected the pace in the final hour, but Alonso and his teammates held on.

To make matters even worse, both cars failed post race scrutineering. The TS050s were found to be in non-compliance with the technical regulations pertaining to the skid block under each car. The lead Toyota’s skid block’s deflection was under the specified 2500N load by 9mm. The permitted maximum of deflection is 5mm. Meanwhile, the other Toyota’s skid block deflected by 6mm on the right hand side and 8mm on the left. Both cars were subsequently disqualified from the race result.

The Rebellion R13-Gibson duo inherited the win and 2nd due to the disqualification. The No. 3 car of Gustavo Menezes, Mathias Beche and Thomas Laurent took top honours. The No. 1 car of Neel Jani and Andre Lotterer finished second. No. 17 SMP Racing BR01 of Stephane Sarrazin and  Egor Orudzhev sealed the final podium spot.

Unfortunately, Jenson Button’s luck at home came back to haunt him as he didn’t get to race in front of the British fans. The No. 11 SMP Racing BR1-AER retired after just 45 minutes with Mikhail Aleshin climbing out of the cockpit.

Toyota Gazoo Racing have lodged an appeal against the disqualifications. So, the amended result of the 6 Hours of Silverstone will remain provisional until the appeal has been heard.

There was a dramatic battle in the LMGTE Pro category, with reigning World Champions James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi getting their title defense back on track with their first podium of the season.  The Anglo-Italian duo finished 12 seconds ahead of the no92 Porsche 911 of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz, with the no67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell taking the final podium position after an intense battle with the no92 Porsche in the final minutes of the race.

However there was post race drama when the no91 Porsche was disqualified following scrutineering.  The ground clearance of the 911 was measured at 48mm, the required minimum is 50mm.  Stewards Decision no24 disqualified the no91 Porsche from the results with the no67 Ford moving up to second and the no92 Porsche to third in the final classifications.  Porsche have not lodged an appeal against the decision to exclude the no91 Porsche.

The LMP2 battle concluded with a 1-2 for the Jackie Chan DC Racing team with the no38 Oreca of Ho-Pin Tung finishing just over a second ahead of teammate Jazeman Jaafar in the no37 car.  The podium ws completed by the no36 Signatech Alpine A470, which finished two laps behind the victorious Jackie Chan Orecas.

Now, Alonso and company will be eager to set things right for the next endurance race.