6 HOURS OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
FIA WEC | ROUND TWO | MAY 5 - 7
- The second round of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship took place at Spa-Francorchamps, with the newly-modified Belgian circuit hosting its annual six-hour contest
- Mike and his #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team mates Kamui Kobayashi and José María López lined up from P3 on the Hypercar grid
- The Brit held firm in the opening stages of the race before clearing the Glickenhaus and moving into P2 on lap 16
- Shortly after, heavy rain descended on the circuit and an LMP2 accident brought out the red flag
- Resuming 25-minutes later, Mike pitted the car for wet tyres and dropped to third place
- With a slew of further red flags, safety cars and full-course yellows to follow, the #7 wasted little time in taking the lead once the action fully resumed
- As conditions continued to improve, the team took the chequered flag by 27.473s to record their first win of the season
- Mike now occupies P4 in the championship standings with 25 points
- Preparations now begin for the illustrious 24 Hours of Le Mans in June
MIKE'S RACE REVIEW
“It wasn’t easy and we certainly had to work for that win. The weather was nice in the first hour but then it really changed and became very wet. It was really tough, but we hung in there, didn’t make any mistakes, and that was key to victory. We saw a lot of cars go off and struggle with the conditions, so it was a great job by José and Kamui to avoid any issues. They really did a solid job, as did the rest of the crew; we had fantastic pit stops all day. We are back in the game with the championship now, scoring some good points. It was unfortunate for car #8 that they had their issue. Now we go on to Le Mans and hopefully we can keep our momentum going on our car. That’s what we needed from this race; we needed to win and get some points on the table."
