Webber, Hartley and Bernhard Are World Champions After A Stress-Filled Race
- Nov 21, 2015
- 3 min read
At the end of a very tense and stress-filled six hours it is confirmed that Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard are World Champions in the number #17 Porsche. After battling through the last hour with an engine that kept cutting out and an unreliable hybrid power issue Mark Webber limped the car home fifth in class, meaning that they beat the drivers of Audi #7 by six points as they finished second. Porsche #18 helped their teammates to be crowned champions by finishing the race first ahead of the Audi. In his final race as a professional race driver Alex Wurz’s Toyota #2 came home to take the bottom step of the podium, with last year’s world champions in the other Toyota just behind them. Audi #8 finished sixth, eleven laps down from the winners as they were hit with a three second stop and hold penalty from a tyre infringement at the end of the race. Rebellion finished on top of the podium for the final race with non-championship winning car #13. Despite #12’s problems it managed to get back out on track at the end so it could be classified. #4 Bykolles split the two Rebellion cars for second on the LMP1 Privateer’s classification.
Although finishing second would have given G-Drive #26 the title they did it in style by taking the top step of the LMP2 podium. KCMG #47 finished a respectable second as the second G-Drive car finished off the podium in third. Signatech #36 made an impressive finished to come home forth, though when they stated from pole position they were probably looking for a bit of a better result. The new team AF Racing did well to finish fifth in class with their car #44. Behind them came #42 Strakka Racing, #43 Team Sard Morand, #30 then #31 Extreme Speed Motorsports. But the congratulations have to go to Sam Bird, Roman Rusinov and Julien Canal who took the 2015 LMP2 Title.
With a dominant race from start to finish Porsche #92 took the top step of the Pro GTE Class. With teammate #91 finishing fifth in class they got more points than the two AF Corse Ferrari’s did, meaning that Porsche took the Manufacturers title for the GTE Class. After #71 lost his front left tyre and had to take an extra pit to receive another tyre the advantage was handed over to Porsche and it was theirs to loose. Porsche wiped the floor in the Pro class with Richard Lietz solely taking the Driver’s championship. AF Corse’s champions from last year were second in car #51 with Aston Martin #97 finishing off the podium. #95 came forth for Aston Martin with #71 AF Corse bringing up the rear of the class.
Although they finished the race P5 in class it was SMP Racing Ferrari #72 that took the championship. They never looked in much danger to loose the title that they could have wrapped up as early as Japan, and breezed through the race very trouble-free. Viktor Shaytar, Andrea Bertolini and Aleksey Basov brought the car home to take the title. But it was Aston Martin’s day as they celebrated their win on the podium with car #98. The two Proton Racing Porsches that had been battling with each other throughout the six hours finished off the podium with Abu-Dhabi #88 leading Dempsey #77 to the chequered flag. #83 AF Corse lead SMP home for forth with #50 Corvette and #96 Aston Martin finishing up the grid. All 32 cars that started racing today finished in what could be described as the most exciting and tense race of the season.
WEC is now finished for the season, with all the races complete and championships tied up. Join us back here on Inside Line Media in 147 days when the new season kicks off in Britain for the start of the 2016 World Championship. Will Porsche manage to keep their dominance over the winter or will Toyota come back fighting just as they did in 2014? Whatever may be the case you can be sure to find it here.
Make sure you follow @InsideLineWEC on twitter for your news updates and racing fix over the winter break.
(Image: www.fiawec.com)
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