L’équipe Porsche a célébré son deuxième podium de la saison pour la Porsche 919 Hybrid en prenant la troisième place, tandis que la voiture sœur a terminé quatrième dans la course des 6 heures à Fuji, au Japon. La cinquième des huit manches du Championnat du Monde d’Endurance de la FIA a été une course simple et sèche. Les pilotes Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley et Mark Webber ont terminé troisième avec la voiture n°20. Ils ont été suivis par leurs coéquipiers Romain Dumas, Neel Jani et Marc Lieb dans la voiture numéro 14. De plus, Mark Webber a réalisé le meilleur temps de la course – 1: 27,759 minutes sur le 12 ème tour – sur le circuit Fuji Speedway long de 4,563 km.
Déroulement de la course pour la voiture numéro 14
Après les batailles dans les premiers tours, Marc Lieb s’est positionné en quatrième position pour ensuite prendre la troisième position dans la course derrière les Toyota. A cette place, il est rentré au stand pour transmettre le volant à Neel Jani après 36 tours. Jani a changé les pneus après 73 tours et a transmis le volant de la Porsche 919 Hybrid à Romain Dumas à la fin du 110 ème tour. Dumas s’est arrêté pour changer ses pneus et à fait le plein de carburant au 147 ème tour. De plus, en raison d’autres pit stops d’autres concurrents, la voiture se classait en troisième position quand Marc Lieb a repris le volant pour le dernier relais à la fin du premier 184 ème tour. Au 220 ème tour, il est rentré au stand pour un splash-and-dash (ravitaillement très rapide que l’on peut effectuer en fin de course) puis il a amené sa Porsche 919 Hybrid à la quatrième place de la course.
Déroulement de la course pour la voiture numéro 20
Mark Webber se battait pour la victoire quand il a dû rentrer au stand pour un arrêt anticipé après dix tours à cause d’une crevaison. Ensuite, il a fait un double relais avec un seul train de pneus Michelin avant de transmettre le volant de la voiture à Timo Bernhard à la fin du 84 ème tour.
Bernhard a aussi fait un double relais, mais il a également changé les pneus lors du ravitaillement après 122 tours. Après le 160 ème tour, Brendon Hartley a pris le volant. Il a fait son dernier arrêt pour ravitailler en carburant et pour changer les pneus à la fin du 197 ème tour, avant d’amener sa Porsche 919 Hybrid sur la troisième marche du Podium.
Déclarations
Wolfgang Hatz, Membre du conseil d’administration en charge de la R&D chez Porsche AG: “We have reached the target we set ourselves for this race – we have one car on the podium and we finished the race with both cars. In the beginning we were even strong enough to fight for the lead, and in the end we have secured P3 and P4. This was a nice step forward, and we should continue this way.”
Fritz Enzinger, Vice Président du LMP1: “This result is a great joy for us. Most importantly I am very proud of the progress we made over the course of the weekend. The first free practice on Friday was difficult, but we managed to improve in every session, had a great qualifying and this time we have also turned our performance into a good race result.”
Andreas Seidl, Responsable de l’équipe: “P3 and P4 are very good results for us and this is down to a great performance from all the drivers and the team – not only from the crew on site but also from the guys back home in Weissach. In our fifth race with the 919 we have, for the first time, been able to get both cars to complete the entire race distance without noteworthy problems. P3 and P4 are down to our own merits. With car number 20 the strategy worked out perfectly. Despite the early stop, the pit stop windows were ideal. This way number 20 was able to finish ahead of number 14 who’s drivers did a great job too. Congratulations to Toyota for a strong one-two finish.”
Pilotes Porsche 919 Hybrid n°14
Romain Dumas (36, France): “Finishing in third and fourth is a good and also an important result for the team. But we won’t forget there is still a lot of work ahead of us. By no way have we fully exploited the 919’s potential yet.”
Neel Jani (30, Suisse): “I did a double stint. It was quite tricky to drive today and it wasn’t possible to do that distance on a single set of tyres. A big problem was the rubber on the track. The tyres pick up the marbles as soon as you leave the racing line to lap other cars, and then you can’t get rid of that sticky stuff. The longer the race lasted, the worse it became.”
Marc Lieb (34, Allemagne): ”I was the start and the finish driver in our car. The opening lap was pretty tricky with lots of position changes. I managed to stay out of trouble, and later I was also careful when lapping the GT cars. The tyre degradation wasn’t as massive as expected, but still too much to do double stints. However, the Porsche 919 Hybrid has definitely improved.“
Pilotes Porsche 919 Hybrid n°20
Timo Bernhard (33, Allemagne): “I had a trouble free double stint. However, because of our early tyre change, I was out of the normal rhythm and basically racing against the clock instead of having someone in sight to fight. That’s not really easy. The pick up on the tyres was tricky. We have achieved our second podium finish by our own merits – there was nothing more we really could have asked for. I am absolutely happy for our mechanics and engineers.”
Brendon Hartley (24, Nouvelle-Zélande): “I really enjoyed the race. It is a great feeling to step onto the podium as a Porsche works driver for the second time. Despite the puncture shortly after the start, we made the most out of the situation and also tried to do double stints with the tyres. I am really proud to have Mark and Timo as my teammates. All of us – the drivers as well as everybody in the team – have a steep learning curve this season. We have to continue like this, and then we might be able to fight for our first race win soon. The car was really good. Here we made two steps forward.”
Mark Webber (38, Australie): ”I had a good start and was able to put pressure on the Toyota, but then a punctured rear left tyre hurt our race. We then tried to do a double stint with the next set of tyres, but lost some time by doing this. The puncture was cruel, but Timo and Brendon did a great job to get the car back into third.”
Résultats de la course des 6 Heures de Fuji (Japon):
1. Davidson/Buemi (GB/CH), Toyota TS040 Hybrid, 236 Runden
2. Wurz/Sarrazin/Nakajima (A/F/J), Toyota TS040 Hybrid, – 25,627 s
3. Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (D/NZ/AUS), Porsche 919 Hybrid, – 1 Runde
4. Dumas/Jani/Lieb (F/CH/D), Porsche 919 Hybrid, – 2 Runden
5. Di Grassi/Duval/Kristensen (BRA/F/DK), Audi R18 e-tron quattro, – 2 Runden
6. Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (CH/D/F), Audi R18 e-tron quattro, – 3 Runden
FIA World Endurance Champonship (WEC) après 5 des 8 manches
Classement pilotes
1. Davidson/Buemi (GB/CH), Toyota, 122
2. Lapierre (F), Toyota, 96
3. Lotterer/Tréluyer/Fässler (D/F/CH), Audi, 93
4. Di Grassi/Kristensen (BRA/DK), Audi, 82
5. Wurz/Sarrazin (A/F), Toyota, 61
6. Dumas/Jani/Lieb (F/CH/D), Porsche, 57
7. Nakajima (J), Toyota, 53
8. Prost/Heidfeld/Beche (F/D/CH), Rebellion, 48,5
9. Duval (F), Audi, 46
10. Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (D/NZ/AUS), Porsche, 40,5
Classement constructeurs
1. Toyota, 183
2. Audi, 175
3. Porsche, 109
