After a storming victory at Le Mans in June, Porsche followed up with another WEC 1 & 2 finish at the 6 Hours of Nurburgring. The no. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid took the victory with Bernhard/Hartley/Webber at the wheel. The sister car, No. 18 followed suit in 2nd at the hands of Dumas/Jani/Lieb. The only consolation for Audi was a 3rd place finish by Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer in the No. 7 Audi R-18 e-Tron Quattro Hybrid.
The fourth round of the FIA Word Endurance Championship (WEC) came to an end with 6 hours of non-stop drama at the 5.137 kilometre Nurburgring Grand Prix circuit.
No.18 Porsche despite starting from pole lost a lot of time and the lead when they were penalized for a technical problem on the car. Neel Jani stayed in the car for 76 laps (two and a half stints) while setting the fastest lap of the race of 1:37.995 mins.
The no.17 car started from 2nd place on the grid and lost 10 seconds after a yellow flag on the track. The car took some damage early on in the race, Bernard brought the car in for an early unscheduled stop after 24 laps. Webber took the wheel with the new front nose and over took the No. 7 Audi on lap 40 to regain 2nd place. On lap 64, when the No.18 Porsche was serving a penalty for a faulty fuel flow metre, Hartley took the lead in the sister car. Bernard took the wheel for his 2nd stint on the 89th lap and on the 123rd lap Webber started his second stint followed by another stint by Brendon on lap 144. The former Formula 1 driver, Mark Webber was strapped in for his final stint on the 175th lap to bring the car home to victory. This win was Webbers first since the Aussie switched from Formula 1 to WEC.
Timo Bernhard said “We have been close to victory a couple of times and now it has worked out. The start was okay, but during the full course yellow I lost ground due to lapped cars between me and the leading sister car. At some point the car became difficult to drive because of front damage and we decided to pit early for a new nose cone after 24 laps. After a tricky beginning we managed to fight our way back to the lead. Of course, we were benefitting from the sister car’s bad luck, but we were also doing a good job.”
Brendon Hartley said “I’m incredibly happy that we got our first win. After Timo was a bit unlucky in his first stint, everything went smoothly. With the new front nose the car’s performance was back where it should be, and I took the lead when our sister car was penalised. Later we kept our heads down and stayed focused. “
Mark Webber said “Achieving the second one-two after Le Mans is great for our team. This is my first Porsche victory and, of course, it is a big day for Brendon, Timo and myself, and it is always a team effort. The two of them were awesome; we had no technical issues and took an important step by improving our performance on shorter tracks. Traffic was sometimes brutal today, but we made it.”
After 4 out of 8 rounds completed, the manufacturers title lead is extended by Porsche who now stand at 184 points with Audi behind in 2nd with 151 and Toyota in 3rd with 89. The 5th round of the WEC will be the 6 hours of Circuit of the Americas on September 19, 2015.
Energizer and Assurance Intl Limited have collaborated on a new line of automotive oil that will be sourced, manufactured, and distributed in India to complement the existing STP product portfolio in ...
The Uno Minda D-90 horn has a two-year manufacturing warranty and is competitively priced between Rs 295 and Rs 855. It can be conveniently purchased from a variety of top-tier online and offline reta...
A two-stage side airbag from ZF Lifetec uses the milliseconds before an unavoidable crash to build up valuable distance and better protect the occupants.