Porsche claimed victory at the FIA WEC 6 Hours of COTA 2016 yesterday to extend their dominance in the championship, the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley crossed the finish line first to mark their 3rd consecutive win of the season.
Once again Audi had been fastest all weekend, setting the quickest times during Free Practice and qualifying but a full course yellow accompanied by technical difficulties denied the Ingolstadt based team a much needed win. The #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Marcel Fassler Benoit Treluyer and Andre Lotterer had started from pole but was passed by the #1 Porsche which took advantage of the FCY by pitting early. The Audi was later hit by the #66 Ford GT on turn 18 and fell back further while undergoing repair, the team finished sixth eventually.
Just like in Mexico, the Austin podium was evenly distributed with three manufacturers taking the stand. Behind the #1 Porsche was the #8 Audi R18 of Lucas Di Grassi, Oliver Jarvis and Loic Duval who had led the race at some point but lost all electrical power. The team engineers had to reset the car forcing them to fall behind but made a strong comeback to finish in P2. Third place in the LMP1 class went to the #6 Toyota TS050 of Kamui Kobayashi, Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway, their second podium finish of the year.
The #2 Porsche of Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb finished in fourth place, enough to keep them on top of the standings. Elsewhere, the #3 Rebellion Racing R-One of Dominik Kraihamer, Matheo Tuscher and Alex Imperatori won the LMP1 privateer category.
The #36 Signatech Alpine of Nico Lapierre, Gustavo Menezes and Stephane Richelmi had been fastest all weekend too in the LMP2 class, and they had little trouble leading from start to finish – their 4th win of the season. Second and third place in LMP2 went to #43 RGR Sport Ligier and the #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca respectively.
Since Mexico, Aston Martin has been unstoppable, dominating the LMGTE classes in a flawless manner. Austin was no different, the team managed to win both AM and Pro classes, leading from start to finish.
In the LMGTE-Pro class, the #95 Aston Martin Vantage of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen started from pole and never looked back. The team won the race to mark their first win of the season. Second place went to the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE with the #71 Ferrari 488 GTE completing the LMGTE-Pro podium.
Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Pedro Lamy sealed a double podium for Aston Martin Racing by winning the LMGTE-Am class in the #98 car, they also started from pole. The #78 Porsche 911 RSR came home second leading the #50 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.
The next round heads to Japan for the 6 Hours of Fuji on October 16.
