World Endurance Championship 2015 - Superb Silverstone

Car #18 / PORSCHE TEAM (DEU) / Porsche 919 Hybrid Hybrid / Romain Dumas (FRA) / Neel Jani (CHE) / Marc Lieb (DEU), Car #7 / AUDI SPORT TEAM JOEST (DEU) / Audi R18 e-tron quattro Hybrid / Marcel Fassler (CHE) / Andre Lotterer (DEU) / Benoit Treluyer (FRA) (Copyright:fiawec.com)

Last Sunday, I was at Silverstone, as the FIA World Endurance Championship got underway and boy did it start with a bang! A race dominated by Porsche in the early stages eventually went to Audi, even after late drama with a stop go penalty. Behind LMP1 there were some equally thrilling battles, helping to raise the series status as one of the best in the world. I'll tell you now, I was very glad I went!

Start - FIA WEC 6 hours of Silverstone (Copyright: fiawec.com)

Pre-season testing had suggested that Porsche had taken a big step forward and that proved to be correct, as they took a 1-2 in qualifying and the #17 car of Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernard lead and dominated the first hour or so, driven by Mark Webber, with the #18 of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb, driven at the start by Romain Dumas, in a comfortable 2nd some 10 seconds behind Webber. However after just over an hour of racing, the #17 was forced to retire thanks to a gearbox issue, leaving the #18, now driven by Marc Lieb, in the lead, chased by the #7 and #8 Audi's.

Race - 6 Hours of Silverstone at Silverstone Circuit (Copyright:fiawec.com)

By lap 56, Neal Jani in the #18 Porsche and Macel Fassler in the #7 Audi were battling hard for the lead, swapping positions for lap after lap and enthralling the crowd at the circuit (including me!) The two Toyota's were 3rd and 4th behind the battling duo, Champion Anthony Davidson keeping them honest in the #1 Toyota.  Davidson brought the #1 in for a pitstop on lap 79, followed by the #7 Audi and #18 Porsche. Davidson rejoined the race in the lead once again, followed by Mike Conway in the #2 Toyota and chased by the #7 car, now driven by Andre Lotterer. By lap 96 though Lotterer had passed both Conway and Davidson and set about extending that lead.

Car #18 / PORSCHE TEAM (DEU) / Porsche 919 Hybrid Hybrid / Romain Dumas (FRA) / Neel Jani (CHE) / Marc Lieb (DEU) (Copyright:fiawec.com)

Jani pushed like crazy to close the gap but it was to no avail, Fassler crossing the line 4.6s ahead of the Porsche, with Sebastian Buemi in the #1 Toyota 5.6s behind Jani. It had been an almighty battle between all three manufacturers, with each of them in contention for the win at some stage of the race.

Car #26 / G-DRIVE RACING (RUS) / Ligier JS P2 - Nissan / Roman Rusinov (RUS) / Julien Canal (FRA) / Sam Bird (GBR) (Copyright:fiawec.com)

In LMP2, honours went to the #26 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2 - Nissan of Roman Rusinov, Julien Canal and Sam Bird, after utterly dominating the race, taking the lead from Nick Tandy in the KCMG Oreca05-Nissan in the early stages and never looking back. Team mates Gustavo Yacaman, Ricardo Gonzalez and Pipo Derani in the #28 finished second place, whilst third place went to the #42 Strakka Racing Strakka Dome 103 - Nissan of Nick Leventis, Danny Watts and Jonny Kane, after the #30 Tequila Patron sponsored Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD-Honda of Scott Sharp, David Heinmeier-Hansson and Ryan Dalzie was disqualified, thanks to breaching Article 3.5.6a 3 of the LMP2 Technical Regulations. In other words, the minimum thickness of the front and rear plank was under the 20mm minimum required. A real shame after an impressive drive from the Extreme Speed guys.

Car #30 / EXTREME SPEED MOTORSPORTS (USA) / HPD ARX 03B - HPD / Scott Sharp (USA) / Ryan Dalziel (GBR) / David Heinemeier Hansson (DNK) (Copyright - fiawec.com)

Earlier on the #36 Signatech Alpine of Paul Loup Chatin had a big off at Copse, hitting the tyre wall hard. The French driver was unhurt but his car was too damaged to continue, and sadly the car was retired from the race, causing a Full Course Yellow just under an hour into the race. IN GTE PRO, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander started the defence of their title off in fine style, with victory for the factory AF Corse Ferrari team in the #51 car.

Car #51 / AF CORSE (ITA) / Ferrari F458 Italia / Gianmaria Bruni (ITA) / Toni Vilander (FIN) (Copyright - fiawec.com)

Bruni dropped to the back of the field at the start, but two clever early stops during safety car periods allowed the Italian and his Finnish team-mate to get back on terms and ultimately take a brilliant win in the race. Michael Christensen and Richard Lietz were only 10s behind aboard their factory Porsche 911 RSR at the finish, after 6 hard hours of racing.

Car #98 / ASTON MARTIN RACING (GBR) / Aston Martin Vantage V8 / Paul Dalla Lana (CAN) / Pedro Lamy (PRT) / Mathias Lauda (AUT) (Copyright - fiawec.com)

GTE Am honours went to the #98 Aston Martin Vantage GTE shared by Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Paul Dalla Lana, which triumphed by over 13s over the AF Ferrari shared by Emmanuel Collard, Rui Aguas and Francois Perrodo. Again, another fairly decent gap after 6 grueling but brilliant hours of racing.

Car #7 / AUDI SPORT TEAM JOEST (DEU) / Audi R18 e-tron quattro Hybrid / Marcel Fassler (CHE) / Andre Lotterer (DEU) / Benoit Treluyer (FRA) (Copyright - fiawec.com)

So after 6 hours of racing, it all came down to a gap of 4.6 seconds. Congratulations to Audi and the drivers of the #7 car! Silverstone served up a treat and the FIA World Endurance Championship is well and truly back. Next on the calendar is Spa...another titanic battle awaits. Until next time folks. Ciao.

Podium, LMP1 - FIA WEC 6 hours of Silverstone (Copyright - fiawec.com)