Porsche has celebrated a double victory at the Nürburgring in both the LMP1 as well as in the GTE-Pro class.
LMP1
The Porsche Team claimed a one-two result in front of a great crowd at the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at the Nürburgring. The trio of Timo Bernhard (DE), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AUS) won the six-hour race in temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius. Right behind them the sister Porsche 919 Hybrid of Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE) came second. Over the weekend 62,000 people came to watch the first German WEC race.
This is the third major success for the young team and he prototype’s ground-breaking hybrid technology. For the driver line-up, which includes former Formula One driver Mark Webber, it is the first and long hoped for WEC race win. With this dream result Porsche has extended its lead in the manufacturers’ world championship and is now lying 33 points ahead of Audi and 95 ahead of Toyota.
With the relatively short and twisty 5.137 kilometre long circuit and the numerous classes competing at different speeds, the race was action packed with thrilling lapping and overtaking manoeuvres. Car number 18’s second place finish was full of stories. After starting from pole, they lost the lead in the first half of the race because of long stop-and-go penalties after a technical problem. While the team usually changed drivers at every fuel stop at the Nürburgring, Neel Jani stayed in the car for 76 laps, which was two and a half stints. It was also Jani who recorded the fastest race lap at the Nürburgring with a time of 1:37.955 minutes
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: “For us the race was a bit of a roller coaster. With the number 17 car we had damage early on, but kept clean after that. The number 18 car had to come in three times for a stop&go penalty. Because of a technical problem we had exceeded the energy limit we are allowed. But the drivers never gave up and fought back. Our pit crew was, once again, set benchmark by doing the fastest stops. I also want to thank our tyre partner Michelin for a great cooperation, which played an important role in today’s achievement, especially in regard to the high temperatures.”
GTE Class
After four straight wins in the USA and Canada, Porsche has now made the breakthrough in the Sports Car World Endurance Championship WEC. At the premiere of the popular race series on the Nürburgring, the Porsche Manthey squad scored its first victory this season in the GTE-Pro class on Sunday.
With the 470 hp 911 RSR, which is based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car, Richard Lietz (Austria) and Michael Christensen (Denmark) finished first ahead of their French team colleagues Frédéric Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet. For Porsche, this marks the first one-two in the WEC since November 2014, when two 911 RSR finished at the front in Shanghai. Richard Lietz is the new leader of the World Endurance Cup for GT drivers.
Team boss Olaf Manthey, who lives just a stone’s throw from the Nürburgring in Meuspath, notched up the long-awaited first victory of the season of all places at the team’s home race after scoring second place at both Silverstone and Spa. This has put the team in a good position for the second half of the season with four races abroad, the first of which is contested in Austin/USA on 19 September.
Race Results
LMP1 class:
1. Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (D/NZ/AUS), Porsche 919 Hybrid, 203 laps
2. Dumas/Jani/Lieb (F/CH/D), Porsche 919 Hybrid, 1 lap behind
3. Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (CH/D/F), Audi R18 e-tron quattro, 1 lap
4. Di Grassi/Duval/Jarvis (BRA/F/GB), Audi R18 e-tron quattro, 1 lap
5. Davidson/Buemi/Nakajima (GB/CH/J), Toyota TS040 Hybrid, 3 laps
6. Wurz/Sarrazin/Conway (A/F/GB), Toyota TS040 Hybrid, 4 laps
FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), after 4 out of 8 rounds
Drivers:
1. Lotterer/Tréluyer/Fässler (D/F/CH), Audi, 95
2. Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (D/NZ/AUS), Porsche 78
3. Dumas/Jani/Lieb (F/CH/D), Porsche, 76
4. Tandy (GB), Porsche & Oreca, 66
5. Bamber/Hülkenberg (NZ/D), Porsche, 58
6. Di Grassi/Duval/Jarvis (BRA/F/GB), Audi, 52
Manufacturers:
1. Porsche 184
2. Audi 151
3. Toyota, 89
GTE class
GTE-Pro class
1. Lietz/Christensen (A/DK), Porsche 911 RSR, 176 laps
2. Pilet/Makowiecki (F/F), Porsche 911 RSR, 175
3. Rigon/Calado (I/GB), Ferrari F458 Italia, 175