The reigning world champions Timo Bernhard (DE), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AU) won a tightly contested six-hour race in high-altitude Mexico City, the first endurance race there where the mile-high atmosphere affected both cars and drivers. By winning the fifth of nine rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the 919 Hybrid Porsche extends its lead in the manufacturers’ standings. The Porsche trio of Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE) came fourth in the race on Saturday and extended their lead in the drivers’ world championship. The fastest race lap on the short 4.304-kilometer Formula One track was achieved by Brendon Hartley in 1:25.880 minutes on lap 114.
As during the race at Nürburgring, Audi fought a tough battle with its sister brand Porsche. During the first half of the race, the #8 Audi R18 had the best chance for victory. Lucas di Grassi (BR) took the lead early from his teammate André Lotterer (D) and, running in position one, turned driving duties over to Loïc Duval (F). The Frenchman maintained his place in the group of front runners as well. When Oliver Jarvis (GB) took over car #8, the left-front wheel bearing failed so that the Brit had no chance when braking to enter the next turn and drove into a tire barrier. The subsequent repairs cost the squad more than 30 minutes – an eternity in a six-hour race.
However, André Lotterer driving the other Audi ran a remarkable routine as the car #7 had previously dropped to fifth place. The race car with Marcel Fässler (CH) at the wheel had run out of fuel in the pit lane so the team had to push it into its spot and lost a lot of time. While Lotterer was battling for victory in the final stage the brakes failed. This cost additional time, so the team had to settle for position two after six hours of racing.
Toyota GAZOO Racing returned to the podium when Stéphane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi in the #6 TS050 Hybrid overcame a difficult start to the event, which saw them miss Thursday practice due to an accident, to finish third. That result elevates them to second in the drivers’ World Championship.
Only one TS050 Hybrid finished the race, with the #5 car of Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima forced to retire due to an electrical issue on the powertrain when challenging for a podium finish.
At just 4.304km, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodrigues is the shortest on the WEC calendar. This means the fastest LMP1 cars have to constantly navigate their way through lapped traffic – great for the fans since it results in occasional contact or shunt. After 90 minutes, one such incident saw Conway, at the wheel of the #6, clash with an LMP2 car, earning him a drive-through penalty that cost 20 seconds. The car was, however, not damaged.
More misfortune struck Toyota a few minutes later when an electrical issue on the powertrain forced Kazuki in car #5 to pit for repairs. The problem could not be repaired quickly and the car retired. Soon after half the distance, the contest took another twist when rain came down. Stéphane, running fourth at that stage, immediately brought the #6 TS050 Hybrid in for wet tires on an increasingly slick track.
Position changes were frequent and the #6 Toyota ran third until the #7 Audi, on hybrid intermediate tires – the better choice, it appears – passed. But Stéphane put in a professional performance to twice pass the #2 Porsche for third on either side of a tire change for slicks.
Soon the #6 Toyota moved ahead of the #7 Audi for second place prior to its final pit stop, when hybrid intermediate tires were fitted in anticipation of rain during the final laps. Stéphane stayed behind the wheel of the Toyota and ran the car home in third place for the #6 crew’s third podium of the season, 8.267 seconds behind the second-placed Audi #7 and on the same lap as the race-winning #1 Porsche.
Race results
1 Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (Porsche) 230 laps
2 Fässler/Lotterer (Audi R18) +1m 01.442s
3 Conway/Kobayashi/Sarrazin (Toyota) +1m 09.709s
4 Dumas/Jani/Lieb (Porsche) +1m 30.004s
5 Imperatori/Kraihamer/Tuscher (Rebellion) –12 laps
6 Albuquerque/Gonzalez/Senna (Ligier-Nissan) –20 laps
7 Lapierre/Menezes/Richelmi (Alpine-Nissan) –20 laps
8 Cumming/Dalziel/Derani (Ligier-Nissan) –23 laps
9 Kane/Leventis/Williamson (Gibson-Nissan) –23 laps
10 Diaz/Gonzalez/Junqueira (Gibson-Nissan) –23 laps
