Retired car #8 after a good start in Spa

Unfortunately, only one GR010 HYBRID reached the chequered flag at Spa. Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa were leading the race in their #8 car when an issue on the hybrid system forced its retirement after 90 minutes. The race had started full of promise for the #8, with Sébastien moving up from fourth on the grid to second on the first lap. On lap 16, the GR010 HYBRIDs hit the front, both overtaking the race-leading Glickenhaus on the same lap. Sébastien therefore led in the #8, but the race changed quickly when rain began to fall around the hour mark, followed by an LMP2 accident which caused a red flag. After a 25-minute delay, the race resumed behind the safety car but the leading #8 stopped on the side of the track. As Sébastien stepped out of the car to retire due to an issue with the hybrid system.

The team now makes the short journey back to Cologne to prepare for the highlight of the WEC season, the Le Mans 24 Hours on 11-12 June when it will challenge for a fifth consecutive victory.

“I am obviously disappointed for our car because I think we had a very good race developing. We started fourth and made it up to first, then managed to save fuel and go a lap longer on our first stint. This is always helpful at tracks like this when you can get lots of full course yellows. But then we had an issue on the car and obviously had to stop. I am really happy for car #7. They have done a great job, and this is the first win of the year for the team so that’s fantastic. We need to understand better what happened on our car so that we can fight for the win at Le Mans next time out.” Sébastien Buemi