WEC Finale: Webber, Hartley and Bernhard secure WEC title in Bahrain epic

[Jack Hunsley]

Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard have secured Porsche's first major endurance racing titles since 1986 after they just edged out Audi under the lights in a thrilling 6 Hours of Bahrain.

The #17 Porsche overcame all the odds after suffering a throttle issue just half an hour into the race, dropping it right to the very back of the entire field and putting them five laps behind the leaders, along with engine cut-outs in the final hour, to come through and secure 5th place at the checkered flag, giving them the title by just 5 Points.

All seemed lost for Porsche when the car ground to halt with Timo Bernhard at the wheel after Bernhard had dominated proceedings off the start, however problems for Audi, which included a front left brake issue and a tyre infringement on the #8 car, as well as the fine drive from the #18 sister car gave Porsche the track position they needed to out maneuver Audi, only for a wheel nut issue to prop at the start of Andre Lotterer's final stint to all but assure that the title was going Porsche's way.

The drama with the Porsche's and Audi's was also news to Toyota's ears, as this allowed the number #2 Toyota, piloted by the retiring Alex Wurz, to snatch their first podium finish of the season in what has been a disappointing year for the Japanese squad.

Moving down into the other categories the #26 G-Drive Racing car took the LMP2 title in perfect style after a late charge by Sam Bird saw them overcome the #47 KCMG car for victory on the day as well. Their sister car, the number #28 completed the podium.

In GTE Pro Porsche continued their dominance after rounding off both the manufacturers and drivers championships, despite the fact that the #91 Porsche of Lietz and Christensen only finished 5th in class. Whilst the #51 AF Corse Ferrari rounded off a comfortable victory, the #71 sister car failed to recover from their qualifying penalty after the car lost a wheel with just over an hour left. Either way, neither car could overcome Richard Lietz's points advantage.

Finally, in GTE Am the SMP Racing entry of Bertolini, Basov and Shaytar rounded off their championship despite also only finishing in 5th place. Victory for the #98 Aston Martin of Lauda, Lamy and Dalla Lana denied the #83 AF Corse car of Perrodo, Collard and Aguas the chance of victory as they failed to even make it onto the podium.

6 Hours of Bahrain - Official Race Results

1. LMP1 - #18 Porsche Team (Dumas, Jani, Lieb) - 199 Laps
2. LMP1 - #7 Audi sport Team Joest (Lotterer, Fässler, Tréluyer) - +1:25.310
3. LMP1 - #2 Toyota Racing (Wurz, Sarrazin, Conway) - +3 Laps
4. LMP1 - #1 Toyota Racing (Davidson, Buemi, Nakajima) - +3 Laps
5. LMP1 - #17 Porsche Team (Bernhard, Webber, Hartley) - +9 Laps
6. LMP1 - #8 Audi Sport Team Joest (Di Grassi, Duval, Jarvis) - +11 Laps
7. LMP2 - #26 G-Drive Racing (Rusinov, Canal, Bird) - +16 Laps
8. LMP2 - #47 KCMG (Howson, Bradley, Tandy) - +16 Laps
9. LMP2 - #28 G-Drive Racing (Yacamán, Derani, González) - +17 Laps
10. LMP2 - #36 Signatech Alpine (Panciatici, Chatin, Capillaire)- +17 Laps
11. LMP1 - #13 Rebellion Racing (Imperatori, Kraihamer, Abt) - +18 Laps
12. LMP1 - #4 Team ByKolles (Trummer, Kaffer) - +19 Laps
13. LMP2 - #44 AF Racing (Aleshin, Minassian, Markozov) - +20 laps
14. LMP1 - #12 Rebellion Racing (Prost, Beche, Heidfeld) - +20 laps
15. LMP2 - #42 Strakka Racing (Leventis, Kane, Watts) - +21 Laps
16. LMP2 - #43 Team SARD Morand (Webb, Ragues, Hamilton) - +22 Laps
17. LMP2 - #30 Extreme Speed Motorsport (Sharp, Dalziel, Hansson) - +23 Laps
18. GTE Pro - #92 Porsche Team Manthey (Pilet, Makowiecki) - +26 Laps
19. GTE Pro - #51 AF Corse (Bruni, Vilander) - +26 Laps
20. LMP2 - #31 Extreme Speed Motorsport (Brown, Overbeek, Fogarty) - +26 Laps
21. GTE Pro - #97 Aston Martin Racing (Turner, Mücke, Adam) - +26 Laps
22. GTE Pro - #95 Aston Martin Racing (Nygaard, Sørensen, Thiim) - +26 Laps
23. GTE Pro - #91 Porsche Team Manthey (Lietz, Christensen) - +27 Laps
24. GTE Pro - #71 AF Corse (Rigon, Calado) - +27 Laps
25. GTE Pro - #99 Aston Martin Racing V8 (Rees, MacDowall, Stanaway) - +28 Laps
26. GTE Am - #98 Aston Martin Racing (Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda) - +29 Laps
27. GTE Am - #88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing (Ried, Bamber, Al Qubaisi) - +29 Laps
28. GTE Am - #77 Dempsey Racing-Proton (Ried, Long, Seefried) - +29 Laps
29. GTE Am - #83 AF Corse (Perrodo, Collard, Águas) - +30 Laps
30. GTE Am - #72 SMP Racing (Shaytar, Basov, Bertolini) - +30 Laps
31. GTE Am - #50 Larbre Competition (Roda, Ruberti, Poulsen) - +30 Laps
32. GTE Am - #96 Aston Martin Racing (Goethe, Hall, Castellacci) - +31 Laps

 

[Dan Allen]

Damn I missed the 2nd half of this... First half was interesting, Porsche was really taking the fight to the Audi guys!

 

[Will Mazeo]

Best racing series in the world together with Super GT!!

 

[Andrew Harper]

Yeah me to, I missed most of it as I was at work, but will see if it's been uploaded to YouTube later on or maybe a Motors TV highlights would be nice.

Congrats to Bernhard, Webber and Hartley that was a very tough race for them. Webber looked like he was in a state of shock at the end having to nurse a sick car home for the last part of the race.

Also congrats to Toyota for at least getting a podium this year and for Wurz to taste the champagne one last time, will miss that engine but Toyota will be back in 2016 for sure. Looking forward to it already!

Congrats to also the entire field for a great season, I think I heard there were no retirements? Amazing.

Go on ACO let rotaries back in for Mazda, go on, go on, you know it makes sense.

 

[Brownninja97]

Yeah me to, I missed most of it as I was at work, but will see if it's been uploaded to YouTube later on or maybe a Motors TV highlights would be nice.

Congrats to Bernhard, Webber and Hartley that was a very tough race for them. Webber looked like he was in a state of shock at the end having to nurse a sick car home for the last part of the race.

Also congrats to Toyota for at least getting a podium this year and for Wurz to taste the champagne one last time, will miss that engine but Toyota will be back in 2016 for sure. Looking forward to it already!

Congrats to also the entire field for a great season, I think I heard there were no retirements? Amazing.

Go on ACO let rotaries back in for Mazda, go on, go on, you know it makes sense.

i got the dates wrong and thought it was happening today. woke up to the highlights in horror. Porsche won everything they could win though so im rather happy still. hopefully it gets uploaded somewhere.

 

[EpilepticToast]

thought it would be a great race, I was not disappointed! some really good action and a battle down to the wire between Audi and Porsche. I was amazed the #17 made it through and managed 5th, I thought their championship was over after the engine troubles!

 

[Jezza819]

I woke up at 6am to watch this and I'm so glad I did. That race had more twists and ebbs and flows. It was like watching the LeMans 24 hours in just 6 hours. 17 Porsche started having it's problems, Audi pushed but then the wheel problem on #7 sunk their chances, could #18 help out the #17 by just winning, LMP2 battles, just great stuff.

You had to know that everyone in that Porsche garage was holding their breath on #17's last stop hoping that the engine was going to start again.

Huge congratulations to Alex Wurz for getting that podium in his final race.

 

[fortyfivekev]

Congrats to Porsche. This seems like the right result to me as Audi winning would have been a bit weird after them being off the pace at various stages through the season. A great season and certainly makes up for F1 being so dull at present. I hope Toyota have the budget to pick-up the pace next year and get into the mix.

 

[Jezza819]

Two questions. One is what was the tire penalty for the #8 Audi? I heard using a set of non allocated tires. Did that mean they used a set from the #7 Audi or a set from their stock that they had not declared for the weekend?

Second question. I heard Hindaugh and Goodwin saying that Porsche is more than likely not going to run GTE Pro next year. Does that mean that they will only run in GTE Am? Later they were saying that the car might not even be a 911 rear engine based car. Does that mean they might start running the Cayman based mid engine cars?

 

[Jack Hunsley]

Two questions. One is what was the tire penalty for the #8 Audi? I heard using a set of non allocated tires. Did that mean they used a set from the #7 Audi or a set from their stock that they had not declared for the weekend?

Second question. I heard Hindaugh and Goodwin saying that Porsche is more than likely not going to run GTE Pro next year. Does that mean that they will only run in GTE Am? Later they were saying that the car might not even be a 911 rear engine based car. Does that mean they might start running the Cayman based mid engine cars?

Audi's tyre penalty was because each car is allocated 8 sets of tyres for each race. However for some reason Audi fitted the #8 with a set of tyres that came from outside of their allocated sets (I believe each set of tyres are microchipped and automatically checked when the cars leave the pitlane). Not heard anything to suggest they accidentally stuck a set of the #7 tyres on the car, but it was a pretty slam dunk penalty regardless.

As for Porsche it's still unclear what their exact plans are for 2016 but there was some news released today. Short story is that there is a new 911 being prepared for 2017, but it's unclear whether the factory GT team will run in 2016. However, the privateer Porsche's will still be on the grid

 

[Jezza819]

Audi's tyre penalty was because each car is allocated 8 sets of tyres for each race. However for some reason Audi fitted the #8 with a set of tyres that came from outside of their allocated sets (I believe each set of tyres are microchipped and automatically checked when the cars leave the pitlane). Not heard anything to suggest they accidentally stuck a set of the #7 tyres on the car, but it was a pretty slam dunk penalty regardless.

As for Porsche it's still unclear what their exact plans are for 2016 but there was some news released today. Short story is that there is a new 911 being prepared for 2017, but it's unclear whether the factory GT team will run in 2016. However, the privateer Porsche's will still be on the grid

I had a feeling that it had to be for a set outside of their declared allocation. I didn't think there was any way they could have fitted a set from the wrong car. Although remember when Williams put a wrong compound single tire on this summer? "Hey this tire is not the same color as the rest of them, aaahhh nobody will notice".