WEC 2016: Porsche wins 6 hours of Silverstone, Audi excluded

Treluyer, Lotterer and Fassler in the No. 7 Audi R18 LMP1 car had won the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) - the 6 hours

The #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas were promoted to first place following the disqualification of the #7 Audi. (PHOTO: Michelin)

Excessive wear of the front skid block of the #7 Audi R18 of Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler led to a post-race disqualification. (PHOTO: Michelin)

Treluyer, Lotterer and Fassler in the No. 7 Audi R18 LMP1 car had won the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) - the 6 hours of Silverstone - but were disqualified from the final classification. The No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid, driven by Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas were handed the win ahead of the No. 6 Toyota TS050 Hybrid.

After six gruelling hours of constant racing the No 7 Audi took a surprising victory over the second Porsche. but the No 7 Audi was then disqualified because of the thickness of the front skid block that violated the technical regulations. The No. 1 Porsche of defending champions Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard suffered a crash during an overtaking move with a Porsche GTE car with Hartley behind the wheel. Both the prototype and the GTE car were retired from the race before half way point of the race.

The No 2 Porsche spun out by colliding with the Ford GT GTE-Pro category car driven by Marino Franchitti. Fortunately, the collision did not end in another retirement for Porsche.

Kazuki Nakajima suffered a puncture in No.5 Toyota. The puncture damaged the suspension and forced Nakajima to lose significant time in the pits for repairs. the No5 finished the race 17th overall. Kamui Kobayashi brought the No. 6 Toyota home in third to claim the final podium spot. The No. 13 Rebellion R-One, which was 11 laps down, was awarded third place after the No. 7 Audi was disqualified.

The LMP2 category had the No. 43 RGR Sport's Ligier JS P2 car of Filipe Albuquerque take the class win over No. 31 Nissan powered Liger of Dalziel and Derani. Rene Rast was the final podium driver for the LMP2 category in the No. 26 Oreca.

AF Corse No 71 car and the No. 51 Ferrari 488 cars finished first and second respectively, ahead of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage in the GTE-Pro category. the new Ford Chip Gannassi team with the No. 67 and 66 cars finished 4th and 5th respectively.

AF Corse also won the GTE-Am class with the No. 83 Ferrari 458 Italia. Aston Martin finished 2nd with the No. 98 car, while the sole running Chevrolet Corvette C7 finished 3rd in class and 25th overall.