Toyotas excluded from Silverstone results...was four laps ahead
Toyotas excluded from Silverstone results; Rebellion inherits win
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RACER Staff | 23 hours ago Toyota Gazoo Racing’s pair of TS050 HYBRIDs that dominated the 6 Hours of Silverstone have both been excluded from the results after failing post-race scrutineering. Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima had won comfortably, with the sister No. 7 second, both cars four laps ahead of the nearest privateer runner.The move elevates Rebellion Racing’s Gustavo Menezes, Thomas Laurent and Mathias Beche to the win, followed by the sister No. 1 Rebellion of Neel Jani and Andre Lotterer, with SMP Racing’s Stephane Sarrazin and Egor Orudzhev third.That marks Rebellion Racing’s first overall race win in WEC competition and the first privateer overall victory in championship history. And because of the decision, Menezes becomes the first American driver to win a WEC race.It’s also the first non-hybrid win since 2012, the first season of the FIA WEC, when the first two races at Sebring and Spa Francorchamps were both won by non-hybrid powered Audis.
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A stewards statement indicated that the race-winning No. 8 “deflected 6mm on the right hand side and 8mm on the left hand side under the specified 200 N load at the front of the skid block.”For the No. 7 car, “The front part of the skid block deflected 9mm under the specified 2500 N load on both sides of the skid block.”RACER understands that Toyota will appeal.In addition to both Toyotas being excluded from the result, the No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR driven by Austria’s Richard Lietz and Gianmaria Bruni was stripped of its second-place finish in GTE Pro for failing the minimum ground clearance measurement test, promoting the No. 67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell to second and the No. 92 Porsche of Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre to third.“Unfortunately we were informed after the race that an irregularity was detected in the ride height, said Pascal Zurlinden, Porsche director of GT Factory Motorsport. “That threw our number 91 car out of the classification and advanced the number 92 car to third place. We’re still leading the manufacturers’ and drivers’ classifications. Now we need to focus on the next tasks.”