Despite the two-month-plus break since Le Mans, Porsche picked up where it left off from the 24-hour endurance classic by claiming a 1-2 finish on home soil in Sunday’s Six Hours of Nürburgring, while also sweeping the GTE-Pro class.
Mark Webber cruised to a dominant one-lap win in the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, following a near-flawless run for the No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid.
While the sister pole-sitting entry of Neel Jani led from the start, Brendon Hartley took over the lead in the second hour when the No. 18 entry was hit with the first of three penalties for exceeding fuel consumption.
The technical issues for the other Porsche, which were later resolved, gave Hartley, Webber and Timo Bernhard clear sailing, with Audi or Toyota unable to match the ultimate pace of the 919 Hybrids.
It marked all three drivers’ first overall wins in WEC competition, while the German manufacturer’s first LMP1/GTE-Pro sweep as well.
For Webber, the win comes at the same track where the Australian scored his first career F1 victory in 2009.
Despite losing significant ground after serving nearly three minutes of penalties for exceeding fuel consumption, the No. 18 Porsche of Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas charged to a second place result.
The No. 7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of championship leaders Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler was third, thanks to a late move by the German on teammate Lucas Di Grassi.
Di Grassi and co-drivers Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis were fourth, ahead of the best-placed Toyota four laps behind in fifth overall and in LMP1.
LMP1 Privateer was another battle of attrition, with Team ByKolles breaking through to score its first points of the season, thanks to a 18th place overall finish for Pierre Kaffer and Simon Trummer’s CLM P1/01 AER.
The pairing benefited from misfortunes from both of the Rebellion R-One AERs, including the Le Mans class-winning No. 13 car, which only completed a single lap.
Like Porsche, KCMG also continued its good fortunes from Le Mans, with a commanding class win in LMP2.
Le Mans winner Nick Tandy took the No. 47 Oreca 05 Nissan to a 1-minute and 11-second victory over the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2 Nissan of Sam Bird, in a race that was in control by the Hong Kong-backed squad from the onset.
Class polesitter Tandy stretched into an early lead, although a slow pit stop in the second hour saw G-Drive’s Roman Rusniov briefly take over the top spot.
Tandy and Richard Bradley shared class honors with fellow Brit Matt Howson, which has seen the team extend their lead in the championship.
G-Drive completed the class podium, with the No. 26 entry of Bird, Rusinov and Julien Canal ahead of teammates Pipo Derani, Gustavo Yacaman and Ricardo Gonzalez in third.
In GTE-Pro, Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen gave Porsche Team Manthey its first class win since Shanghai of last year, following an equally strong run in the production-based ranks.
Lietz took a one-lap win over the sister No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Pilet, after the Frenchman was forced to serve a late-race penalty for an early incident by co-driver Fred Makowiecki.
Makowiecki made contact with the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia of James Calado while battling for second in the third hour, resulting in bodywork damage to the Prancing Horse.
The Ferrari, however, rebounded to finish third in class.
Calado and AF Corse co-driver Davide Rigon flew the flag for the Italian manufacturer, following electrical issues that saw the class pole-sitting No. 51 entry of Gianmaria Bruni stop on track on lap 15.
While Bruni managed to rejoin, he and co-driver Toni Vilander could only muster an seventh place result, and as a result, losing the championship lead to their teammates.
The trio of Aston Martin Vantage V8s struggled in the race, finishing fourth, fifth and sixth in class.
SMP Racing took top class honors in GTE-Am, with Andrea Bertolini, Victor Shaytar and Aleksey Basov going back-to-back following their Le Mans triumph.
Shaytar took his No. 72 Ferrari to a one-lap win over the No. 98 Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Mathias Lauda, who had held the lead until the final round of pit stops when Lauda briefly stopped on track.
The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari was third, denying Dempsey Proton Racing a podium finish after Patrick Long’s early class lead and a career drive by Patrick Dempsey, in his first race on the famed German circuit.
The WEC heads next to Circuit of The Americas in Austin for the Lone Star Le Mans weekend on Sept. 17-19, which will feature TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and WEC races over a single day.
