[h=2]Porsche cruises to 1-2 finish at 6 Hours of Mexico[/h] Sunday, 03 September 2017


By Stephen Kilbey / Images by JEP/LAT




















Porsche LMP Team's pair of 919 Hybrids dominated the 2017 6 Hours of Mexico, with the championship-leading No. 2 car of Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley winning their third race in a row ahead of the sister No. 1 919 of Andre Lotterer, Neel Jani and Nick Tandy.
"The car was super-fast, Timo and Brendon did really well. Three in a row is really exciting, and our lead in the points has extended," Bamber said. "I'm sure Toyota will be faster in America, but let's celebrate in Mexico."

• Results

The Porsches were untouchable, crossing the line a lap clear of the pair of Toyota TS050s in a race which never really got started, featuring no door-to-door action between the two LMP1 factories. The only slight drama for the winners was the team having to replace the fuel-flow meter during a pit stop, though it didn’t lose the No. 2 crew any time as it was completed while the car was being re-fueled.
The No. 8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima – which is better placed in the title race – finished third after swapping positions with the sister car multiple times, leaving the No. 7 fourth.
“We were only strong in Sector 1, which is mainly straights; we didn’t have the grip of the Porsches in the tight, twisty bits,” a disappointed Davidson said after the race. “It was a shame we didn’t take the fight to Porsche, it was damage limitation for us finishing third.”

The best racing came in LMP2, which went down to the wire, despite a dominant display in the opening half of the race by the eventual winners in the No. 31 Vaillante Rebellion ORECA. Bruno Senna, Julien Canal and Nicolas Prost fought hard throughout, and scored the Swiss-flagged team its first WEC LMP2 win after battling hard with the No. 24 CEFC Manor TRS Racing ORECA that eventually finished third.
In the end, trio in the winning ORECA crossed the line ahead of the pole-sitting Signatech Alpine of Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Gustavo Menezes, which lost the lead on the opening lap of the race, and spent the rest of the race scrapping for a podium position.


At the end of the race, when Lapierre was on old tires and Ben Hanley in the No. 24 Manor car had fresher rubber, the Briton took second place from the Frenchman in an attempt to chase down the leader and take the win. But a costly mistake at the baseball stadium just minutes from the end ended Hanley and Manor’s charge, and handed second back to Lapierre and the Alpine team as Hanley rejoined the track after the spin. It must be noted though, that the new partnership of Hanley, Matt Rao and Jean Eric-Vergne was superb in the No. 24 car. The trio almost scored the Manor team its first WEC class win, after leading the race in the second half, Vergne charging through the field midway through the race, and handing over to Hanley who took the lead with 90 minutes to go.
But on fresh tires, Hanley couldn’t chase down Senna who was on old rubber, and take the win in the final hour. Instead, Manor settled for third and its first podium in the WEC with a full-season car.
“We had the fastest car out there, the team did a mega job,” said Senna. “We knew from the first stint it was all about waiting for the rain at the end, which didn’t come. I have a 100 percent win and a 100 percent spin record here in Mexico, since I had a spin last year. I need to get out of that habit and concentrate on winning now!”
Prost added: “I’ve never hoped for a Senna to win a race so much in my whole life!”
Off the podium was the No. 26 G-Drive Racing ORECA of Alex Lynn, Roman Rusniov and Pierre Thiriet, which ran as high as second in the opening hours before the car faded during Thiriet’s stint. The car did feature in one of the most intense on-track battles of the race when Rusinov and Menezes came together in a door-to-door sequence battling for second which ended in Rusinov holding station after multiple touches.

The No. 13 Rebellion ORECA climbed the standings to fifth, after starting the race dead last due to a pre-race grid penalty, battling through the field and at multiple points climbing and falling down the order.
Further back, the championship leaders in the No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA of Oliver Jarvis, Thomas Laurent and Ho-Pin Tung had a disastrous race. The car was in the mix early, before a clutch issue cost the team five laps and over 20 minutes in the pits. They finished, but last in the class.
In GTE Pro, it was also a thriller to the end. After a race-long duel, Aston Martin Racing’s No. 95 Vantage of Danish drivers Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen won its first race of the season after a tight battle with the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari. The Ferrari crossed the line first but had a 10-second penalty added after the race for speeding under a full-course yellow.
On multiple occasions the two cars met on track, battling for the lead, and in the end were within a few seconds of each other despite the Aston Martin stopping one more time than the Ferrari.
“It was so close throughout,” Sorensen said, “I think there wasn’t a lap where we didn’t see the No. 71 in front of us. It’s been a long time since I’ve pushed a car that hard!”
Third was the No. 91 Porsche of Richard Lietz and Fred Makowiecki, which climbed the standings as the race wore on and others Pro teams fell by the wayside. Fourth, and ensuring it still holds the championship lead, was the No. 67 Chip Ganassi Ford Team UK GT of Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx.
There was plenty of action among three of the other five cars in the class.
The No. 97 Aston Martin retired with a brake issue which forced the Le Mans winners into the garage on multiple occasions before the team decided to throw in the towel.
The No. 66 Ford and No. 51 Ferrari fought hard with each other, and came together in controversial fashion at the baseball stadium in the third hour. Olivier Pla in the Ford and James Calado hit one another entering the tight section – Calado in the Ferrari running up the inside – with Pla hitting him again after going wide and rejoining the circuit, giving the 488 a puncture and damaging the right rear corner of the GT.
Tempers flared in the garage after the collision, which prompted both drivers to pit straight away.
“We clashed last year,” Calado said, “and back then it was my fault. This time it was just absurd, amateurish from him.”
The Ferrari eventually finished sixth, with the Ford seventh after a trip to the box for repairs after the contact.

In GTE Am, the No. 77 Dempsey Proton Porsche of Matteo Cairoli, Christian Ried and Marvin Dienst outlasted the No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage, which faded and had to serve a late drive-through penalty after fighting for the lead for much of the second half.
Early on, Pedro Lamy stormed past Ried for the lead and built a comfortable margin before Dienst and then Cairoli closed the gap and took the lead just before the halfway mark. The two cars continued to fight into the final hour, when the Aston finally had to serve a drive-through which practically sealed the Porsche team its second win of the season, and second in a row.
The Gulf Racing UK Porsche, which had a quiet but solid outing, finished third completed the GTE Am podium, making it the first all-Dunlop GT podium in WEC history.
Last in the class after a tough race was the championship-leading Clearwater Racing Ferrari, which had a collision with the No. 92 Porsche early on which damaged the car and forced the organizers to give the team a drive-through penalty. The car crossed the line two laps down.

The next round of the 2017 FIA WEC season is in two weeks-time, when the teams visit Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.