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 created a fantastic backdrop for the first German WEC race.
After the Porsche 919 Hybrid’s maiden victory at last year’s finale in Brazil and the recent one-two result at Le Mans in 2015, this is the third major success for the young team and the 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 going at different speeds, the race was action packed with thrilling lapping and overtaking manoeuvres. The way the car of Dumas/Jani/Lieb finished second 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.
How the race went for car number 17:
Timo started from P2 behind the sister car. During a “Full Course Yellow” he lost around ten seconds because of slow lapped cars between him and the leading car. Later a damaged nose cone disturbed the aero, which is why the team decided to stop early. After 24 laps Timo handed over to Mark, who continued with a new front. Eventually having dropped back to P6, Mark overtook the number 7 Audi on lap 40 to be second again behind the sister car. After 56 laps Mark handed over to Brendon, who took the lead on lap 64 when car number 18 was penalised. After 89 laps Timo took over the leading car to hand it to Mark again after 123 laps. During a Full Course Yellow after 144 laps Brendon jumped in again. After 175 laps Mark took over for the final stint and brought the car home to take the victory.
Quotes after the race:
Matthias Müller, Chairman of the Executive Board Porsche AG:
“After the successful Le Mans weekend we came here with huge expectations. The time since June 14 was obviously very well used and today we have shown what Porsche is able to do. Not only in LMP1, but also in the GTE Pro class. Congratulations to everyone involved.”
Wolfgang Hatz, Board Member Research and Development:
“One-two in qualifying yesterday, one-two in the race today with the 919 Hybrid as well as with two Porsche 911 RSR – you just can’t ask for more. Everyone was rewarded for hard work.”
Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1:
“To achieve a one-two at the first WEC race on home soil is a dream come true. The new aerodynamic package works very well. This and today’s points brings us a little closer to our goal to win the manufacturers’ championship. I also want to thank the entire team back home in Weissach. We are looking forward to the next four six-hour races.”
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.”
Drivers Porsche 919 Hybrid number 17
Brendon Hartley (25, New Zealand):
“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 focussed.“
Timo Bernhard (34, Germany):
“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.”
Mark Webber (39, Australia):
“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.”
Race result 6 hours of Nürburgring (DE):
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
