PLR Trackside – FIA WEC @ Silverstone Round 3 Gallery and Video
Over the 18/19 August, the FIA World Endurance Championship returned to Silverstone for round 3 of the series. The first chance to see the cars racing since Le Mans back in June, and it was good to see them back after that short break. To say that when the “Super Season” was announced Silverstone was not on the calendar, it’s a good thing that decision was reversed as I have never seen Silverstone as busy for a WEC race. That might have been down to the Alonso/Button effect, but it was still good to see.
As for the on-track action, well all us Brits had our hopes up for a Button podium although that was not to be. I think we all knew that the Toyotas would rocket off with there hybrid power, (even if post-race changed that) but I was hoping for a good battle between Rebellion and SMP. The first corner put the dampers on that though, and then the SMP engine failure. For me I always expected Rebellion to have the more “solid” car, and they lived up to that.
As for LMP2 that was dominated by Jackie Chan DC Racing, after last years Le Mans podium they have turned into a force to be reckoned with. I was hoping to see Ant Davidson on the podium, with this being his first drive in the 2018 season, but it was not to be.
GTE Pro was a serious battle, and the win was not who I expected. It’s good to see that the BOP change for the Aston Martin’s has brought them into contention, even if they dropped back through the race. It’s only a matter of time till the new Vantage starts to perform over a race distance and not just over one lap. That’s still a big leap forwards though considering where they were before Le Mans. Its just too bad the sound isn’t the same as the old car.
The BMW’s sound weird when flying past, but it does seem like there BOP could do with changing as although they are always thereabouts, they just don’t seem to be able to lap at the same pace as the Ford, Ferrari and Porsche. Ford was unlucky at the start and did well to claw back what they did, damn that car is fast over a lap. The way they hunted the Aston’s down and slid past, it looked effortless. The Brutal sounding Porsche was having a good run, but the Fords do have an edge over them. It was not until late on in the race I realised that Ferrari had somehow got out ahead, I would say to me they don’t have the ultimate pace, but kept quiet and out of trouble, enabling them to take the win.
GTE Am was another quality race, even if the penalty that was applied did kind of break up a good battle. TF Sport did well in the Aston to take second even after their penalty, same with pole sitters, Project 1 in there 911 RSR. The AMR Vantage was unlucky to lose its 3rd place on the last lap, to the Porsche for Project 1 who had some impressive pace at Silverstone. The class winning Dempsy Proton Porsche ran a faultless race and looked quick all day.
It will be interesting to see how a 4-hour WEC race shakes things up next year, but I do intend to be at the race as always. Please don’t forget to have a look at the Gallery below.
Race Results – Click Here
