The #7 Audi Sport Team Joest crew of André Lotterer, Benoït Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler emerged victorious at the FIA WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps after another close encounter with Porsche.
Tréluyer crossed the line 13.4 seconds ahead of Neel Jani in the chasing #18 Porsche 919 Hybrid after a race-long battle on alternate strategies.
Both manufacturers opted to stretch their final sets of tyres which ultimately produced a close finish after six hours of continuous running.
Porsche also secured the third spot on the podium with the #17 pole sitting car of Brendon Hartley, Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard finishing comfortably ahead of the #8 Audi.
Many LMP1 cars encountered problems during the race, most notably the #1 Toyota of Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi which was struck by a throttle issue just after halfway. The #19 Porsche also suffered from setbacks, with Nick Tandy colliding with a GTE-class Porsche on lap 7.
In LMP2, the JOTA Sport Gibson-Nissan of Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell and Mitch Evans prevailed by one lap over the #28 G-Drive Racing Ligier. The sister #26 Ligier had been a threat throughout the race, but an engine failure with just over an hour to go forced Sam Bird to return to the pits for race-long repairs. Team SARD Morand rounded out the LMP2 podium on its FIA WEC race debut.
Aston Martin Racing repeated its qualifying heroics by securing a victory sweep of the GTE classes. The #99 Aston of Fernando Rees, Alex MacDowall and Richie Stanaway won the Pro category, thanks in part to a late stop/go penalty for the charging #51 AF Corse Ferrari for a pit crew infringement.
The penalty demoted the Ferrari to fourth in class, which allowed the two Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSRs to assume the final two podium positions.
GTE Am honours went to the #98 Aston Martin crew of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda. The #50 Larbre Compétition Corvette C7.R had been a protagonist in the lead battle during the early stages but an excursion into the gravel caused enough damage to keep the car in the garage for the rest of the race.
Instead the #83 AF Corse Ferrari of François Perrodo, Rui Aguas and Emmanuel Collard finished comfortably in second while the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari completed the top three, creating a carbon copy of the Silverstone GTE Am podium.
Full class reports to follow.
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