Race – Nurburgring – Porsche Double in Front of German Audience
Just like at Le Mans, Porsche dominated the 6 Hours of Nürburgring by achieving a one-two finish. It was the car of Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard, and Brendon Hartley that ultimately won. It was ahead of the second Porsche and the Audi No. 7 of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer.
The starting grid perfectly reflected the current form of the different cars: the first row was occupied by the two Porsches, the second by the two Audis, and the third by the two Toyotas. This could only delight the German public, who came in large numbers (65,000 spectators) and were deprived of Formula 1 this year.
The No. 18 of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani, and Marc Lieb took advantage of its pole position to soar into the lead of the race. Even their teammates in No. 17 couldn’t keep up with their pace at the start of the race. But a spanner in the works disrupted the leading crew’s progress: a sensor on the fuel flow malfunctioned. The Porsche was therefore able to use more fuel than allowed by the technical regulations.
This resulted in an initial five-second penalty, which nullified the gap built over the No. 17. This allowed for an exciting battle on track between Marc Lieb and Mark Webber, to the point where the two teammates slightly touched. But as the sensor issue continued, the No. 18 Porsche was penalized twice more. This time, the punishment was much more severe as the car had to serve a 30-second penalty, followed by a 60-second penalty. Under these conditions, winning regularly in a six-hour race became almost impossible. The crew of the No. 17 did not miss their chance and took advantage of it to claim their first victory of the season.
But the battle for the other podium spots raged between the No. 18 and the two Audis. Less than an hour before the finish, the three cars were, indeed, wheel to wheel, and it was hard to predict in what order they would arrive. Ultimately, it was the last driver change that made the difference. Thus, Porsche managed to send Marc Lieb back out ahead of his competitors. He was no longer threatened afterward.
But the third place was still in play and it was ultimately André Lotterer who got the better of Lucas di Grassi. This allows car no. 7 to minimize the point loss against its rivals and maintain its 100% record of finishing on the podium since the start of the season.
Far behind, the two Toyotas had a solid race without technical issues, but the performance gap was too significant to compete with those at the front.
