Rain fell intermittently at the Silverstone circuit, though it didn't prevent Toyota from winning the first race of the season, it did claim the Japanese manufacturer's second car, started from the pole, after three-time WTCC World Champion José María López went straight at Copse during his very first stint in endurance racing. Fortunately, the Argentinian driver - taken to the hospital to be checked out - was able to return to the pits after removal from the gravel trap, which allowed the mechanics to repair the car and for the driver line-up José María López-Kamui Kobayashi-Mike Conway to score some points in the championship, even though the #7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID finished far back in the standings.

The #8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID driven by 2014 World Endurance Champions Sébastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson, along with Kazuki Nakajima, passed under the checkered flag in first place after a flawless race up against the two Porsche 919 Hybrids whose aero kit was not the best suited for the British track. The German marque decided to develop the aero kit it will use at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, unlike Toyota.

Porsche was expecting a difficult race against its rival Toyota, and though in qualifying the Japanese car was untouchable, there is only about a second separating the best times clocked by the Toyotas and Porsches during the race. Despite its aero decision, Porsche managed to limit the damage with second place (Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber) and third place (Neel Jani, André Lotterer and Nick Tandy), certainly helped by the second Toyota TS050 HYBRID's incident which caused the only appearance of the safety car.

ByKOLLES Racing Team, the only private LMP1 team, was also anticipating a complicated race after the technical problems it encountered at the Prologue, the official pre-season testing sessions. The Austrian outfit was correct since the #4 ENSO CLM P1/01 failed to rank due to insufficient distance covered before heading to its pit after a collision with the #97 Aston Martin in the deceleration lane in pit lane.

On the other hand, there were no noteworthy troubles in the LMP2 class even though the 6 Hours of Silverstone was the first race for the new generation cars. All the teams were on a level playing field, with an Oreca 07 (the Alpine A470 is based on an Oreca chassis) and Dunlop tires. In the end, Jackie Chan DC Racing's #38 Oreca 07 - with former Audi driver Oliver Jarvis (three podium finishes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans), Ho-Pin Tung and newcomer to the class Thomas Laurent - won as a result of an impeccable race.

It finished 19 seconds ahead of the #31 Vaillante Rebellion driven by Nicolas Prost-Bruno Senna-Julien Canal, despite a collision with the #71 Ferrari of Sam Bird, and 21 seconds ahead of TDS Racing's #28 Oreca driven by the French duo François Perrodo-Emmanuel Collard who - along with Matthieu Vaxivière, particularly impressive near the end of the race - perfectly managed its move from LMGTE Am to LMP2.

The gaps are the same in LMGTE Pro with three different cars in the top three places. Credited with the best in-race lap (1'57.416), the winning #67 Ford GT driven by Andy Priaulx, Harry Tincknell and Luis Felipe "Pipo" Derani, debuting in GT, came from way back as a result of an unexpected first stop after the start of the race due to an uncooperative door that would cause problems through the checkered flag.

Another newcomer to the class, Alessandro Pier Guidi, reached the second step on the podium along with James Calado in AF Corse's #51 Ferrari 488 GTE, proving the Italian marque trusted the right driver to replace Gianmaria Bruni, gone to join Porsche, whose new #91 911 RSR rounded out the podium thanks to Richard Lietz and Frédéric Makowiecki. Kévin Estre, in the second Porsche, was forced to stop at the edge of the track when flames began emanating from the rear of his car.

Clearwater Racing's Ferrari 488 GTE won the LMGTE Am class after Matt Griffin's stunning climb in the last stint against Pedro Lamy at the wheel of the Aston Martin Vantage started from pole position. The British driver managed to find an opening around the Portuguese driver in the very last lap, with less than two seconds separating the two men at the finish line. Dempsey-Proton Racing's Porsche 911 rounded out the podium in third place.

The World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) competitors, as well as the third Toyota TS050 HYBRID and the second Alpine A470, will meet again in three weeks on May 6th at Spa-Francorchamps for the final rehearsal before the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 17th and 18th.

Results

Photo (Copyright - Pascal Saivet/VSA): The #8 Toyota TS050 winner at the 2017 6 Hours of Silverstone.