The race will take place on Saturday 6 May but track action begins tomorrow, Thursday 4 May, with the first of two 90-minute practice sessions getting underway at 11h45.  Today has been all about the preparations, with the cars going through scrutineering and the drivers completing the track walk.  There was even time for a bit of pitstop practice between the heavy showers that is typical of this part of Belgium.

Tomorrow will also see Toyota Gazoo Racing run three cars at a WEC event for the first time as the Japanese manufacturer prepares for Le Mans.

Here is what some of the drivers said ahead of the event:

Neel Jani - n°1 Porsche 919 Hybrid

“I think we can really look forward to Spa. Our performance in Silverstone was very encouraging given the fact we were racing our Le Mans aero kit. In Spa, it will be well-suited for the long high-speed sections of sectors one and three. For the twisting middle sector, higher downforce would be better but it remains to be seen how much we will lose there compared to the competition. Another aspect is the weather: In the case of heavy rain, I see the advantage going to Toyota.”

Brendon Hartley – n°2 Porsche 919 Hybrid

 “We had a strong team performance in Silverstone that we can be proud of but came up six seconds short of the win. We will all work extremely hard to climb one step higher on the podium in Spa. We expect another close battle but will arrive there with confidence.”

Mike Conway – n°7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid

 “Spa is one of my favourite circuits so I’m really looking forward to this. The track itself is just really cool, with elevation changes, fast flowing corners and a huge variety of corner types. It is really challenging but I like it a lot. I hope that the package we’ve used at Silverstone will have a similar pace at Spa. There are definitely still things to improve but we are confident. I think it will be a close race again with Porsche, so we will stay focused.”

Kazuki Nakajima – n°8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid

“It’s difficult to predict what is going to happen at Spa because of the different aerodynamic packages. But we had a good start of the season and we want to continue that. The Spa track is really special, especially Eau Rouge; the g-forces there are like nowhere else. It’s a very challenging circuit with a lot of high-speed corners so I’m really looking forward to going there; our car will be amazing to drive on this track.”

Stéphane Sarrazin – n°9 Toyota TS050 Hybrid

“I’m really looking forward to racing the TS050 HYBRID again, especially after seeing the performance at Silverstone. It was great to watch and I hope the car is strong also in low-downforce spec. As always, I hope to get a good result but the most important thing for our car this weekend is to prepare ourselves properly for Le Mans. We need to get a lot of data about the low-downforce car and fine-tune the teamwork in our first race together.”

Harry Tincknell – n°67 Ford GT

“We’re on a high after winning the opening race of the season. Spa was the scene of our first WEC podium last year and I am confident that if everything goes to plan we have a good chance of winning. We showed really good pace at Silverstone and Spa is another track with lots of medium and high speed corners with big braking zones that suit the Ford GT. The track is also as close as you can get to Le Mans and we know the GT is strong around there.”