Porsche has done it again at the FIA World Endurance Championship after scoring a 1-2 finish at the 6 Hours of Fuji today. This is the third straight win for the German manufacturer which now leads the standings with a comfortable margin. Audi opened the season by winning the first two rounds of Silverstone and Spa before Porsche took over by winning the Nurburgring round and the recent COTA victory.
The #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard started from pole having qualified first alongside the #18 sister car of Marc Lieb, Neel Jani and Romain Dumas. The #18 car led for most part of the race before Timo Bernhard took the lead in the #17 car with only 8 minutes left in the race. Bernhard crossed the finish line first leading the #18 car, third place went to the #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler.
FIA WEC 6 Hours of Fuji Results
| Pos | Car | Class |
|---|---|---|
| P1 | #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid | LMP1 |
| P2 | #18 Porsche 919 Hybrid | LMP1 |
| P3 | #7 Audi R8 e-tron quattro | LMP1 |
| P1 | #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 GTE | LMGTE-Pro |
| P2 | #92 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR | LMGTE-Pro |
| P3 | #71 AF Corse Ferrari 458 GTE | LMGTE-Pro |
| P1 | #77 Dempsey Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE-Am |
| P2 | #98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage | LMGTE-Am |
| P3 | #83 AF Corse Ferrari 458 GTE | LMGTE-Am |
The #8 Audi R18 e-tron driven by Lucas Di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis finished fourth leading the #1 and #2 Toyota TS040 Hybrid in fifth and sixth places respectively. The #26 Ligier JS P2 – Nissan triumphed in LMP2 category after claiming first place and 9th overall – sharing the podium with the #36 Alpine A450b – Nissan and another Ligier JS P2 – Nissan (#28).
AF Corse dominated the LMGTE-Pro category by finishing first and third on the podium with the #51 and #71 Ferrari 458 GTE. Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander who finished 13th overall flashed across the chequered flag first leading Patrick Pilet in the #92 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR. The #71 Ferrari was third in the hands of James Calado.
LMGTE-Am podium was equally shared between three manufacturers. It was Patrick Dempsey who claimed P1 in the #77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR leading the #98 Aston Martin Vantage GTE and another AF Corse Ferrari of Rui Aguas.
Elsewhere, Mark Webber set the fastest LMP1 time ever at Fuji during qualifying after completing a 1m22.639s lap.
The next WEC race will head over to China for the 6 Hours of Shanghai on November 1st.
