6 Hours of Nurburgring: Audi leads the way as WEC returns

Nurburgring FP.png

Following a horrifically long summer break for the WEC gang it was Audi who came back with the biggest bang as their two cars topped both free practice sessions on the opening day's running at the Nurburgring.


In the morning session it was #7 car of Benoit Treluyer, Marcel Fassler and Andre Lotterer which topped the opening wet practice session for the inaugural 6 Hours of Nurburgring, but only just ahead of the #18 Porsche of Romain DUmas, Marc Lieb and Neel Jani which missed out on top spot by just 0.079, whilst the #8 Audi of Oliver Jarvis, Lucas Di Grassi and Loic Duval came home 3rd.

In the second session the standings were even closer as the #7 Audi and the Two Porsches were separated by just 0.079 seconds as they topped the session; setting the scene for a very close battle come qualifying tomorrow.

However, whilst Audi and Porsche were busy squabbling over a few tenths of a second at the front, Toyota once again struggled as their #2 machine was 2.5 seconds off the pace in 5th place, and 2.7 seconds slower in FP2 as their difficult season continues.

In the other categories G-Drive dominated the LMP2 proceedings on the Friday as they finished both sessions 1-2, with the #26 car of Julien Canal, Roman Rusinov and Sam Bird a full 1.7 seconds clear of the sister #28 car of Gustavo Yacamán, Luis Felipe Derani, and Ricardo González with Strakka Racing next in line as they debuted their new Gibson chassis for the first time in an official session as they prepare to make the step up to LMP1 in 2017.

In GT classes Aston Martin Racing lead the way with three cars in the top four in GTE-Pro. However it was the #99 car of Fernando Rees, Richie Stanaway and Alex MacDowall that will be the Aston Martin to beat this weekend.

Finally, in GTE-Am SMP Racing posted the quickest time following a difficult morning session to pip the #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda to the top spot, whilst the #50 Larbre Competition Corvette of Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti and Kristian Poulsen rounded off the top three.

The action resumes tomorrow as the teams will get one more taste of the circuit before qualifying kicks of for the 6 Hours of the Nurburgring at 14:00 local time.

6 Hours of Nurburgring, Free Practice 1 Results
1. LMP1 - #7 Audi sport Team Joest (Lotterer, Fässler, Tréluyer) - 1:39.201
2. LMP1 - #18 Porsche Team (Dumas, Jani, Lieb) - +0.076
3. LMP1 - #8 Audi Sport Team Joest (Di Grassi, Duval, Jarvis) - +0.709
4. LMP1 - #17 Porsche Team (Bernhard, Webber, Hartley) - +0.714
5. LMP1 - #2 Toyota Racing (Wurz, Sarrazin, Conway) - +2.611
6. LMP1 - #1 Toyota Racing (Davidson, Buemi, Nakajima) - +3.340
7. LMP2 - #28 G-Drive Racing (Yacamán, Derani, González) - +7.430
8. LMP1 - #12 Rebellion Racing (Prost, Beche, Heidfeld) - +8.232
9. LMP2 - #26 G-Drive Racing (Rusinov, Canal, Bird) - +8.422
10. LMP1 - #13 Rebellion Racing (Imperatori, Kraihamer, Abt) - +9.970
11. LMP2 - #42 Strakka Racing (Leventis, Kane, Watts) - +10.041
12. LMP1 - #4 Team ByKolles (Trummer, Kaffer) - +10.073
13. LMP2 - #36 Signatech Alpine (Panciatici, Chatin, Capillaire) - +10.289
14. LMP2 - #30 Extreme Speed Motorsport (Sharp, Dalziel, Hansson) - +10.895
15. LMP2 - #47 KCMG (Howson, Bradley, Tandy) - +13.897
16. LMP2 - #31 Extreme Speed Motorsport (Brown, Overbeek, Fogarty) - +14.875
17. GTE Pro - #51 AF Corse (Bruni, Vilander) - +16.460
18. GTE Pro - #71 AF Corse (Rigon, Calado) - +16.834
19. GTE Pro - #92 Porsche Team Manthey (Pilet, Makowiecki) - +17.755
20. GTE Pro - #91 Porsche Team Manthey (Lietz, Christensen) - +18.012
21. GTE Pro - #99 Aston Martin Racing V8 (Rees, MacDowall, Stanaway) - +18.094
22. GTE Am - #83 AF Corse (Perrodo, Collard, Águas) - +18.675
23. GTE Am - #98 Aston Martin Racing (Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda) - +18.818
24. GTE Pro - #97 Aston Martin Racing (Turner, Mücke, Adam) - +19.119
25. GTE Am - #88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing (Ried, Bamber, Al Qubaisi) - +19.833
26. GTE Am - #77 Dempsey Racing-Proton (Dempsey, Long, Seefried) - +19.873
27. GTE Pro - #95 Aston Martin Racing (Nygaard, Sørensen) - +19.949
28. GTE Am - #50 Larbre Competition (Roda, Ruberti, Poulsen) - +20.019
29. GTE Am - #96 Aston Martin Racing (Goethe, Hall, Castellacci) - +20.611
30. GTE Am - #72 SMP Racing (Shaytar, Basov, Bertolini) - +28.090
31. LMP2 - #43 Team SARD Morand (Webb, Ragues, Hamilton) - No Time Set

6 Hours of the Nurburgring, Free Practice 2 Results
1. LMP1 - #7 Audi sport Team Joest (Lotterer, Fässler, Tréluyer) - 1:37.862
2. LMP1 - #17 Porsche Team (Bernhard, Webber, Hartley) - +0.059
3. LMP1 - #18 Porsche Team (Dumas, Jani, Lieb) - +0.079
4. LMP1 - #8 Audi Sport Team Joest (Di Grassi, Duval, Jarvis) - +1.024
5. LMP1 - #2 Toyota Racing (Wurz, Sarrazin, Conway) - +2.750
6. LMP1 - #1 Toyota Racing (Davidson, Buemi, Nakajima) - +2.983
7. LMP1 - #12 Rebellion Racing (Prost, Beche, Heidfeld) - +6.243
8. LMP1 - #13 Rebellion Racing (Imperatori, Kraihamer, Abt) - +7.081
9. LMP1 - #4 Team ByKolles (Trummer, Kaffer) - +7.173
10. LMP2 - #26 G-Drive Racing (Rusinov, Canal, Bird) - +8.437
11. LMP2 - #28 G-Drive Racing (Yacamán, Derani, González) - +10.072
12. LMP2 - #42 Strakka Racing (Leventis, Kane, Watts) - +10.116
13. LMP2 - #43 Team SARD Morand (Webb, Ragues, Hamilton) - +10.125
14. LMP2 - #47 KCMG (Howson, Bradley, Tandy) - +10.126
15. LMP2 - #31 Extreme Speed Motorsport (Brown, Overbeek, Fogarty) - +10.448
16. LMP2 - #36 Signatech Alpine (Panciatici, Chatin, Capillaire) - +10.607
17. LMP2 - #30 Extreme Speed Motorsport (Sharp, Dalziel, Hansson) - +10.977
18. GTE Pro - #99 Aston Martin Racing V8 (Rees, MacDowall, Stanaway) -
19. GTE Pro - #51 AF Corse (Bruni, Vilander) - +17.007
20. GTE Pro - #97 Aston Martin Racing (Turner, Mücke, Adam) - +17.045
21. GTE Pro - #95 Aston Martin Racing (Nygaard, Sørensen) - +17.272
22. GTE Pro - #91 Porsche Team Manthey (Lietz, Christensen) - +17.684
23. GTE Pro - #92 Porsche Team Manthey (Pilet, Makowiecki) - +18.149
24. GTE Am - #72 SMP Racing (Shaytar, Basov, Bertolini) - +18.276
25. GTE Pro - #71 AF Corse (Rigon, Calado) - +18.492
26. GTE Am - #98 Aston Martin Racing (Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda) - +18.867
27. GTE Am - #50 Larbre Competition (Roda, Ruberti, Poulsen) - +19.179
28. GTE Am - #83 AF Corse (Perrodo, Collard, Águas) - +19.314
29. GTE Am - #88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing (Ried, Bamber, Al Qubaisi) - +19.378
30. GTE Am - #77 Dempsey Racing-Proton (Dempsey, Long, Seefried) - +19.435
31. GTE Am - #96 Aston Martin Racing (Goethe, Hall, Castellacci) - +19.585
 
Fair play Audi on topping the table today! Hopefully they'll be able convert it to a win on Sunday, not gonna be easy with Porsche breathing down their necks though...
 
This weekend is going to be endurance racing overload.
Is there more endurance racing? Sorry, no native speaker, guess I don't get it maybe?

Puch, third puncture now? Two Ferraris, now Aston?
Besides, anyone on site at the Nürburgring this weekend to meet me? @Bram maybe?
Thanks for your round-up, R.J.!

Lapping will be key...what a traffic

After FP3 Audi is behind a full second. But no fear now, 16 degrees is not what I expect for the race. Guess Porsche ran Q pace.
 
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ohh a new series for me!
Been watch the blancpain and tudor in the usa but a drought in them the past month has been well hard. Now another series to add to the watch list!
 

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