Though last year constructors entered in the LMP1 class were able to develop three different aero kits throughout the year, that has changed in 2017 with regulations limiting possible options to two. As a result, there is a low downforce and drag kit designed for circuits with long straights like at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and a high downforce kit for slower circuits such as Silverstone.

At the Silverstone circuit, where the straights are relatively short, choosing the high downforce kit made sense, but at the Spa-Francorchamps track, the low downforce kit will be less taxing given the Belgian circuit includes much longer straights.

Porsche will keep the same low downforce aero kit in order to continue its development for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But, thanks to the participation for the first time of Toyota's third car, entered at Le Mans, the Japanese manufacturer will be able to mix up the two options. The two Toyota TS050 HYBRIDs, #7 and #8, entered full-time in the FIA WEC will keep the high downforce kits used at Silverstone, and the #9 sister car driven by Stéphane Sarrazin, Nicolas Lapierre and Yuji Kunimoto will utilize the low downforce aero kit destined for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In theory and in terms of pure speed, the two Toyotas should have the advantage, but we saw at Silverstone nothing is a given: unpredictable occurrences within a race, like the deployment of the safety car, always shake things up. Though the Japanese marque won the 6 Hours of Silverstone, the gaps with the two Porsches, second and third, at the finish line were negligible, and Sébastien Buemi had to work hard to overcome Brendon Hartley, in the lead after his denied refueling with the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid.

Photo (Copyright - Laurent Cartalade/VSA): Though Toyota took the lead at the kickoff of the 2017 FIA WEC season at Silverstone, Porsche did not trail far behind.