Porsche took their first victory since their return to the premier category of sportscar racing with the #14 car of Neel Jani/ Marc Leib/ Romain Dumas taking the top step of the podium at the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo on Sunday, which was the final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Toyota also sealed their first manufacturers crown, breaking Audi's stranglehold since the WEC started in 2012.
BIG CRASH FOR WEBBER
However, it wasn’t all celebrations at the Porsche camp after Mark Webber in the other 919 Hybrid was involved in a serious accident in the final hour of the race along with the Ferrari of Matteo Cressoni. While the latter was cleared after a trackside examination, Webber required further checks at the circuit’s medical centre. The Australian - who took pole for the WEC season finale on Saturday - waved to the crowd to show he’s okay while being pulled into ambulance on a stretcher. He’s ‘awake and alert’ as per the latest update from the FIA.
With debris on the car on the final sector of the track, the race was concluded behind the safety car. This prevented the newly crowned WEC champion Anthony Davidson - driver of the #8 Toyota along with Sebastien Buemi - from putting a charge for victory in the final part of the race as he had to settle in for second place. The result, however, was enough for Toyota to become the first Japanese manufacturer to win the WEC manufacturers title in any of its incarnations.
FINAL BOW FOR 'MR. LE MANS'
Nine-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen rounded off his sportscar career in style with a fine third place result in the #1 Audi. Having looked dismal in qualifying, Audi turned the tables on Sunday with enough pace to challenge the Porsches and the Toyotas.
The #2 Audi and the #7 Toyota had opposite fortunes of their sister cars with the former dropping down the order at the start of the race on account of mechanical gremlins and the latter being handed a drive through penalty for pushing the #20 Porsche off the track. The two cars from rival manufacturers finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Two Rebellion racing entries had their own share of problems in the LMP1-L sub-category with both cars losing a heap of time in their respective garages. The #13 R-One eventually finished ahead by three laps from its stablemate.
WEC LMP2: ZLOBIN AND SMP RACING CHAMPIONS IN LMP2
Sergey Zlobin and SMP Racing secured the LMP2 drivers and teams crown after the brakes on Olivier Pla’s Ligier failed, sending his G-Drive straight into the barriers at turn 1 during the early part of the race. The #27 SMP Racing run Oreca had their own sort of problems, handing the class victory to KCMG.
WEC GTE-PRO: DOUBLE DELIGHT FOR ASTON MARTIN IN GTE, FERRARI TAKE MANUFACTURERS CROWN
Aston Martin won both the GTE-Pro and GTE-Am categories at the season concluding Six Hours of Sao Paulo with the #97 and the #98 Vantage V8 getting the victory champagne on the top step of the podium in respective classes. Ferraris also made it on to the podium in each class to take the manufacturers crown.
FIA WEC 6 HOURS OF SAO PAULO - TOP 10 RESULTS
1. Dumas/Jani/Lieb Porsche 919 Hybrid 249 laps LMP1
2. Davidson/Buemi Toyota TS040 Hybrid 249 laps LMP1
3. Kristensen/Duval/di Grassi Audi Sport Joest R18 e-tron 248 laps LMP1
4. Wurz/Sarrazin/Conway Toyota TS040 Hybrid 248 laps LMP1
5. Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer Audi Sport Joest R18 e-tron 248 laps LMP1
6. Howson/Bradley/Imperatori KCMG Oreca 03 Nissan 225 laps LMP2
7. Turner/Mucke Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 221 laps GTE Pro
8. Pilet/Makowiecki/ Porsche Team Manthay 911 221 laps GTE Pro
9. Rigon/Calado AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia 221 laps GTE Pro
10. Bruni/Vilander AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia 220 laps GTE Pro
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