• Categories
    • Car Racing
    • Featured Articles
    • Motor Shows & Car Events
    • History of Cars
    • Automotive Photography
    • Behind the Scenes
    • #MiniSeries
    • Travel
    • Review Books
    • Review Cars
    • Review Products
  • Porsche Only
    • Engine downsizing at Porsche racing
    • PORSCHE 911 RSR – MARCH OF PROGRESS
    • Porsche 919 Hybrid – Technological Advantage
  • Book Shop
    • AC-Shelby Cobra
    • Ferrari 250 GTO: Owners’ Workshop Manual
    • Ferrari Design: The Definitive Study
    • Jaguar E-type: Portrait of a Design Icon
    • Porsche 956 962: A Photographic History
    • Porsche 911 Carrera RS interactive eBook
    • Porsche 911 Scrapbook: The Air-Cooled Cars
    • Porsche 917: The Complete Photographic History
    • Porsche 924/928/944/968
    • Porsche at Le Mans
    • Porsche: The Carrera Dynasty
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contributors
    • Alisdair Cusick
    • Annie Proffit
    • Elke Smale
    • Glen Smale
    • John Mountney
    • Pim van der Veer
    • Roland Harrison
    • Zoltan Papp
  • Contact

Virtual Motorpix

Images and stories on cars and motorsport

WEC Silverstone 6 Hours 2017

April 14, 2017 by: Glen Smale | 1 Comment

Flags at FIA WEC 6 Hours of Silverstone 2017
FIA WEC 6 Hours of Silverstone 2017, Silverstone International Circuit, on 13.04.2017

A really cold wind greeted the teams, media and attendees on Thursday at the start of the WEC Silverstone 6 Hours. And although it was dark overhead at times, the day remained dry. This day was given over to set up, preparation and scrutineering, and apart from some practice by the ELMS and supporting races, there was no EC action at all.

FIA WEC 2017 6 Hours of Silverstone pit lane
FIA WEC 2017 6 Hours of Silverstone, Silverstone International Circuit, 13/04/2017,

Thursday 13 April 2017

#7, Toyota TS050 Hybrid being prepared for action
#1 and #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid getting ready

Where previously the teams tolerated the attention of journalists and photographers in the pit lane, this year was different. The garage doors remained firmly closed, and doors of the scrutineering bays also remained closed. Photographs were therefore limited to the odd stolen snap when a door opened, or when a car was wheeled down the pit lane. Ironically, the garages that were open were the two LMP1 manufacturers, Porsche and Toyota, usually far more secretive than the others in the pit lane.

Audi safety cars
Audi is again providing the safety cars

Friday 14 April 2017

#92 Porsche 911 RSR (2017)
#92 Porsche 911 RSR (2017)

The WEC action begins today in earnest for all four classes with a one and a half hour Free Practice 1 (FP1) session from 11h45-13h15, and again FP2 from 16h45-18h15. This will be the first season where Porsche and Toyota will go head to head without Audi, and an interesting battle this will be as Porsche are out to secure their third consecutive world title. Toyota on the other hand have unfinished business after their dramatic finish at Le Mans last year.

Oreca 07 pit garage, Jackie Chan DC Racing
Oreca 07 pit garage, Jackie Chan DC Racing
Oliver Jarvis, Jackie Chan DC Racing
# 38 Oliver Jarvis, Jackie Chan DC Racing

The LMP2 class this year will be a whole new ball game. For the first time in WEC, the LMP2 cars will run with a 600bhp 4.2-litre naturally aspirated Gibson V8, and lap times are expected to be between 4-5 seconds a lap quicker than last year. This means that they will be a lot closer to the LMP1 cars than ever before. You can expect some good scraps in this class over the weekend, although being so new, there may be some reliability issues. Also new this season for LMP2 is the spec chassis and although four chassis manufacturers have been selected by the WEC for this WEC Silverstone 6 Hours, only Oreca 07 chassis will be in action this season in LMP2.

#26, Oreca 07 Gibson
#26, Oreca 07 Gibson

Eight cars will make up the GTE Pro class, two cars each from Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin and Ford. The Ferraris and Fords were at each other’s throats last season, while Porsche was absent from the WEC series in this class as their newcomer was not ready in time. However, they are back this year with their new mid-engined 911 RSR, and have already shown their pace at Daytona and Sebring. You can expect Aston Martin to be there to keep all of the above honest.

#67, Ford GT of Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK
#67, Ford GT of Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK

The GTE Am class is a bit smaller than in previous years, with two Ferraris, two Porsches and just the single Aston Martin. This is a very hotly contested class, and some extremely seasoned drivers populate this class, so the action will be every bit as intense as before.

#71, Ferrari 488 GTE
#71, AF Corse Ferrari, Ferrari 488 GTE

Today is the only day that is forecast to have any rain, and that might come later in the afternoon. While the rest of the WEC Silverstone 6 Hours race weekend is set to be dry, it is the wind that makes it feel bitterly cold around the circuit. But just twelve months ago we had snow over the weekend, so April at Silverstone can really throw anything at you.

#97, Aston Martin Vantage
#97, Aston Martin Racing, Vantage

Written by: Glen Smale
Images by: Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale + John Mountney

Save article as PDF

OTHER POSTS YOU MIGHT FIND INTERESTING

Share this:

Categories: Automotive Photography, Car Racing, Featured Articles Tags: 6h of Silverstone, Aston Martin, Audi, Ferrari, Ford, Jackie Chan DC Racing, Porsche, Toyota, WEC

Comments

  1. Pim van der Veer says

    April 15, 2017 at 3:24 pm

    Makes one long for the hot seat..

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Top quality commentary and photography on cars, motoring and motorsport across the ages.

Connect with us

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Recent Articles

  • The Best of 2017 WEC – LMP2 Part 1
  • BEST OF 2017 WEC – LMP1
  • Looking back at WEC Pit Lane Action 2017
  • Aston Martin DBR9 – The Definitive History
  • Memorable Audi Moments
  • FERRARI – THE GOLDEN YEARS

Popular Tags

Aston Martin Audi Bahrain Bentley BMW Chevrolet Cobra Corvette Ferrari FIA FIA WEC Fiat Ford Formula 1 Geneva Motor Show Goodwood Honda Jaguar Krohn Land Rover Le Mans Le Mans 24H Lotus Mercedes Motorsport Nissan Nurburgring ORECA Peugeot Porsche Prologue Rebellion Silverstone Silverstone 6 hours Silverstone Classic Spa Spa 6H Toyota VW WEC
All Tags ››

Archives

Our other websites

OTHER POSTS YOU MIGHT FIND INTERESTING

Join us on Facebook

Please share our website

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by Virtual Motorpix Blog

Contact us

We welcome your questions, comments and feedback. Please click here to contact us.

Connect with us

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2021 Virtual Motorpix. All Rights Reserved.