Many questioned the wisdom of this, but with the Porsche now some 10 kilometres a lap slower on the straights (by virtue of a faltering recovery system), Treluyer was able to maintain a 13-second gap over Jani and take victory for his co-drivers Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler .
“This was another classic race where we had to attack from start to finish,” eventual winner Benoît Tréluyer said after the race. “Marcel drove a good opening stint while simultaneously fine-tuning the car’s set-up and adjusting its brakes as we’d not had much opportunity to run in dry conditions before the race.
“Andre then took over for a single stint as we weren’t too sure about tyre wear. But the rubber looked OK, so he went back out for a double… Actually, I should say ‘super double’ because he managed to keep pace with the leading Porsche, which gave us a great opportunity to fight for the win.”
When Lotterer let the low down-force, Le Mans-spec R18 off the leash, Treluyer – who had only set three dry laps in practice – had to step into the unknown.
“I’d not even gone through Eau Rouge flat-out up to that point,” he said. “But I still went on maximum attack and produced a decent first stint. My pace was good and I managed the traffic well.
“Then, during my second spell, I ran a bit wide at Pouhon and it took a little while to clean up my tyres. But I was still able to maintain a strong pace.
“I was right behind the No. 18 Porsche at the end of my second stint and launched the first attack exiting Turn 8. They aren’t easy to overtake so you’ve got to try something different and surprise them.
Toyota struggled at Spa with a larger-than-expected gap to Audi and Porsche. As such, the race was an exercise in damage limitation with the World Championship fight in mind, but that too ended in frustration.
Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Mike Conway, in the #2, were the lead TS040 HYBRID in fifth position. World Champions Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi suffered technical problems (relating to a throttle issue) in the fourth hour, which ultimately saw them finish down the order in eighth.