10 things we learned from the 2023 WEC 6 Hours of Spa

Chilly conditions made the third round of the 2023 World Endurance Championship a race of survival for teams, and it was Toyota who navigated these best with its third 1-2 finish in as many rounds. But that's only telling part of the story from the final race before an eagerly-anticipated Le Mans 24 Hours. Here’s what we learned in Belgium.

After being blighted by sensor issues in Portugal, the #7 Toyota crew got their championship challenge back on track with a second victory of the season at Spa.

Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi staved off the challenge of their sister #8 GR010 HYBRID which had started from the back of the grid following Brendon Hartley’s qualifying crash, as Kobayashi built a big enough advantage in his final stint to negate a five-second penalty for passing Hartley off the road at Raidillon.

Choosing wet tyres at the start blunted Ferrari’s challenge but the Prancing Horse showed encouraging pace in recovering to the podium ahead of the second factory Porsche, which lost its sister car to electrical failure. Meanwhile Jota was an encouraging sixth on its debut with a customer 963 LMDh, finishing ahead of both delayed Peugeots.

Intrigue was in bountiful supply elsewhere too, as WRT claimed LMP2 honours to become the third different winner in as many rounds, while Corvette Racing was finally toppled in the GTE Am class by a history-making drive from AF Corse’s #83 Ferrari.

Here are the 10 things we learned from the 2023 WEC 6 Hours of Spa.

1. Ferrari is in the game

Source: Autosport