11 Memorable Moments From The Epic 6 Hours Of Nurburgring

The FIA World Endurance Championship returned to action at the iconic Nurburgring, with six hours of racing – here are all of the highlights
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Porsche locked out the front row after a dominant qualifying performance. The #18 919 Hybrid of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb took pole position, beating the #17 car by just 0.069 seconds. The #47 KCMG was quickest in LMP2, with the #51 AF Corse Ferrari starting at the front in LMGTE Pro and the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari fastest in LMGTE Am.

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Watching the huge field of cars head down to the first corner was something special. The #18 car held onto the lead, with the second Porsche and the Audis chasing, and the Toyotas instantly dropping back. There was plenty of action behind in the LMP2 and GT classes.

3. So many penalties

11 Memorable Moments From The Epic 6 Hours Of Nurburgring

The #17 Porsche hit trouble early on and pitted for a new front section. However, it was the #18 that suffered the most, with a sensor problem meaning the car was exceeding the fuel consumption.

The pole position machine first picked up a five-second stop/go, and then a 30-second stop/go and to make matters worse, a 60-second stop/go.

The #88 Porsche went for a scary spin at the Schumacher Esses, not the best place to go off!

5. Battles throughout

Image source: Twitter/TeamMilo
Image source: Twitter/TeamMilo

Mid-way through the race, we saw some great battles – particularly in the GT classes. The #71 AF Corse car and the #92 Porsche enjoyed a fantastic scrap that lasted over half an hour, before the latter ran into the back of the Ferrari in a yellow flag zone.

6. Weaving through traffic

Image source: Twitter/ERacingMag
Image source: Twitter/ERacingMag

It must be so frustrating for the LMP1 drivers, and a massive challenge, when they have to weave their way through slower GT and LMP2 machines. Andre Lotterer lost a lot of time when he was hit by a wall of cars two and a half hours in.

7. Bye, bye wing!

Image source: Twitter/SportscarOne
Image source: Twitter/SportscarOne

One thing you definitely don’t want to happen during a FIA WEC race is your rear wing falling off. Especially if you are driving a prototype. That’s exactly what happened to the #4 ByKolles car on the pit straight. Not ideal.

8. Keeping it close

Image source: Twitter/ERacingMag
Image source: Twitter/ERacingMag

One of the many amazing things about the WEC is that despite being several hours into a race, the cars are still close together and racing hard – like the #47 and #28 LMP2 prototypes.

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With around one hour to go, there was an awesome scrap for second between the #18 Porsche and the two Audi cars. It really was wheel-to-wheel and had us on the edge of our seats, with the 919 Hybrid failing to get through initially, but moving ahead later on.

10. #17 dominates

Image source: Twitter/FIAWEC
Image source: Twitter/FIAWEC

The lead Porsche of Mark Webber, Brendan Hartley and Timo Bernhard dominated the 6 Hours of Nurburgring, taking its first victory of the 2015 season by over one lap. Not only did Webber score his maiden WEC win, but it was also at the same track that he scored his first F1 victory in 2009.

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In LMP2, the #47 KCMG took victory – with Nick Tandy, Matt Howson and Richard Bradley at the wheel – while Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen triumphed in LMGTE Pro for Porsche. The #72 SMP Racing Ferrari of Viktor Shaitar, Aleksey Basov and Andrea Bertolini finished first in LMGTE Am.

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