Nürburgring held the first round of
the FIA World Endurance Championship after the 24 Hours of
Le Mans and while things weren't exactly as unpredictable as it
was in France, Porsche took again the win with the No. 2 car
driven by Brendon Hartley, Timo Bernhard and Earl Bamber,
Toyota suffered all the hits
possible at Le Mans, and this extended a bit to Nürburgring as the
No. 8 Toyota had a fuel pump problem and didn't go past the formation
lap.
The early stages of the race saw the
Porsches playing catch with the No. 7 Toyota, putting the rest of the
field in the eye of the storm while other classes were having their
own battles. LMGTE-Pro was specially close in the lead spots
with Aston Martin and Porsche having an epic clash. Eventually
backmarker presence slowed down the No. 95 Aston Martin, and
when Marco Sorensen left space, Fred Makowiecki in the No. 91
Porsche jumped to the class lead and disappeared in front.
Pit stop moments were roughly the same
for the top-3 LMP1 field, so pitwork time would change
something, and it did so by putting the No. 1 Porsche ahead of the
No. 2, although not affecting the No. 7 Toyota's lead. No one
expected though that the No. 2 Porsche with Brendon Hartley would
take a good charge and pass the sister Porsche and the lead car in
about ten minutes. Eventually the No. 1 overtook the Toyota too for
second place, although José Maria Lopez was trying his best to
counter that. Second round of stops had the Toyota kept at bay while
the Porsches were racing as close as possible.
While the No. 38 Jackie Chan DC
Racing Oreca was dominating the LMP2 class for a long
time, hell was breaking loose for second place in class as the sister
No. 37 car was holding its way against No. 31 Vaillante Rebellion and
the No. 36 Signatech Alpine. The other Pro-Am class of the
race was having its moment of hype as Mathias Lauda in the No. 98
Aston Martin was in the LMGTE-Am lead with the No. 77
Dempsey-Proton Porsche and the No. 61 Clearwater Ferrari a few
meters behind. The Rebellion/Alpine charge was becoming harder and
harder, and no driver can hold two cars on attack at the same time,
so the No. 31 and the No. 36 passed on each side of the No. 37.
Posche was consolidating their lead
more and more, but with 2 hours to go the No. 2 car almost had a big
moment as Roberto Merhi spun the No. 24 Manor Oreca a few meters in
front, forcing immediate evasive action to avoid a hit. Also one of
the big moments of the final part was with 1 hour and a half to go,
as Daniel Serra in the No. 97 Aston Martin managed to hold
both Chip Ganassi Fords for three laps in the fight for the
fifth position in LMGTE-Pro, ending with a rub that took a chunk of
the No. 97's rear diffuser and the loss of positions.
In the final hour, Porsche had
established the 1-2 in LMP1 as the No. 7 Toyota was a minute behind,
so it was only a matter of managing equipment and bring both cars
home as the No. 2 car crossed the finish line and saw the checkered
flag first. Jackie Chan DC Racing kept the winning streak in LMP2
with the No. 38 Oreca in dominant form, and so did the No. 51 AF
Corse Ferrari in LMGTE-Pro after epic position climbing. The
LMGTE-Am class was won by the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche,
with stunning drives of Marvin Dienst and Matteo Cairoli.
The next race will be the 6 Hours of
Mexico on September 1st, with Toyota having a huge
deal of work to do as the No. 2 Porsche trio leads the standings with
108 points against 78 of the No. 8 Toyota crew.
PHOTOS: FIA WEC
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