Porsche did well again

Porsche scored his tenth victory in 11 races by winning the 6 Hours of the Nürburgring (Germany) with the No. 919 1 Hybrid of reigning world champions Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber who achieved their first success of the season.

The Stuttgart brand already has three victories this year after Silverstone (Great Britain) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but she had to face the Audi R18s after encountering problems with her two hybrid LMP1s.

“The start of the race went well since we overtook the Audis during the first stops thanks to the speed of our team, explains Brendon Hartley. We then lacked success as we were slowed down by traffic and suffered a slow puncture forcing us to anticipate our stop. I was much happier with my second stint where the track matched the car better in terms of balance. I was able to widen the gap on the Audis and we took the lead of the race. »

The race went less well for the No. 919 2 Hybrid of Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas. The LMP1 of the last winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans lost contact at the front following a spin by the Swiss on lap 22, followed later by contact by the German with the 911 RSR from Abu Dhabi Proton Racing damaging the front spoiler which will be penalized with a drive through. Another collision with an LMP2 will cause damage to the rear section requiring brief repairs.

The second Porsche nevertheless managed to take fourth place ahead of the Toyota TS050 Hybrid, allowing the crew to maintain a 33-point lead over Duval-Di Grassi-Jarvis, the drivers of the R18 n°8 who finished in second place. The Stuttgart manufacturer maintains a 35-point lead over Audi before Mexico on September 3.

Results of the 6 Hours of the Nürburgring

Discover the analysis of the 6 Hours of the Nürburgring carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2073 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.