Porsche continues to dominate WEC with Shanghai 1-2 finish

It’s been a good year for Porsche in the World Endurance Championship and it continues to get better as Porsche finished one-two at the Six Hours of Shanghai to not only dominate the race but to also claim the 2015 FIA World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship.

Porsche clinched the manufacturer’s championship one race early, as the No. 17 team of Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley took its fourth consecutive victory. Australian Webber, a former Formula One driver, crossed the finish line ahead of the sister No. 18 Porsche, driven by Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb.

The race started in wet conditions under the safety auto, but once the field was released battles emerged throughout the order.

Porsche remained on wet tyres throughout the race, as Audi quickly moved onto a new set of intermediates and then to slicks, but despite Audi’s initial gains the advantage swayed back in Porsche’s direction thanks to an effective double stinting strategy.

G-Drive landed the top spot in LMP2 qualifying with the Nissan-powered Ligier of Sam Bird and Julien Canal setting a combined average of 1:52.763s.

Audi’s sister No. 8 entry of Loic Duval, Lucas Di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis were fourth, with the No. 2 Toyota TS040 Hybrid completing the top-five after trouble for the defending World Champions in the No. 1 vehicle.

The No. 12 Rebellion R-One AER of Nico Prost and Mathias Beche claimed LMP1 Privateer class honors, despite a late-race crash by Beche, which damaged three corners of the vehicle.

It promoted title rivals KCMG to the final podium position, having rebounded from an early race spin by Nick Tandy and an incorrect tire choice.

The #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 of Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander clinched pole in the GTE Pro ranks ahead of stablemates Davide Rigon and James Calado. Though unable to win the marquee GTE-Pro class, AF Corse would take a consolation prize with a victory in GTE-Am for their #83 auto of Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Rui Aguas.

The SMP Racing Ferrari of Andrea Bertolini, Victor Shaytar and Alexey Basov finished third, and will enter the 6 Hours of Bahrain with a comfortable 19 point lead in the Am championship.