HIGHLIGHTS FOR ROUND 2

After the battles at the opening round of the 2021 season at Spa-Francorchamps the FIA World Endurance Championship will now visit the Algarve International Circuit for the 8 Hours of Portimão. It marks the first time that the FIA WEC races on Portuguese soil since the inception of the championship back in 2012.

• The 8 Hours of Portimão will see the race debut for the Glickenhaus 007 LMH, joining the two Toyota GR010 Hybrids and the Alpine A480-Gibson in the Hypercar class.
• 32 cars are entered for the 8 Hours of Portimão – 4 LMH, 11 LMP2, 4 LMGTE Pro, 13 LMGTE Am
• The 8 Hours of Portimão is the first of two 8-hour races on the 2021 calendar, the second being the 8 Hours of Bahrain in November.
• With Filipe Albuquerque missing his home race, Portuguese hopes rest with reigning FIA Formula E Drivers’ Champion Antonio Felix Da Costa, who will once again be behind the wheel of the LMP2 class no38 Jota Oreca 07-Gibson alongside former FIA World Endurance Drivers’ Champion Anthony Davidson and their Mexican teammate Roberto Gonzalez.  They currently lie second in the championship after finishing second at Spa last month.
• Reigning LMP2 24 Hours of Le Mans champion Paul Di Resta is stepping in for Filipe Albuquerque in the United Autosports USA squad. 
• F2 regular and double 2021 European Le Mans Series race winner Louis Deletraz will replace Renger van der Zande in the Inter Europol Competition Oreca. 
• ARC Bratislava will welcome endurance specialist Oli Webb to their line-up for Portugal, the Briton tested the Ligier JSP217 at the Prologue but missed Spa due to another race commitment.

A LOOK BACK AT ROUND 1 – SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS

The Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps saw history made with the first Hypercar victory going to Toyota, with the #8Toyota driven by Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley taking the chequered flag for Round 1 of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship.  There was a race long battle for the Toyota GR010-Hybrid with Alpine A480, which eventually went Toyota’s way as Sebastien Buemi took the flag ahead of Andre Negrao driven Alpine in second.  

#92 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR–19 driven by Kevin Estre and Neel Jani took a comprehensive victory in LMGTE Pro.  The win is the second for Estre at Spa in as many years, while Jani makes a winning return to WEC after three years away, his first in LMGTE. Porsche led for majority of race despite an early race tyre issue. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Alessandro Pierguidi and James Calado take second place, while sister car of Miguel Molina and Daniel Serra claiming final rung of podium.

The #22 United Autosports USA Oreca-Gibson took a crushing LMP2 victory as reigning champions Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson, along with new teammate Fabio Scherer stake an early claim to retain titles. Albuquerque enjoyed a sizeable gap of over a lap to rest of competition in dominant display. JOTA come through the field and take second and third places, with the #28 car set to be runners-up position. However, a late race penalty for contact with Alpine Hypercar saw the #38 JOTA Oreca-Gibson snatch second, with their teammates taking the final podium place at the flag.

Reigning class champions AF Corse took a comfortable win, taking the win 44 seconds ahead of the nearest rival in the #83 Ferrari 488. The pole sitting #33 TF Sport Aston Martin finished second despite an early huge moment for Keating after the Ben Keating was side swiped by the #21 Dragonspeed USA Oreca of Juan Pablo Montoya. A late penalty for the #88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche saw the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari take the final podium position.

CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERS AFTER ROUND 1

FIA WEC TIMETABLE

FIA OFFICIALS

FIA WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS

The provisional classifications for all the Championship can be found on the following link:

http://www.fia.com