WEC: Porsche Celebrates One-Two At Nürburgring

by admin · July 16, 2017

Porsche is celebrating a one-two finish at the Nürburgring having won the six-hour event in style. Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber won the race, Porsche’s second in 2017, from Neel Jani, André Lotterer and Nick Tandy – it’s the LMP team’s first one-two result since Shanghai in 2015.

Lotterer started the No1 919 from P3 on the grid, closely following the pole-sitting No7 Toyota and No2 Porsche. At the end of lap 31 lap Lotterer pitted with Jani taking over. The car emerged in P2 behind the No7 Toyota after the first stops, but on lap 35 it dropped back to P3 having been delayed in traffic and overtaken by the sister Porsche.

The race was largely one that ebbed and flowed, but after 97 laps Tandy took over the wheel of the leading car. On lap 123 he touched the No67 GT Ford when lapping it, fortunately both cars continued. The sister 919 wasn’t immune from drama either, it was forced to avoid a spinning LMP2 car after 131 laps. Still in P2 after 164 laps, Bernhard got back in the car. A quick splash and dash on lap 197 brought him back in to the lead and after 204 laps, taking the chequered flag to win his home race with the sister 919 behind him.

Andreas Seidl, Team Principal, said: “A race like today is something you normally can only dream of. Either crew would have deserved to win today. We have had two impeccably prepared cars that worked perfectly over the entire distance. Our six drivers performed at the highest level and at the same time acted as excellent team players. Congratulations and a big thank you to everybody who was involved in getting our new high downforce aero kit in place. It made today’s one-two victory possible. The order at the end of the race is ideal for both championship standings and this has to be the priority for Porsche.”

Porsche has now scored 154 points in the manufacturers’ world championship with a 39.5 points gap to Toyota. In the drivers’ rankings, Bamber/Bernhard/Hartley have 108 points in total, earning them an advantage of 30 points over the best placed Toyota trio. Meanwhile Jani/Lotterer/Tandy move up to fourth position in the championship (46 points).