Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley have given Porsche the 2015 World Endurance Championship team the 2015 title with their 5th place finish in Bahrain.
The 13-point championship lead the team carried into the final race of the season was tenuous as a throttle issue stalled the team losing five laps and later overcame an actuator issue to finish fifth.
The sister car driven by Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb claimed victory and with the marques first and fifth, it gave Porsche their first sportscar title since 1986.
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | R.Dumas, N.Jani, M.Lieb | Porsche Team | Porsche | 199 | 6h00m52.843s |
2 | LMP1 | M.Fassler, A.Lotterer, B.Treluyer | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 199 | 1m25.310s |
3 | LMP1 | A.Wurz, S.Sarrazin, M.Conway | Toyota Racing | Toyota | 196 | 3 Laps |
4 | LMP1 | A.Davidson, S.Buemi, K.Nakajima | Toyota Racing | Toyota | 196 | 3 Laps |
5 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, M.Webber, B.Hartley | Porsche Team | Porsche | 190 | 9 Laps |
6 | LMP1 | L.di Grassi, L.Duval, O.Jarvis | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 188 | 11 Laps |
7 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, J.Canal, S.Bird | G-Drive Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 183 | 16 Laps |
8 | LMP2 | M.Howson, R.Bradley, N.Tandy | KCMG | ORECA/Nissan | 183 | 16 Laps |
9 | LMP2 | G.Yacaman, L.Derani, R.Gonzalez | G-Drive Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 182 | 17 Laps |
10 | LMP2 | N.Panciatici, P-L.Chatin, T.Dillmann | Signatech Alpine | Alpine/Nissan | 182 | 17 Laps |
11 | LMP1 | A.Imperatori, D.Kraihamer, M.Tuscher | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/AER | 181 | 18 Laps |
12 | LMP1 | S.Trummer, P.Kaffer | Team ByKolles | CLM/AER | 180 | 19 Laps |
13 | LMP2 | M.Aleshin, N.Minassian, D.Markozov | AF Racing | BR Engineering/Nissan | 179 | 20 Laps |
14 | LMP1 | N.Prost, M.Beche | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/AER | 179 | 20 Laps |
15 | LMP2 | N.Leventis, D.Watts, J.Kane | Strakka Racing | Gibson/Nissan | 178 | 21 Laps |
16 | LMP2 | P.Ragues, O.Webb, C.Cumming | Team SARD Morand | Morgan/SARD | 177 | 22 Laps |
17 | LMP2 | S.Sharp, R.Dalziel, D.Hansson | Extreme Speed Motorsports | Ligier/HPD | 176 | 23 Laps |
18 | GTE Pro | P.Pilet, F.Makowiecki | Porsche Team Manthey | Porsche | 173 | 26 Laps |
19 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, T.Vilander | AF Corse | Ferrari | 173 | 26 Laps |
20 | LMP2 | E.Brown, J.van Overbeek, J.Fogarty | Extreme Speed Motorsports | Ligier/HPD | 173 | 26 Laps |
21 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, J.Adam | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 173 | 26 Laps |
22 | GTE Pro | C.Nygaard, M.Sorensen, N.Thiim | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 173 | 26 Laps |
23 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, M.Christensen | Porsche Team Manthey | Porsche | 172 | 27 Laps |
24 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, J.Calado | AF Corse | Ferrari | 172 | 27 Laps |
25 | GTE Pro | A.MacDowall, F.Rees, R.Stanaway | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 171 | 28 Laps |
26 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 170 | 29 Laps |
27 | GTE Am | M.Mapelli, K.Al Qubaisi, K.Bachler | Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing | Porsche | 170 | 29 Laps |
28 | GTE Am | C.Ried, P.Long, M.Seefried | Dempsey Racing – Proton | Porsche | 170 | 29 Laps |
29 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, M.Cressoni | AF Corse | Ferrari | 169 | 30 Laps |
30 | GTE Am | V.Shaitar, A.Bertolini, A.Basov | SMP Racing | Ferrari | 169 | 30 Laps |
31 | GTE Am | G.Roda, P.Ruberti, K.Poulsen | Larbre Competition | Chevrolet | 169 | 30 Laps |
32 | GTE Am | F.Castellacci, R.Goethe, S.Hall | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 168 | 31 Laps |
Not bad for a number two driver.
Phenomenal effort by Porsche to take the WEC drivers championship, with their three driver team of Bernhard, Hartley and Webber – so it looks like Webber is now a number three driver :-)
Great for New Zealand to have a motor racing world champion again, probably the first since Denny Hulme in 1967. Good on ya Brendon Hartley, and Timo Bernhard, all the more impressive having to drag that deadbeat Aussie along.
Only kidding, we all love Aussie Grit here in Kiwiland ;-)