The 2016 6 Hours of Silverstone was a six-hour endurance sports car racing event held for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England on 15–17 April 2016. Silverstone served as the opening round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship, and was the fifth running of the event as part of the championship. A total of 52,000 people attended the race weekend.
Audi's No. 7 car of André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer won the pole position and maintained their advantage on the race's first lap. Lotterer initially pulled away from the field but lost the lead to Mark Webber in Porsche's No. 1 car who remained in the position. Co-driver Brendon Hartley remained in first until he retired following heavy contact with Michael Wainwright in the No. 86 Gulf Racing car. This handed the lead to Neel Jani in the sister No. 2 car, but it switched again to Tréluyer when Jani's co-driver Marc Lieb was delayed by a slower vehicle. Although he was challenged by Lieb after being blocked by slower cars Tréluyer pulled away from him and the No. 7 Audi maintained its advantage over the No. 2 Porsche for the majority of the remainder of the event to finish the race first. However the No. 7 Audi was disqualified when scrutineers discovered that its front skid block was worn out by more than the regulations allowed for, handing the victory to Lieb, Jani and Romain Dumas. Toyota No. 5 drivers Stéphane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi finished in second and Dominik Kraihamer, Alexandre Imperatori and Mathéo Tuscher came in third to secure Rebellion Racing's first podium in the series since 2013.
The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category was won by the No. 43 RGR Sport by Morand car of Bruno Senna, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricardo González. Senna took the lead in the event's closing stages and earned him and Albuquerque their first World Endurance Championship class victories and González's fourth. Sam Bird and Davide Rigon in the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari were unchallenged throughout the race and took the victory in the Le Mans Grand Touring Professional (LMGTE Pro) class ahead of their teammates Gianmaria Bruni and James Calado in the sister Ferrari who served a three-minute stop-and-go penalty for an engine change after qualifying. The Le Mans Grand Touring Amateur (LMGTE Am) category was led throughout the final stages by François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Rui Águas who won their first race of the season in the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari with a one-lap advantage over the second-placed No. 98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Pedro Lamy.
The result meant Lieb, Jani and Dumas became the leaders of the Drivers' Championship with 25 points, seven ahead of their nearest rivals Sarrazin, Conway and Kobayashi, and a further three in front of Kraihamer, Imperatori and Piquet. Their teammates Nico Prost, Nick Heidfeld and Nelson Piquet Jr. were fourth on 12 points with Senna, Albuquerque and González rounding out the top five with ten points. Toyota claimed the Manufacturers' Championship lead with 33 points, eight ahead of their rival Porsche in second; the third-placed manufacturer Audi had scored one point with eight races left in the season.