Yahoo Autos Porsche, AF Corse Ferraris Win FIA WEC at the Nurburgring
It wasn't as dramatic as Toyota's last-minute collapse in the greatest endurance race of them all, but for the second straight round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, Porsche would triumph after an LMP1 leader lost what seemed like a certain win.
Unfortunately for the team, the car that lost their lead was also a Porsche. It was the #2 919 Hybrid that led the first four and a half hours of the race, but a penalty for causing a wreck with a the #88 GTE-Am car that forced a safety car would delay the Le Mans winning car, which was only further slowed after taking damage in a race for second with Audi. All of this left the #1 919 Hybrid to coast to its first win of the season by nearly a minute, a triumphant moment for the trio of Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber, and Brendon Hartley. The #8 Audi would lead the #7 on the overall podium, and with both Toyotas struggling to show the incredible speed they had at Le Mans, the #2 Porsche would finish fourth.
In GTE-Pro, AF Corse would have no such crucial mistakes. Their comfortably quick form allowed them to keep their 1-2 finish, with the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE of Gianmaria Bruni and James Calado leading the #71. Aston Martin Racing's #95 would lead the fight for third, while the #66 would be the first of the Ford GT finishers in fourth in the now-compressed class.
LMP2 would go to Signatech's strong Oreca-based Alpine A460 over two Ligiers in a race that showed more parity between chassis manufacturers than Le Mans, while Aston Martin Racing would take GTE-Am with their #98.
The FIA World Endurance Championship makes its Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez debut in a month when the series runs the Six Hours of Mexico on September 3rd.
