Hertz Team JOTA secured its first win in the World Endurance Championship at the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps this weekend. The win today sees the team to second in the overall standings, 22 points behind Porsche Penske. Hertz Team JOTA lead a Porsche 1-2 ahead of the No. 06 Porsche Penske car driven by driven by Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor. Despite the P2 finish the No. 06 car still leads the championship. In third was the No. 50 Ferrari that despite topping the charts in Hyperpole; could not convert pole starting position into a win.
The race was stifled by a major delayed after a red flag. The clean up effort took nearly two hours to repair the track and clear the debris. The steward made the decision to extend the race by the amount of time lost rather than cancelling the race at the expiration of the starting clock which is typical in endurance racing. The red flag came out due to an incident involving Earl Bamber and the No. 02 Cadillac which started from P2 after the No. 50 was disqualified for a technical breach. Bamber did not sustain any major injuries in the crash.
The No. 50 Ferrari was able to bounce back due to the stoppage effectively making the race a two stint sprint race. Miguel Molina, driver of the No. 50 car said, “I think the team showed its full potential at Spa, and it will be hard to forget how both our crew and our teammates in the 499P number 51 climbed up from the back. At the sixth hour, we were first and second, and I believe that positioning best represents what we saw on the track today.”
Antonello Coletta, Global Head of Endurance e Corse Clienti
“The team did a great job over the entire weekend at Spa. Today in the race ,the drivers pulled back many positions and took the lead with the two official cars, benefiting from the team’s excellent strategy, which allowed them to make the most of the tires. The third and fourth positions of the 499P numbers 50 and 51, as well as the class podium finish of number 83, are significant results. However, this race, which ideally should have concluded at the sixth hour when we were in even better positions, went on a lot longer.”
Manthey Finishes 1-2 at Spa in LMGT3
Manthey secured a 1-2 finish in the LMGT3 class in a drama filled battle at Spa. The pair were separated by 1.3s in the race. The No. 91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 R LMGT3 of Richard Lietz, Yasser Shahin and Morris Schuring started in third and fought through the on track drama and closing battle in the closing laps.
World Endurance Championship Standings After the 6 Hours of Spa
Next on the FIA WEC calendar is the biggest race of the season – the 24 Hours of Le Mans – which takes place at the Circuit de la Sarthe on the 12-16 of June.