The six hours of Spa was the second event on the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Calendar. With the Le Mans 24-hour race just over a month away the ByKolles Racing Team took the opportunity to do some preparation over the weekend to help their chances of a Le Mans podium.
In the process the team, driving the ENSO CLM P1/01, recorded the fastest top speed in Spa WEC history at 320.6kph! That beat the previous record held by Porsche at 319kph set two years ago.
After qualifying 11th overall the team went for a setup not perfect for Spa, treating it as an extended test for Le Mans. With the 61,000 fans in position and Tom Kristensen waving the green flag the race was officially under way!
The team got off to a good start pulling almost a minute ahead of the LMP2 cars. Oli then jumped in for the middle two-hour stint and hugely consistent lap times kept the team’s comfortable gap over the rest of the field behind.
After the final two hours, the team took the flag in 6th place, a much-needed result after the disappointment of round one. This was a huge step forward for the team and didn’t go unnoticed by many in the Motorsport World who took to social media to congratulate Oli and the team.
After the race Oli commented: “We tried many aero configurations and went with one that will be best for Le Mans in the race knowing it wouldn’t be perfect for Spa, but we used this as testing. Overall we finished 6th behind Porsche and Toyota and where we aspire to be. An overall podium at Le Mans could be a possibility if reliability is on our side. “
Oli will be out for more testing in his LMP1 car before the Le Mans race to further prepare for the biggest race in Motorsport. Before that though, Oli will be out at Silverstone this weekend for round four of the Blancpain GT Series in the McLaren 650 S GT3 with Strakka Racing.
In preparation for this weekend Oli is testing today at Silverstone. The cars ran well at Brands Hatch yesterday with one car finishing 6th and 11th. There’s no doubt Oli will be hoping to bring the team their best result of the season!
