Gallery: dramatic victories at the Six Hours of Silverstone

The 2017 World Endurance Championship kicked off on Easter Sunday via the Six Hours of Silverstone. WEC is the series with the Le Mans 24 Hours as its headline act, but there are eight other rounds, each a six-hour race, that all help decide the overall title.

You’d think a race in Northamptonshire in mid-April would mean fairly moody weather. You’d be correct to think so. Brooding clouds filled the sky for Sunday’s race, and while only a small amount of rain actually fell, it did so at a crucial time, helping decide the race outcome.

A Toyota speared off into the gravel, for starters, helping ensure the race podium had two Porsches on it. Just five LMP1 prototypes were on the grid in our first glimpse of post-Audi WEC. And while a Toyota still took overall victory, Porsche ought to be pleased with how close its cars got, especially when the cars of its Japanese rival streaked firmly ahead in the early stages of the race.

The lengthy safety car period after the Toyota’s crash also helped Ford’s number 67 GT to class victory ahead of Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin, while costing its partner car, the number 66 GT, both a victory and a podium place. Mixed feelings in the Ford garage, then.

On the whole, though, there is great team spirit across the grid. There’s no sense of angry, resentful rivalries like you might find in other top tier motorsport series. There’s a friendlier, more approachable paddock, one that’s easy to roam around. Getting right in front of the podium at the end of the race is a doddle, as is squeezing onto the grid for a look around the cars before race start.

In short, here’s a day out where you get half a day of racing, close access to cars and drivers and action throughout the six hours. Toyota’s overtake for race victory only happened in the final half hour of the race, while things were even more dramatic further down the grid.

Want to see how much fun WEC is? Click through for our gallery of images from the Six Hours of Silverstone. And then get booking your tickets for Spa, the Nürburgring, or Le Mans. Or perhaps one of WEC’s further flung rounds…

Images: Drew Gibson

The Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley. Here it’s sitting in second position. The two red lights indicate that; a set of three lights indicate the top three of each class while you’re watching the race.

The car went on to finish second, 6.173 seconds behind the winning Toyota.

So, using the light system, this Porsche 911 RSR is third in the GTE Amateur class. Handy, eh?

Toyota chases Porsche. With Audi pulling out of World Endurance racing at the end of 2016, these are the two contenders for overall Le Mans victory in 2017.

The drivers gather together before the race. Ten points if you can spot Bruno Senna.

 Pit stops aplenty. Gulf colours still rock, don’t they?

The Rebellion LMP2 car, which had some famous names behind the wheel. Bruno Senna and Nico Prost, to be precise.

Yes, Senna and Prost together. In a car. Imagine suggesting that in the early 1990s?

The car finished second in class, with Senna the most accomplished champagne sprayer on the podium…

The number 92 Porsche 911 RSR rounds the final corner onto the pit straight. It finished last, completing just over three hours of the race thanks to an engine fire. Yikes. Porsche’s new mid-engined racer looks spectacular, though.

Porsche’s number one LMP1 car, with three Le Mans 24 Hour winners on its driver roster. Namely Neel Jani, Andre Lotterer and Nick Tandy. It finished third at Silverstone.

G-Drive’s bright orange LMP2 car enters the pits. From overhead, its aerodynamics look spectacular.

Front-engined Aston chases mid-engined Porsche. Which is the cooler racing car?

The oldest racecar design on the grid is the Aston Martin Vantage. The loudest, most dramatic car on the grid is also the Aston Martin Vantage. It’s as endearing as it is ear-bleeding when you see – and hear – it pass.

The number 98 car – back of shot – took second place in the GTE Amateur class.

The grid takes shape, with blue skies above.

It’s a hubbub of activity, with race mechanics and guests all mingling before a marching band dispersed everyone, ready for the race to begin.

Those blue skies didn’t last long, however.

Ford’s number 67 GT stops for fuel, tyres and a driver change. Find out the full anatomy of its pit stop right here.

Here’s a Ford mechanic pensively awaiting his car.

Jani, Lotterer and Tandy’s Porsche 919 blurrily exits the pits. Looking closely? You’ll know it’s third in class at this point, then.

The reason Toyota didn’t have two cars on the LMP1 podium. The race’s only real spell of rain saw the number 7 car dive off into the gravel at Copse, shedding bodywork and prompting a period of yellow flags in the process.

Driver Jose Mario Lopez had to have a check-up in hospital as a result, but not before slowly getting the car back to the pits. It was fixed up and finished 23^rd overall, but fourth in class, garnering Toyota some points. He’s okay, you’ll be pleased to know.

Toyota’s Kazuki Nakajima, who took overall victory alongside Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson.

Ford’s Andy Priaulx, meanwhile, took GTE Pro victory alongside Harry Tincknell and Pipo Derani.

Remember Manor, from Formula 1? Now the name resides on a pair of LMP2 endurance cars.

The eventual race winner, the number 8 Toyota. Here it is in second place, which it still occupied with half an hour to go. But a tyre change helped the Toyota - with Buemi behind the wheel -  slowly claw back time against the leading Porsche 919, before squeezing in an overtake with 12 minutes to go. Endurance racing has an uncanny knack of saving drama right until the very end…

The winner of each of WEC’s four classes gets a place in front of the podium for the champagne and trophies. So much cooler to look at than merely the overall top three - inevitably only LMP1 cars - right?

Ominous clouds sat above Silverstone all of Sunday, but never fully emptied themselves. The wettest weather was reserved for the podium.