Porsche took another win of the season, when Porsche #1 took their 3rd victory in a row, when Round 6 of the FIA World Endurance Championship 2016 was held at the COTA track in Austin, Texas.
They had a perfect strategy and quite a bit of luck around a Full Course Yellow about 2 hours before the end of the race, and that gave them the edge over Audi Sport Team Joest #8. They had been leading the race with both #7 and #8, but an electrical problem on #8, that made them stop for 30 seconds on the track while resetting the car, followed up by a crash by the number 7 car, after a collision with the #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team UK, meant that both Audi’s were out of the contention for the win. Toyota Gazoo Racing finished 3rd – a position which wasn’t earned by pace, but by keeping themselves out of troubles and just lapping all through the race and avoiding the mistakes from the other teams.
Porsche #2 still leads the Championship but the drivers in Audi #8 slowly get closer and close while Toyota #6 still is 3rd in the standings. The defending Champions in Porsche #1 are theoretically still in the hunt for the title, but point-wise it still takes two wins and two DNF’s for the leading car for them to take the title. So they will probably be playing a supporting role for their teammates, as well as collecting points for Manufacturer Championship, that Porsche also leads at the moment.
Rebellion Racing beat Bykolles Racing among the LMP1 privateers and now in that situation, that they only need to finish the next round at Fuji to secure the title in car number 13.
Photo: JJ Media
Signatech Alpine #36 took the 4th win of the season and extended the lead over RGR Sport by Morand #43 that finished 2nd and G-Drive Racing #26 in 3rd. That’s also the exact standings in the Championship, where Signatech has a quite nice cushion. Actually they can retire from the next two races and still be in the lead – as long as RGR Sport by Morand doesn’t win both races. So the Championship is clearly pointing towards the French squad that is supported by Renault’s Alpine factory.
Aston Martin Racing #95 took their first win of the year with Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen behind the wheel. The Dane train has been close at winning many times throughout this season, but it wasn’t until now that they could take the big trophy home with them. The Danish car lead almost all the way from start to finish, and pushed the 2 AF Corse Ferrari’s into 2nd and 3rd with the #51 ahead of #71. That results in the 2 Danes going into the lead of the Championship while the drivers in AF Corse #71 are into 2nd place ahead of Aston Martin driver Darren Turner in 3rd.
Photo: JJ Media
Aston Martin Racing also took the win in GTE-Am, with a more than 1 minute lead by the #98 over the KCMG Porsche #78 and 1 lap to Larbre Competition #50 in 3rd in their Corvette. The Championship leaders in AF Corse #83 had a nightmare race, spending a lot of time in the pits. However their closest rivals in the Championship, Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing #88 didn’t have much more luck, and only gained 2 points on them in the Championship. Instead it was #98 that made a leapfrog on the standings, going into 3rd position. Although car #83 still has a lead that can make them retire from one race, and still be in front.
With only 3 Rounds left of this years Championship, the candidates are slowly getting less and less in all 4 classes.
The next Round will be held at the Japanese Fuji track on October 16th.
