bigbadbrother
07-24-2016, 05:57 PM
John Dagys
Porsche has extended its lead in the FIA World Endurance Championship with a hard-fought victory in Sunday's Six Hours of Nürburgring, overcoming a strong challenge from Audi.
Timo Bernhard took the No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid to its first win of the season, capitalizing on contact and a penalty issued to the quicker, championship-leading No. 2 car in the closing stages.
Neel Jani was forced to relinquish his lead with with less than 90 minutes to go to serve a drive-through penalty for a collision with the No. 88 Abu Dhabi Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR, which brought out a Full Course Yellow and damaged the nose of the 919 Hybrid.
The incident ultimately dropped the Swiss driver to third, and then faded to fourth after a fierce duel with Andre Lotterer in the No. 7 Audi R18, which led to the Porsche's rear legality panel getting damaged and an additional stop for repairs.
The battle between Lotterer and Jani, which saw the two LMP1 hybrids make contact several times, gave clear sailing up front to Bernhard, who cruised to a 53.787-second win over the No. 8 Audi of Loic Duval.
It marked Porsche's third win in four WEC races this season, but the first for defending World Champions Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley.
Porsche benefitted from a series of FCYs that played into their hands throughout the race, with both 919 Hybrids able to leapfrog ahead of the No. 8 Audi, which led early in the hands of Oliver Jarvis.
The No. 7 Audi of Lotterer and Marcel Fassler completed the podium in third, followed by the No. 2 Porsche, which lost ground after multiple incidents in final 90 minutes.
Toyota was unable to challenge either of the German manufacturers, with the No. 5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid finishing two laps behind in fifth, while engine issues delayed the No. 6 entry in the fourth hour, en route to sixth.
For the first time this season, all six LMP1 hybrids were classified at the finish, with relatively few mechanical issues, unlike the opening rounds.
Signatech Alpine claimed its third LMP2 class victory in a row, following another commanding run by Nicolas Lapierre, Stephane Richelmi and American Gustavo Menezes in the No. 36 Alpine A460 Nissan.
Lapierre crossed the line 16.478 seconds ahead of the No. 43 RGR Sport Ligier JS P2 Nissan of Bruno Senna in second, having held the French squad close in toe in the closing hour.
The Signatech squad took over the lead early in the fourth hour when the class pole-sitting No. 26 G-Drive Racing Oreca 05 Nissan of Alex Brundle retired with gearbox failure.
Lapierre, Richelmi and Menezes extend their lead in the championship, ahead over the RGR Sport squad of Senna, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricardo Gonzalez, who now move into second.
A final lap duel between Ryan Dalziel and Jonny Kane ended with Tequila Patron ESM's Dalziel, Pipo Derani and Chris Cumming third class podium in the year, with Dalziel coming out just 0.071 seconds ahead of the Strakka Racing driver.
LMP1 Privateer honors, meanwhile, went to the No. 13 Rebellion R-One AER of Alexandre Imperatori, Matheo Tuscher and Dominik Kraihamer, after the sister No. 12 car hit engine trouble and the ByKolles CLM P1/01 AER caught fire again.
Gianmaria Bruni led home a 1-2 finish in GTE-Pro for AF Corse, at a race in which the Italian team initially looked to be struggling for pace.
Bruni and James Calado drove the No. 51 Ferrari 488 GTE to first in class, 29 seconds ahead of the sister No. 71 car of Sam Bird and Davide Rigon.
It marks AF Corse's third victory in four races so far in this year's FIA World Endurance Championship, and second 1-2 win after a similar result at Silverstone.
Nicki Thiim had led most of the race early on in his No. 95 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE but could only make it through to finish third, sharing the car with Marco Sorensen.
Thiim passed Olivier Pla in the final 20 minutes as the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing driver was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for a pit-stop infringement in his No. 66 Ford GT.
Pla and Stefan Muecke finished fourth in class, ahead of the No. 97 Aston Martin of Darren Turner and Richie Stanaway.
Dempsey-Proton Racing took sixth in class after a rather quiet race for Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen in the No. 77 Porsche 911 RSR.
Perhaps the most shocking moment in the race was a refueling fire for the No. 67 Ford GT in the second hour. Andy Priaulx bailed out of the car quickly and was unharmed, but it took a while to extinguish the flames.
While missing out in GTE-Pro, Aston Martin claimed top class honors in GTE-Am with its No. 98 entry of Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda.
This was the car's second win of the season after its Spa-Francorchamps victory in May.
Most of the class runners led at some point during the race, but Lauda took the lead just before the halfway point, when the Austrian overtook Larbre Competition's Yutaka Yamagashi.
Wolf Henzler took the No. 78 KCMG Porsche to the line in second, after a strong performance from he and co-drivers Christian Ried and Joel Camathias.
While Francios Perrodo put his AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia into the gravel during the second hour, he rebounded to finish third in class after serving a 20-second pit stop penalty.
Larbre Competition finished fourth in class, on Paolo Ruberti's sooner-than-expected comeback drive following his accident just days before the Le Mans Test Day.
Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing came home fifth, after multiple incidents, including an accident with the No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Marc Lieb, who was penalized for contact.
Porsche has extended its lead in the FIA World Endurance Championship with a hard-fought victory in Sunday's Six Hours of Nürburgring, overcoming a strong challenge from Audi.
Timo Bernhard took the No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid to its first win of the season, capitalizing on contact and a penalty issued to the quicker, championship-leading No. 2 car in the closing stages.
Neel Jani was forced to relinquish his lead with with less than 90 minutes to go to serve a drive-through penalty for a collision with the No. 88 Abu Dhabi Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR, which brought out a Full Course Yellow and damaged the nose of the 919 Hybrid.
The incident ultimately dropped the Swiss driver to third, and then faded to fourth after a fierce duel with Andre Lotterer in the No. 7 Audi R18, which led to the Porsche's rear legality panel getting damaged and an additional stop for repairs.
The battle between Lotterer and Jani, which saw the two LMP1 hybrids make contact several times, gave clear sailing up front to Bernhard, who cruised to a 53.787-second win over the No. 8 Audi of Loic Duval.
It marked Porsche's third win in four WEC races this season, but the first for defending World Champions Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley.
Porsche benefitted from a series of FCYs that played into their hands throughout the race, with both 919 Hybrids able to leapfrog ahead of the No. 8 Audi, which led early in the hands of Oliver Jarvis.
The No. 7 Audi of Lotterer and Marcel Fassler completed the podium in third, followed by the No. 2 Porsche, which lost ground after multiple incidents in final 90 minutes.
Toyota was unable to challenge either of the German manufacturers, with the No. 5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid finishing two laps behind in fifth, while engine issues delayed the No. 6 entry in the fourth hour, en route to sixth.
For the first time this season, all six LMP1 hybrids were classified at the finish, with relatively few mechanical issues, unlike the opening rounds.
Signatech Alpine claimed its third LMP2 class victory in a row, following another commanding run by Nicolas Lapierre, Stephane Richelmi and American Gustavo Menezes in the No. 36 Alpine A460 Nissan.
Lapierre crossed the line 16.478 seconds ahead of the No. 43 RGR Sport Ligier JS P2 Nissan of Bruno Senna in second, having held the French squad close in toe in the closing hour.
The Signatech squad took over the lead early in the fourth hour when the class pole-sitting No. 26 G-Drive Racing Oreca 05 Nissan of Alex Brundle retired with gearbox failure.
Lapierre, Richelmi and Menezes extend their lead in the championship, ahead over the RGR Sport squad of Senna, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricardo Gonzalez, who now move into second.
A final lap duel between Ryan Dalziel and Jonny Kane ended with Tequila Patron ESM's Dalziel, Pipo Derani and Chris Cumming third class podium in the year, with Dalziel coming out just 0.071 seconds ahead of the Strakka Racing driver.
LMP1 Privateer honors, meanwhile, went to the No. 13 Rebellion R-One AER of Alexandre Imperatori, Matheo Tuscher and Dominik Kraihamer, after the sister No. 12 car hit engine trouble and the ByKolles CLM P1/01 AER caught fire again.
Gianmaria Bruni led home a 1-2 finish in GTE-Pro for AF Corse, at a race in which the Italian team initially looked to be struggling for pace.
Bruni and James Calado drove the No. 51 Ferrari 488 GTE to first in class, 29 seconds ahead of the sister No. 71 car of Sam Bird and Davide Rigon.
It marks AF Corse's third victory in four races so far in this year's FIA World Endurance Championship, and second 1-2 win after a similar result at Silverstone.
Nicki Thiim had led most of the race early on in his No. 95 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE but could only make it through to finish third, sharing the car with Marco Sorensen.
Thiim passed Olivier Pla in the final 20 minutes as the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing driver was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for a pit-stop infringement in his No. 66 Ford GT.
Pla and Stefan Muecke finished fourth in class, ahead of the No. 97 Aston Martin of Darren Turner and Richie Stanaway.
Dempsey-Proton Racing took sixth in class after a rather quiet race for Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen in the No. 77 Porsche 911 RSR.
Perhaps the most shocking moment in the race was a refueling fire for the No. 67 Ford GT in the second hour. Andy Priaulx bailed out of the car quickly and was unharmed, but it took a while to extinguish the flames.
While missing out in GTE-Pro, Aston Martin claimed top class honors in GTE-Am with its No. 98 entry of Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda.
This was the car's second win of the season after its Spa-Francorchamps victory in May.
Most of the class runners led at some point during the race, but Lauda took the lead just before the halfway point, when the Austrian overtook Larbre Competition's Yutaka Yamagashi.
Wolf Henzler took the No. 78 KCMG Porsche to the line in second, after a strong performance from he and co-drivers Christian Ried and Joel Camathias.
While Francios Perrodo put his AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia into the gravel during the second hour, he rebounded to finish third in class after serving a 20-second pit stop penalty.
Larbre Competition finished fourth in class, on Paolo Ruberti's sooner-than-expected comeback drive following his accident just days before the Le Mans Test Day.
Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing came home fifth, after multiple incidents, including an accident with the No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Marc Lieb, who was penalized for contact.