Ferrari speaks out on tyre warmer ban
Antonello Coletta, the head of Attiva Sportive GT at Ferrari, was critical of the FIA WEC’s ban on tyre warmers in a post-race statement sent to the media. After Antonio Fuoco clouted the armco barriers on the run down to Eau Rouge after getting caught out at the pit exit on cold tyres, Coletta clearly feels a change should be considered before Le Mans.
The Ferrari Hypercar #50 is out of the race after Antonio Fuoco hits the wall after exiting the pits.#WEC #6HSpa pic.twitter.com/DLHlGSvhqT
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) April 29, 2023
“Starting from the assumption that the rules are the same for everyone and that we abide by them, I think we need to reflect on the ban on tyre warmers.
“It’s a common opinion in the paddock and among professionals, not to mention the drivers, that this situation has become dangerous. At Spa, there have been many accidents and extreme episodes due to cold temperatures and changeable weather, and it’s time to do some serious thinking on the matter because it has major ramifications for safety.
“We are on the eve of a decisive race like the 24 Hours of Le Mans where, overnight, temperatures are low and speeds very high. It’s not just an issue for us. The accidents involved different cars, from different classes, driven at the time by both professional and gentleman drivers, and this situation had already been predicted some time ago.”
JOTA mechanic
A statement from JOTA after the race revealed that one of its mechanics had to be taken to hospital after an incident with the #2 Cadillac on pit lane.
Details can be found in the below social media post:
— Jota Sport (@JotaSport) April 29, 2023
DSC later established that a further hospital evaluation showed that there were actually no broken bones.
Stat attack
Plenty of notable milestones were reached in each of the three classes after the six-hour race at Spa.
For Toyota’s #7 crew, it was a second consecutive win, and marked Toyota’s 42nd in the FIA WEC. Mike Conway in the process took his 19th win, putting him third on the all-time list alongside Pedro Lamy.
Kamui Kobayashi now has 14 wins, and Jose Maria Lopez has now matched former Toyota driver Anthony Davidson with 13.
WRT meanwhile, with its second consecutive LMP2 win on home soil, saw all three of its drivers claim notable honours.
Rui Andrade became the first winner in the FIA WEC under the Angolan flag. His previous victory at Monza saw him run as a Portuguese driver, as the FIA at the time didn’t recognise Angola as a nationality for competitors.
Robert Kubica in similar fashion, became the first Polish driver to win in the FIA WEC, while Louis Deletraz took his maiden win, his second in two weekends in LMP2 competition, after winning the ELMS season opener outright in Barcelona with Racing Team Turkey.
Elsewhere on the podium, there was further success for Poland with Jakub Schmiechowski taking his first podium, and his team Inter Europol Competition becoming the first Polish outfit to finish in the top three in a WEC race.
GTE Am saw perhaps the most historic achievement, as Lilou Wadoux became the first female driver to win her class in the FIA WEC’s history. The Frenchwoman, driving for Richard Mille AF Corse, claimed the win alongside Luis Perez Companc, who last won back in 2014 (also at Spa) and Alessio Rovera, who became the first Italian driver to win five GTE Am races.
For Ferrari as a whole, this GTE Am victory was its first in the FIA WEC since Bahrain in 2021.
At ORT by TF Sport, a mention should also be given to Ahmad Al Harthy, who with a third-place finish became the first Omani driver to claim WEC podium honours after setting pole on Friday.
Penalties explained
Clarity on two significant penalties came after yesterday’s race.
The first was the 3-minute stop-go for the #63 Prema Racing ORECA, which was found to have taken a full-service pit stop while the pits were closed under safety car conditions.
The second was a 1:17.549 time penalty added to the #777 D’Station Racing Aston Martin post-race. This is because Casper Stevenson didn’t complete his required drive time of 1h 45m in the race. Thus, the team has had the missing time added to the car’s race time.
Up front, for Kobayashi’s overtake at Radillon for the lead in the #7 Toyota that was outside of track limits in the final hour, the five-second time penalty that needed to be served at the next stop, was added to its race time. It therefore kept the win, by 11.6 seconds.
Porsche’s electrical failure
A Porsche Penske Motorsport spokesman told DSC post-race that there was no immediate diagnosis for the total electrical failure suffered by Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 963 while running in podium contention. However, it was still in Parc Ferme at the time.
The Belgian reported that the car had gone “completely dark”. All systems and power were lifeless, forcing the team to retire the car on the spot at Bus Stop.
More on the Cadillac incident
Despite the huge impact suffered by Renger van der Zande’s #3 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R at Eau Rouge-Raidillon, DSC is told by a team source that the tub has emerged unscathed.
This will come as a huge relief for the team, which is short on spares and had only just finished building up the #3 on Thursday morning before FP1. The Dallara-based V-Series.R is clearly a robust machine, as van der Zande escaped the incident with only a minor headache.
The bigger headache for the team comes in the reason behind the failure, which DSC has been told was a malfunction for the electric power steering system, which locked the wheel and sent van der Zande off track at high-speed.
Glickenhaus to race in blue
Jim Glickenhaus confirmed to DSC that both the #708 and #709 will race at Le Mans with the current blue livery for the first time. Previously the team competed in red and white at the 24 Hours.
The two additional drivers for the team expected to join Franck Mailleux will likely feature ex-factory LMP1 and F1 talent, DSC believes.
Images courtesy of Jakob Ebrey Photography
