Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley claimed their first victory of the 2016 season at the 6 Hours of Nurburgring driving their No.1 Porsche 919 Hybrid.
The FIA World Endurance Championships’ visit to the German track marked the fourth round of the year. Reigning WEC champions Webber, Bernhard and Hartley finished nearly one minute clear of their nearest rivals.
Porsche and Audi looked closely matched throughout the race, with some intense battles between the 919 and R18 e-tron quattro cars at the Nurburgring.
The two Audi machines featured at the very front of the field, before Porsche took a more controlled grip on the race after the half-way mark.
The No.2 Porsche of Neel Jani, Marc Live and Romain Dumas led the way until early in the fifth hour when Lieb hit a backmarker and was forced to pit for a new nose, as well as picking up a drive-through penalty.
Bernhard took over at the front and crossed the line to win the race, with the No.8 Audi of Lucas di Grassi, Oliver Jarvis and Loic Duval in second place. The No.7 R18 e-tron quattro of Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler completed the podium.
The second Porsche crossed the line fourth after a further tangle late on, with the No.5 and No.6 Toyotas in fifth and sixth respectively. The No.13 Rebellion was seventh and the only LMP1-L entry left running at the finish.
The LMP2 class win was taken by the No.36 Signature Alpine of Nicolas Lapierre, Gustavo Menezes and Stephane Richelmi, backing up their Le Mans win.
The trio took over the lead after the No.26 G-Drive entry hit a gearbox problem in the third hour. The No.42 RGR Sport entry of Bruno Senna, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricardo Gonzalez finished second, with the No.31 ESM car of Pipo Derani, Chris Cumming and Ryan Dalziel in third.
The GTE Pro win went to Gianmaria Bruni and James Calado in the No.51 Ferrari, with the No.71 car of Sam Bird and Davide Rigon in second.
The GTE Am class was won by the No.98 Aston Martin of Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Paul Dalla Lana.
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