From PR materials

Porsche came to the Nurburgring for the WEC on a high after their Le Mans triumph and they were not to be beaten on home soil…

LMP1

Porsche Team took a memorable 1-2 finish on home soil at the Nurburgring today as the No.17 Porsche 919 Hybrid car claimed a maiden win for Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley. It was the second consecutive WEC win for Porsche after its Le Mans triumph in June.

A bumper 62,000 crowd enjoyed three days of excellent WEC action on the first ever visit to Germany. The fans could not have gone home happier as Porsche took not only a 1-2 overall, but also victory and second place in the LMGTE Pro class.

Timo Bernhard – Porsche Team

“Neel took off (at the start). I could not keep the speed because this piece of carbon stuck in my tyre. Balance of the car was gone but once this was fixed, the car ran perfectly. We had a good balance. Car 18 had couple of issues so we were able to take the lead. Overall a very good day and a good race. There were lots of close races last year; we’ve been looking forward to this moment for a long time. There were lots of close races last year. We are happy tonight.”

“I have to say it was a very enjoyable weekend, the crowd was incredible and I hope that Germany stays on the calendar for the WEC next yea, I think the fans deserve that.”

The win for Webber, Hartley and Bernhard today means they are now just 17 points behind Silverstone and Spa victors Lotterer, Fassler and Treluyer in the fight for the 2015 FIA World Endurance Driver’s Championship standings.

The No.17 Porsche 919 Hybrid fought back from a long early pit stop, after having to replace its front bodywork. After this unscheduled stop, the Australian-German-New Zealand trio of drivers stamped their authority on the race and capitalised after the sister No.18 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Marc Lieb, Neel Jani and Romain Dumas lost time when three penalties had to be served for exceeding the fuel allowance on the car. An engine sensor that controls the fuel flow had failed on the No.18 Porsche 919 Hybrid.

Mark Webber – Porsche Team

“When I first made the decision to continue racing after I’d finished in F1, it was a no-brainer to come and drive for Porsche because it is such a famous brand on and off track and for me to race with these guys it’s a real pleasure, the spirit in the camp is incredible. We are still quite a new team and we are still learning a lot every day.”

After the first, five-second stop/go penalty, Marc Lieb engaged in a close side-by-side fight with Webber, which briefly saw the cars touching at turn two. However, the two longer penalties, 30-seconds and 60-seconds respectively, meant that any chance of victory was all but lost.

The No.18 Porsche recovery drive saw exceptional stints from Neel Jani and Marc Lieb in the final hours. Jani took part in a thrilling battle with both of the Audi R18 etron quattro’s in the final hour, as he attempted to climb up in to second position.

The fight ultimately got resolved at the final pit stop, and from there Marc Lieb was able to ward off any threat from Lucas Di Grassi in the No.8 Audi R18 etron quattro and Andre Lotterer in the No.7 machine. Lotterer found a way by Di Grassi for third place in the final moments of the race, and so maintained the No.7 crew’s 100% podium record in 2015.

Andre Lotterer – Audi Sport Team Joest

“In the middle of the race, we had a strong car overall. We struggled most of the time with a lot of understeer but we can be happy to be on the podium. We need to make some changes and work harder. We can thanks our sister car who helped us out at the end.”

Toyota Racing finished its home race in fifth and sixth positions after a clean run to the chequered flag. The reigning champions – Anthony Davidson, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi in the No.1 Toyota TS 040 headed home the No.2 crew of Stephane Sarrazin, Alex Wurz and Mike Conway.

The ByKolles finished as the leading LMP1 privateer with Pierre Kaffer and Simon Trummer completing the CLM P1/01’s most competitive weekend to date.

The AER powered LMP1 car took over at the front of the privateer class early on after both Rebellion Racing cars hit trouble. The ByKolles car even recovered from losing its rear wing on the main straight to finish the race in 18th position overall.

The No.12 Rebellion R-One claimed second in the class but was delayed after stopping on track during the second hour.

KCMG ORECA continue excellent form with another LMP2 win

The Hong Kong-entered team scored a second win in as many races to extend its title leads in the drivers’ and teams’ title fight.

Nick Tandy initially opened up a healthy gap over the chasing G-Drive Racing Ligier-Nissan entries, but the lead was temporarily lost after the second scheduled stops.

Matt Howson was able to chase down Roman Rusinov’s No.26 G-Drive Racing Ligier-Nissan and pulled off a conclusive move into the first corner, before working on regaining another gap.

Further excellent stints from Richard Bradley and another from Tandy at the end, wrapped up the maximum points again and extended their LMP2 title lead to 15 points.

G-Drive Racing didn’t have an answer to the KCMG ORECA05-Nissan’s pace today but still claimed a fine double podium position. Rusinov, Canal and Bird were 71 seconds adrift in second place, while Derani, Yacaman and Gonzalez scored their third podium of the season after a spirited race, which saw Derani pull off one of the moves of the race when he overtook Nelson Panciatici’s Signatech Alpine at turn two.

The fifth round of the World Endurance  Championship will take place on 19th September at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Matt Howson – KCMG

“We came here thinking it would be our weakest circuit, because its high-downforce, so credit to the engineers for moving the car along. It wasn’t comfortable, it was so physical and especially after full-course yellows, as I lost control of the car, and so did Richard. But great credit to the team, it was another fantastic performance from everyone.”

GT

Porsche concluded a perfect weekend at the Nurburgring as Porsche Team Manthey scored a superb 1-2 to vault Ferrari in the battle for the FIA World Endurance Cup for Manufacturers.

The No.91 Porsche 911 RSR duo of Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen led the majority of the six hours, after the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari hit rare technical difficulties with a suspected electrical problem after just 15 minutes of racing.

For Christensen, it was his first WEC win, and the Dane was highly delighted as he exuberantly sprayed champagne on the podium. For Lietz, the maximum points score meant that he now sits atop the FIA World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers points table, just a single point ahead of James Calado and Davide Rigon.

The No.91 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR controlled the gap to its sister No.92 car which had a much more eventful race.

Frederic Makowiecki was penalised for having jumped the start and took a drive-through penalty in the early stages. The Frenchman then fought back fantastically but was involved in a collision with the No.71 AF Corse Ferrari 458 driven by James Calado. The resulting contact, which occurred just as a Full Course Yellow was notified, caused a puncture to the Ferrari and some light bodywork damage for the Porsche.

This battle for second placed continued to rage after the driver changes, and both Patrick Pilet and Davide Rigon jostled for position with great spirit. Again the fight was heated but another puncture for the Ferrari gave the Porsche substantial breathing space.

There was a sting in the tail for the Pilet/Makowiecki Porsche though, as the earlier contact with the AF Corse Ferrari was penalised and Pilet had to undertake a drive-through in the final half hour of the race. The gap however was sufficient for Porsche Team Manthey to celebrate a home track 1-2, and confirm that Calado and Rigon’s spirited race resulted in a third place finish.

Richard Lietz – Porsche Team Manthey

“It was hard – not just for us but for everybody. It’s not easy around here with the gravel traps waiting if you make a mistake. That was the key – we controlled our pace a little towards the end but of course we are very happy with the end result, it was a great team effort this weekend.”