Toyota bags a nice 1-2 finish after 173 laps of the 7 km track, the #8 car driven by Sébastien Buemi crosing the finish line 2 seconds ahead of the Kobayashi, with the #2 Porsche finishing third 35 seconds behind. The race showed however how close the two teams are. The high downforce Toyota kept the Porsches in check throughout the race, but their Le Mans spec car took a distinct fifth place.

This was not lost on the Toyota drivers, looking rather disappointed in spite of their position on the two highest podium steps. Buemi declared candidly that his car never found its pace throughout the week-end and only owed victory to a slow puncture that afflicted the #7 car driven by Kobayashi and Conway. That pair looked distraught to have missed a win by sheer bad luck. And the Porsche drivers look dismayed not to be able to beat the Toyota TS050 on a track more favorable to their low downforce configuration.

For all of these racing drives, only one goal: Le Mans. Spa was an important and necessary life size test, but the 24 Hours race reigns supreme in the endurance world and at the pinnacle of motorsports. None of these eight drivers crossed the line in Spa with the expected result, or a decisive performance establishing a clear hierarchy for Le Mans.

In the LMP2 category, nearly all teams compete with Oreca 07/Gibson cars, with the notable exception of one remaining Ligier. The drivers line up is of prime quality, with names such as Bruno Senna, Nelson Piquet Jr, Jean-Eric Vergne, Romain Dumas or Oliver Jarvis. No less.

Very similar and fiercely fast cars, an array of top notch drivers, a gorgeous track, all ingredients for a motorsports feast were present. The fight for the win confronted the Valliante Rebellion, Jackie Chan and G-Drive teams, with the latter finally winning ahead of the Bruno Senna’s Rebellion.

In the GTE Pro category, Ford competes against Ferrari, Aston-Martin and Porsche’s brand new 911 RSR with a mid mounted engine. The two Ferrari 488 GTE rapidly took the lead, tailed by the two Ford GTs. This race resulted in showing a clear hierarchy with Ferrari ahead of Ford, Porsche and Aston finishing last. Porsche’s bet to sacrifice the qualifying session to spare tires for the race was therefore not successful. Pedro Lamy took the win in the GTE Am class with his Aston Martin Vantage, ahead of the 2016 Porsche 911 RSR of team Dempsey-Proton.

The official results are available on the FIA WEC website.