Toyota, Porsche celebrate WEC title success at Spa

The first titles of the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship season were settled on Saturday at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps as Toyota and Porsche toasted their successes.

Toyota entered the penultimate round of the season with the LMP1 teams' championship all but sewn up, with second-placed Rebellion Racing requiring a 15-point gain to merely keep the title race alive to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Despite seeing the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid lose four laps in the pits to an electrical issue that meant it could only finish sixth, the #8 Toyota crew of Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima managed to clinch their fourth win of the campaign to wrap up the teams' title with one race to spare.

"The team has done a great job," Toyota Gazoo Racing team director Rob Leupen said. "For us it’s been nice, it has been good. It started very well last year for us here, and continued into Le Mans. We would like to continue into another race.

"We still have one championship to win. Car 7 and Car 8 will fight on the drivers’ championship, so for us it was interesting, it’s great to do this. A lot of competition in the team but in a very nice, fair way, and for Toyota, I think an amazing season.

"Let’s go for a second Le Mans. It will be very difficult. But we’ll go for it and we’ll definitely enjoy it."

"The most important thing probably today was securing the constructors’ championship, and I’m extremely happy for Toyota Gazoo that we did enough points to become world champions in the constructors’," added Fernando Alonso.

"A massive well done to everyone in the team. It’s been an amazing super season so far for all of us, and hopefully in Le Mans we can have the last nice touch on these races."

It marks Toyota's second major WEC teams' title following its manufacturers' championship win in 2014. The manufacturers' title was replaced by the LMP1 teams' championship for the 2018-19 season due to the absence of multiple manufacturers in the class.

Porsche managed to wrap up its second world endurance GTE manufacturers' championship with one race to spare as it maintained its 100 percent podium record through the 2018-19 super season.

While Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen could only finish third in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR, with the sister #91 entry dropping down the order after a post-race penalty, the result was enough to give the German marque the title.

It marks Porsche's second GTE title, its first coming in 2015, and breaks the two-season championship streak enjoyed by Ferrari through its AF Corse factory team.

"Winning the championship, which is in a hard fight like this with five manufacturers, we are really proud of," Porsche GT director of motorsports Pascal Zurlinden said.

"With the hard work back at the factory, from our team and from our drivers, then it’s a great achievement.

"After winning Le Mans last year, we are still looking forward to the next big race which is coming in a few weeks."

The drivers' championship in all four classes remain up for grabs heading to Le Mans, as do the team titles in LMP2 and GTE-Am.