After a very quiet race and where many things have not occurred, both Toyota Hybrid TS 040 have achieved a double victory ahead of Porsche #14.In LMP2 a new win for Ligier G-Drive and in GTE a doublet for Porsche.
After a very good start, the Porsche #14 maintained the first position, behind the Audi #2 advanced his teammate.
Behind a very strong accident between the KCMG who just stood and the Ferrari #51 who took him ahead.
Both Toyota went into the pits to fill the tanks and change wheels. Toyota #7 overtook the # 8 in the stop but the problem now was the traffic, they came out the latest behind all GT. The Toyota 38 had to go back a second time in the pits under the SC.
When the safety car was removed, the battle was in GTE Pro for the lead between the Aston Martin # 97 and Porsche # 92. As Toyota began to pick up.
Ahead, the Porsche escaped from the Audis, who were quite inferior. In LMP2 the G-Drive Ligier escaped alone.
Before the first pit stops, there was a change leader, the Porsche #20 overtook his teammate, the #14 and placed first.
When they reached the first hour of the race, Toyota #8 arrived at the leading group and overtook the two Audi. Shortly,he did the same with the Porsche #14.
After the first pit stops, there was some changes in LMP1, after a bad stops for both Porsche, the Audi #2 was placed third, behind him, the Porsche #14, the Audi # 1 and the Porsche# 20.
Porsche # 20 suffered a puncture and had to return to pit stop, he did while Toyota # 7 made ??its second stop.
When positions were stabilized, the two Toyota remained at the forefront of the race with the Porsche #14 and Audi #2 behind.
After the next round of pit stops, the two Toyota continued to face with the Porsche #14 third and two Audi behind. In LMP2 still the overwhelming dominance of Ligier and GTE, were the drivers of the Aston Martin # 97 who lead and the Porsche #92 were behind of them.
The Audi #1 was faster than his teammate, so from Audi told to the # 2 and let it go and try to fight for the podium.
When we reached the half of the race, the two Toyota still with the overwhelming dominance that they had shown so far, but with three hours still remaining the reliability begin to play tricks.
After another round of pit stops, the emotion was now in the fight for third position between the Porsche #14 and Audi #1 which was much faster than the Audi. But the Audi did not give up and kept at less than 5 seconds.
With less than two hours of the race again was the same as in previous times, pit stops and Porsche #14 comes just ahead of Audi #1, who had previously stopped. The inferiority in top speed of the Audi deprived him to overtake the Porsche. Soon after, the Morgan of OAK Racing touched the Porsche of Proton Competition at the first corner, the Porsche spun but was back on track.
There was less than 1 and a half race and reliability played a trick on the leader of GTE, the Aston Martin # 97 break the engine and handed the lead to the Porsche #92.
Just one hour of the race ahead and the two Toyota were leading and folded to LMP1. In GTE the first two positions were occupied by the two Porsche of the Team Manthey after the abandoning of his two most direct rivals, Aston Martin #97 and Ferrari #51.
The last hour of the race was fairly quiet. Except for a touch between Audi #1 and Aston Martin #99, when the LMP1 try to bend him, the Aston Martin has closed the door and they have touched.
Finally, Toyota #8 won the race followed by the other Toyota, #7, Porsche #14 , Audi #2, Audi #1 and Porsche #20.
In LMP2 victory for the Ligier of G-Drive followed by Morgan of Extreme Speed and both SMP.
In GTE doublet for Porsche, # 92 and # 91 respectively followed by the # 71 Ferrari of AF Corse.
The next round of the championship will be in two weeks in Bahrain.
Results after 6 hours:
Pos. | Car | Category | Drivers | Car | Team | Laps | Gap | Diff |
1 | 8 | LMP1-H | Davidson – Lapierre – Buemi | Toyota TS 040 – Hybrid | Toyota Racing | |||
2 | 7 | LMP1-H | Wurz – Sarrazin – Conway | Toyota TS 040 – Hybrid | Toyota Racing | + 1:12,564 | + 1:12,564 | |
3 | 14 | LMP1-H | Dumas – Jani – Lieb | Porsche 919 Hybrid | Porsche Team | -1 | + 1 Lap | – |
4 | 2 | LMP1-H | Fässler – Lotterer – Treluyer | Audi R18 e-tron quattro | Audi Sport Team Joest | -1 | + 1 Lap | – |
5 | 1 | LMP1-H | Di Grassi – Duval – Kristensen | Audi R18 e-tron quattro | Audi Sport Team Joest | -1 | + 1 Lap | – |
6 | 20 | LMP1-H | Bernhard – Webber – Hartley | Porsche 919 Hybrid | Porsche Team | -2 | + 2 Laps | – |
7 | 12 | LMP1-L | Prost – Heidfeld – Beche | Rebellion R-One – Toyota | Rebellion Racing | -8 | + 8 Laps | – |
8 | 13 | LMP1-L | Kraihamer – Belicchi – Leimer | Rebellion R-One – Toyota | Rebellion Racing | -8 | + 8 Laps | – |
9 | 26 | LMP2 | Rusinov – Pla – Canal | Ligier JS P2 – Nissan | G-Drive Racing | -11 | + 11 Laps | – |
10 | 30 | LMP2 | Sharp – Dalziel – Brown | HPD ARX 03B – Honda | Extreme Speed Motorsports | -14 | + 14 Laps | – |
11 | 27 | LMP2 | Zlobin – Minassian – Mediani | Oreca 03R – Nissan | SMP Racing | -14 | + 14 Laps | – |
12 | 37 | LMP2 | Ladygin – Shaitar – Ladygin | Oreca 03R – Nissan | SMP Racing | -14 | + 14 Laps | – |
13 | 31 | LMP2 | Brown – Van Overbeek – Brabham | HPD ARX 03B – Honda | Extreme Speed Motorsports | -15 | + 15 Laps | – |
14 | 9 | LMP1-L | Bouchut – Rossiter – Auer | Lotus T129 – AER | Lotus | -17 | + 17 Laps | – |
15 | 35 | LMP2 | Cheng – Tung – Patterson | Morgan – Judd | OAK Racing | -21 | + 21 Laps | – |
16 | 92 | GTE Pro | Makowiecki – Lietz | Porsche 911 RSR | Porsche Team Manthey | -21 | + 21 Laps | – |
17 | 91 | GTE Pro | Pilet – Bergmeister | Porsche 911 RSR | Porsche Team Manthey | -21 | + 21 Laps | – |
18 | 71 | GTE Pro | Rigon – Calado | Ferrari F458 Italia | AF Corse | -22 | + 22 Laps | – |
19 | 99 | GTE Pro | MacDowall – O’Young – Rees | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | Aston Martin Racing | -22 | + 22 Laps | – |
20 | 98 | GTE Am | Dalla Lana – Lamy – Nygaard | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | Aston Martin Racing | -23 | + 23 Laps | – |
21 | 95 | GTE Am | Poulsen – Heinemeier-Hansson – Stanaway | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | Aston Martin Racing | -23 | + 23 Laps | – |
22 | 90 | GTE Am | Roda – Ruberti – Segal | Ferrari F458 Italia | 8 Star Motorsports | -24 | + 24 Laps | – |
23 | 75 | GTE Am | Perrodo – Collard – Vaxiviere | Porsche 911 RSR | Prospeed Competition | -25 | + 25 Laps | – |
24 | 88 | GTE Am | Ried – Bachler – Al Qubaisi | Porsche 911 RSR | Proton Competition | -27 | + 27 Laps | – |
25 | 97 | GTE Pro | Turner – Mücke | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | Aston Martin Racing | DNF | + 65 Laps | – |
26 | 47 | LMP2 | Howson – Bradley – Matsuda | Oreca 03 – Nissan | KCMG | DNF | + 188 Laps | – |
27 | 51 | GTE Pro | Bruni – Vilander | Ferrari F458 Italia | AF Corse | DNF | + 188 Laps | – |