It was a mixed start to the weekend for championship leader and title defender Porsche at the Nürburgring: In both free practice sessions at the fourth of nine rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) a Porsche 919 Hybrid topped the time sheets. Mark Webber (AU) achieved the overall fastest time of the day with a lap of 1:40.997 minutes. At the same time Romain Dumas (FR) went off the track because of a brake disc failure.
In bright sunshine, the reigning world champions and last year’s Nürburgring winners, Timo Bernhard (DE), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AU), came second and first respectively in the two 90-minute practice sessions. Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE) with the sister car were fastest overall in the first session on the 5.148 kilometre long Grand Prix circuit, but dropped to fifth place in the second session because of the early stop.
Team Principal Andreas Seidl: “The new aero package worked as we expected here at the Nürburgring so far and passed its performance test. All the drivers are happy with the balance of the cars. We have made another step forward, but our competitors also worked hard and were very competitive with close results. We did the set-up work on the number 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid as planned. Car number 2 had a failure of the front left brake disc during the second free practice that lead to an impact with a tyre wall. The damage to the car is minor and driver Romain Dumas was uninjured, which is the most important point. Let’s hope the weather stays nice and dry, but the forecast shows a lot of possibilities at the moment.”
LMP1 qualifying will be held on Saturday from 14:45-15:05 hrs. The six-hour race starts on Sunday at 13:00 hrs.
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