Rearuh

The Silverstone Circuit

The 2015 6 Hours of Silverstone was an endurance sports car racing event held at the Silverstone Circuit near Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England on 10–12 April 2015 before a crowd of 45,000 spectators. The event served as the opening round of the 2015 World Endurance Championship; it was fourth running of the event as part of the championship.

The No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber qualified in pole position by setting the fastest lap in class. They maintained the lead for the opening 80 minutes until they suffered a terminal rear drivetrain failure. This allowed the sister No. 18 car driven by Marc Lieb, Neel Jani and Romain Dumas to take over first position. Thereafter, the crew of the No. 18 Porsche battled the No. 7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer for the lead throughout much of the event. This led to multiple overtakes by the No. 7 team that were repelled soon after by the No. 18 Porsche team. It had the advantage of being faster in a straight line, but the Audi was better in the track's corners. Although the No. 7 Audi served a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for a track limits transgression in the final fourteen minutes of the event, it eventually got ahead as it was on a different strategy to the No. 18 Porsche. The car maintained the lead for the rest of the race to clinch the ninth overall career victory for Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer in a record-breaking race distance of 201 laps. Lieb, Dumas and Jani finished second and the No. 1 Toyota TS040 Hybrid of Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson came in third.

The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category was won by the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2 of Roman Rusinov, Julien Canal and Sam Bird. It took the lead from the fast-starting KCMG Oreca 05 of Nick Tandy, Matthew Howson and Richard Bradley on lap six and held it for the majority of the race to clinch the class victory with a one-lap advantage over the sister No. 28 car of Gustavo Yacamán, Ricardo González and Pipo Derani which started from pole position. The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GTE of Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander passed their teammates James Calado and Davide Rigon in the sister No. 71 entry after a battle during the fourth hour of the race to win the Le Mans Grand Touring Professional (LMGTE Pro) class. The car that came second was the No. 91 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR of Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen. The Le Mans Grand Touring Amateur (LMGTE Am) category was won by Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda in the No. 98 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE with a 13.712 second advantage over the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari of Rui Águas, Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo.

The consequence of the final results meant Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer became the early leaders of the Drivers' Championship with 25 points, seven ahead of their nearest rivals Lieb, Jani and Dumas and a further three in front of Buemi, Nakajima and Davidson in third. Their teammates Mike Conway, Stéphane Sarrazin and Alexander Wurz were fourth on twelve points, and Loïc Duval, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis rounded out the top five with ten points. Audi took the early lead of the Manufacturers' Championship with 35 points. They were seven points ahead of their nearest rivals Toyota in second; the third-placed manufacturer Porsche had scored 19 points with seven rounds left in the season.

Background

Entry list

Oliver Jarvis (pictured in 2009) took the place of nine-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen.

Twenty-nine cars were officially entered for the 6 Hours of Silverstone with most of the entries in the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) classes.^[1][2] The 2014 race winners, Toyota, returned to defend their title. Three manufacturers, Porsche, Toyota and Audi Sport Team Joest, were represented in LMP1 by two cars each. Team ByKolles were the sole LMP1 privateer team partaking in the race.^[2]Nissan were scheduled to debut two GT-R LM Nismos at the circuit but decided to forego the season's opening two rounds after issues with the vehicle during testing. The team decided to focus on making its debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.^[3] Similarly, Rebellion Racing signed a contract to run Advanced Engine Research V6 twin-turbocharged engines instead of Toyota V8s they had used since 2012. This prompted the outfit to withdraw from the season's first two races so they and chassis developer Oreca could adapt the R-Ones for the new engine.^[4] After the retirement of nine-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, Audi internally promoted Oliver Jarvis to the squad.^[5] ByKolles's Simon Trummer was stranded in Switzerland due to a French air traffic control strike, and Christian Klien was contacted on the day of the first practice session to take his place.^[6]

LMP2 consisted of eight cars with twenty-seven drivers in four different types of chassis.^[2] Defending LMP2 champions SMP Racing and driver Sergey Zlobin opted not to return, instead focusing on the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) to develop their new BR01 chassis.^[7]2013 category champions OAK Racing returned to the World Endurance Championship (WEC) under their own banner for team owner and driver Jacques Nicolet. Their G-Drive Racing team, which won four races the previous year, expanded to a two-car operation for 2015. All three entries utilised the Ligier JS P2-Nissan.^[8]KCMG also remained in the series for 2015, replacing their Oreca 03R with the newer 05 chassis.^[9]Strakka Racing, who had filed a full-season entry in 2014 but failed to race after development delays with their Strakka Dome S103 chassis, returned for 2015 with an unchanged programme.^[10]

David Brabham (pictured in 2007) replaced Johannes van Overbeek who injured his rib due to a coughing fit.

Defending ELMS champions Signatech, who previously participated in 2012, had backing from Alpine with their Oreca-based A450 chassis with Nissan power.^[11]Morand Racing also shifted from the ELMS, partnering with the Japanese firm SARD in a joint effort. The team initially entered two improved versions of the Morgan LMP2 with Judd engines. Problems with a sale to data encryption company Kairos, however, meant the team missed the 6 Hours of Silverstone.^[1]Extreme Speed Motorsports was the series' sole North American-representative. They shifted from the United SportsCar Championship to the WEC, with their duo of HPD ARX-03bs after a pre-season testing issue forced them to discard the newer 04 chassis.^[12] One of their drivers Johannes van Overbeek injured his rib due to a coughing fit the week before and was replaced by 2009 Le Mans co-winner David Brabham.^[13][14]

The Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro) field consisted of three manufacturers (Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche), while the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) entrants included six teams: Aston Martin Racing, AF Corse, Larbre Compétition, Dempsey-Racing Proton, Porsche Team Manthley, and SMP Racing.^[2] Three-time LMGTE champions AF Corse's Ferraris had a near identical line-up, and Porsche Team Manthey also kept the drivers for its two cars largely unchanged.^[2]Aston Martin Racing expanded their effort to three cars for 2015 after partner Young Driver's entry, which won the LMGTE Am category in 2014, moved to the Pro class. They again fielded two vehicles in the LMGTE Am class. AF Corse also remained in the category, downgrading from a two-car entry to a single car. Porsche added a second vehicle for Manthey Racing.^[15] 2012 LMGTE Am Teams' champions Larbre Compétition returned to the series for the first time in two years, campaigning the first customer Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.^[16]

Preview

A FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Doha on 3 December 2014 confirmed the 6 Hours of Silverstone as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship's 2015 schedule.^[17] It was the first of eight scheduled endurance sports car races of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship,^[17] and the fourth running of the event as part of the championship.^[18] Since the 2013 edition, the overall winners of the race have been presented with the RAC Tourist Trophy. It was held on 12 April 2015 at the 3.661 mi (5.892 km) eighteen-turn Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England, following two days of practice and qualifying.^[18]

Audi's head of motorsport Wolfgang Ullrich spoke of the manufacturer's readiness for the upcoming season. He noted the closeness of the competition while setting themselves the objective of winning at Silverstone for the third time in the WEC: "At the Prologue at Le Castellet, we met with our opponents for the first time in the 2015 season and were able to see everyone is thoroughly prepared – even though nobody put their cards on the table there."^[19]Romain Dumas, one of three drivers of the No. 18 Porsche 919 Hybrid, expected more of a battle with his rivals than the previous year. His co-driver Marc Lieb said there was "a score to settle" after retiring early from the 2014 edition.^[20] Defending series champions Sébastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson along with their co-driver Kazuki Nakajima revealed their aim of repeating their victory at Silverstone, but Buemi noted the unpredictability of the weather conditions at the track.^[21]

Going into the race, the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, and the organiser of the series, Automobile Club de l'Ouest, altered the balance of performance in the LMGTE classes for the first time in the season to try to create parity. 10 kg (22 lb) of ballast was added to the LMGTE Pro class Ferrari 458 Italia and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage to reduce their handing abilities. The weight of the Porsche 911 RSR was lowered by 10 kg (22 lb) to increase its performance. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage also received an decrease in performance with the reduction of its air restrictor by 0.3 mm (0.012 in). No changes were made to the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.^[22]

Practice

Benoît Tréluyer (pictured in 2013) set the fastest overall lap in all the three practice sessions.

Three practice sessions—two on Friday and a third on Saturday—were held before the Sunday race. The Friday afternoon and early evening sessions lasted 90 minutes; the third, one-hour session was held on Saturday morning.^[18] The first session was held in sunny weather and most of the best efforts from the drivers came in its opening minutes.^[23]Lucas di Grassi in the No. 8 Audi set the fastest lap time at one minute and 42.291 seconds, 0.144 seconds faster than Mark Webber's No. 17 Porsche. André Lotterer in Audi's No. 7 vehicle was third, and Neel Jani was fourth in the sister Porsche. The fastest Toyota was fifth after a lap from Alexander Wurz.^[24]Gustavo Yacamán led LMP2 in G-Drive Racing's No. 28 Ligier JS P2-Nissan with a lap of one minute and 50.213 seconds. He was 0.053 seconds quicker than Sam Bird in the sister entry. The No. 95 Aston Martin V8 Vantage driven by Nicki Thiim was quickest early on in LMGTE Pro. Klaus Bachler in the No. 88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR was fastest in LMGTE Am.^[23]

Jarvis in the Audi No. 8 car led the second session early on before teammate Benoît Tréluyer in the sister No. 7 entry ended practice as the fastest driver with a best time of the day at one minute and 41.526 seconds. Jarvis's lap was 0.298 seconds off Tréluyer's pace putting the No. 8 car second in the time sheets.^[25]Brendon Hartley was the best of the Porsches in third and his teammate Dumas was fourth.^[25][26] The two Toyotas of Stéphane Sarrazin and Nakajima rounded out the top six overall drivers. The pair of G-Drive Racing Ligiers were again fastest in LMP2 with Pipo Derani going quickest of the day with a one minute and 48.676 seconds lap. Bird was six-tenths of a second behind. The duo of Porsche Team Manthey cars driven by Richard Lietz (No. 91) and Frédéric Makowiecki (No. 92) led LMGTE Pro. Pedro Lamy's No. 98 Aston Martin recorded the fastest lap time in LMGTE Am.^[26]

The third (and final) practice session was held in damp weather.^[27] Buemi and Wurz in the two Toyotas were the early pace setters until Marcel Fässler in the No. 7 Audi improved their lap times as some cars went off the slippery track and into Copse corner's gravel trap. A dry line began to appear after twenty-five minutes. The fastest overall leaders laps fell by five seconds as Lotterer improved on co-driver Fässler's time.^[28]Nelson Panciatici necessitated the showing of localised full course yellow flags when he spun and beached the No. 36 Signatech Alpine in the gravel trap at Stowe corner with twelve minutes to go.^[27][28] After practice restarted, Lotterer set the fastest overall lap time at one minute and 52.094 seconds in the session's closing minutes.^[29] Nakajima was the fastest of the two Toyotas in second, and the duo of Porsches driven by Lieb and Timo Bernhard placed third and fourth.^[30] Derani set a late effort of two minutes and 5.786 seconds to be the fastest in LMP2, followed by Matthew Howson in the No. 47 KCMG Oreca 05.^[27][29] Makowiecki put the No. 92 Porsche at the top of the LMGTE Pro time sheets. The fastest LMGTE Am lap came from Emmanuel Collard in the AF Corse No. 83 Ferrari 458 Italia.^[27][28]

Qualifying

Brendon Hartley helped put the No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid on the overall pole position in qualifying.

Saturday's afternoon qualification session was divided into two groups lasting 20 minutes each.^[18] Cars in LMGTE Pro and AM were sent out first and, after a five-minute interval, LMP1 and LMP2 vehicles drove onto the track. All cars were required to have two participants set one timed lap each. The competitors' fastest average lap times determined the starting order. The fastest team and drivers were awarded one point that counted towards their respective championships.^[31] Webber in the No. 17 Porsche set a benchmark time of one minute and 39.908 seconds. It was broken by his co-driver Hartley, who was released into clear air, and recorded a lap of one minute and 39.634 seconds. He claimed pole position with a two-lap average time of one minute and 39.721 seconds.^[32][33] They were joined on the front row of the grid by their teammates Jani and Dumas whose best effort was 0.619 seconds off their pace. Dumas attributed the No. 18 car's slower pace to him making a driver error on his first lap and being delayed by slower traffic on his next try.^[34] Di Grassi and Jarvis put the No. 8 Audi just 0.012 seconds behind the slower Porsche in third. The best of the Toyotas was the No. 1 car of Davidson and Nakajima in fourth after Nakajima lost time in slower traffic in the track's final sector.^[34][35] The third row was shared by the No. 7 Audi driven by Lotterer and Fässler which took fifth. Sarrazin and Mike Conway's No. 2 Toyota qualified sixth.^[32] The LMP1 manufacturer field was close together as the top six cars were separated by almost two seconds.^[36] The crew of the No. 4 ByKolles Racing car were more than ten seconds slower than the manufacturer vehicles and were thus the last of the LMP1 qualifiers.^[33]

In LMP2, G-Drive Racing swept the front row of the class grid as Derani and Ricardo González in the No. 28 car took pole position by going faster than Roman Rusinov's and Olivier Pla 2014 pole lap with a two-lap average lap time of one minute and 48.021 seconds. The duo was 0.062 seconds ahead of the sister No. 26 entry of Roman Rusinov and Bird.^[37] Howson and Nick Tandy in the No. 47 KCMG car was 1.3 seconds slower in third.^[33][35] Signatech Alpine's No. 36 vehicle came fourth in the hands of Paul-Loup Chatin and Vincent Capillaire. Rounding out the top five in LMP2 was the No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports car of Ryan Dalziel and David Heinemeier Hansson who were three-and-a-half seconds slower than the new generation of class vehicles.^[38][39] Thiim and Marco Sørensen, competing in the No. 97 Aston Martin, were the fastest LMGTE Pro qualifiers. They had the only two-lap average time under two minutes, at one minute and 59.970 seconds, in spite of Sørensen making some minor driving mistakes on his lap.^[36]Richie Stanaway and Fernando Rees in the No. 99 entry were 0.206 seconds off the sister car's pace in second. Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke made it an Aston Martin one-two-three in LMGTE Pro in the team's No. 95 vehicle.^[33][35] Lietz and Michael Christensen in the No. 91 Porsche took fourth. The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander completed the top five in class.^[40] In LMGTE Am. Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana completed a sweep of GTE pole positions for Aston Martin with a two-lap class average lap time of two minutes and 1.998 seconds. This was 0.937 seconds faster than Larbre Compétition's No. 50 Corvette of Paolo Ruberti and Kristian Poulsen in second.^[36] The No. 88 Abu Dhabi Racing Proton Porsche driven by Khaled al Qubaisi and Bachler completed the top three in class. The duo held second until the No. 50 Larbre Compétition Corvette gained the position.^[39]

Qualifying results

Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold and .^[41]

Pos	Class	Team	Average Time	Gap	Grid
1	LMP1	No. 17 Porsche Team	1:39.721	—	1
2	LMP1	No. 18 Porsche Team	1:40.340	+0.619	2
3	LMP1	No. 8 Audi Sport Team Joest	1:40.352	+0.631	3
4	LMP1	No. 1 Toyota Racing	1:40.382	+0.661	4
5	LMP1	No. 7 Audi Sport Team Joest	1:41.153	+1.432	5
6	LMP1	No. 2 Toyota Racing	1:41.694	+1.973	6
7	LMP2	No. 28 G-Drive Racing	1:48.021	+8.300	7
8	LMP2	No. 26 G-Drive Racing	1:48.083	+8.362	8
9	LMP2	No. 47 KCMG	1:49.389	+9.668	9
10	LMP2	No. 36 Signatech Alpine	1:49.498	+9.777	10
11	LMP1	No. 4 Team ByKolles	1:50.622	+10.901	11
12	LMP2	No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports	1:51.551	+11.830	12
13	LMP2	No. 42 Strakka Racing	1:52.284	+12.563	13
14	LMP2	No. 35 OAK Racing	1:53.457	+13.736	14
15	LMP2	No. 31 Extreme Speed Motorsports	1:55.491	+15.770	15
16	LMGTE Pro	No. 95 Aston Martin Racing	1:59.970	+20.249	16
17	LMGTE Pro	No. 99 Aston Martin Racing V8	2:00.175	+20.454	17
18	LMGTE Pro	No. 97 Aston Martin Racing	2:00.333	+20.612	18
19	LMGTE Pro	No. 91 Porsche Team Manthey	2:00.651	+20.930	19
20	LMGTE Pro	No. 51 AF Corse	2:00.701	+20.980	20
21	LMGTE Pro	No. 92 Porsche Team Manthey	2:01.591	+21.870	21
22	LMGTE Am	No. 98 Aston Martin Racing	2:01.998	+22.277	22
23	LMGTE Pro	No. 71 AF Corse	2:02.156	+22.435	23
24	LMGTE Am	No. 50 Larbre Compétition	2:02.937	+23.216	24
25	LMGTE Am	No. 88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing	2:03.134	+23.413	25
26	LMGTE Am	No. 83 AF Corse	2:03.482	+23.761	26
27	LMGTE Am	No. 72 SMP Racing	2:04.114	+24.393	27
28	LMGTE Am	No. 96 Aston Martin Racing	2:05.050	+25.329	28
29	LMGTE Am	No. 77 Dempsey Racing-Proton	2:06.024	+26.303	29

Race

Conditions at the start of the event were dry and sunny. The air temperature throughout the race was between 12.7 and 15.3 °C (54.9 and 59.5 °F); the track temperature ranged from 10.5 to 15.5 °C (50.9 to 59.9 °F).^[42] When the race began before a crowd of 45,000 spectators at 12:00 British Summer Time (UTC+01:00),^[43][44] Webber retained his pole position advantage on the run to the first corner as his teammate Dumas came under attack from di Grassi going into Aintree turn. Elsewhere, Tandy made a fast getaway in the KCMG Oreca to claim the lead of LMP2 from the pair of G-Drive Ligiers.^[45] On lap three, Di Grassi made another try at overtaking Dumas but put himself on the outside of Loop corner. This forced him to slow and give Buemi an opportunity to pass him for third.^[46][47] The No. 4 ByKolles Racing CLM P1/01 of Vitantonio Liuzzi sustained damage to its floor after reported contact by Dalziel's No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports. This necessitated half an hour of repairs to the car in its garage.^[45][48] After going wide, Wurz lost fifth to Tréluyer and Bird retook the LMP2 lead from Tandy at Brooklands corner on the sixth lap; he later pulled away.^[46][49][50] The overall leaders came across slower traffic twelve minutes in; di Grassi was caught out by this and fell to fifth behind Tréluyer and Wurz by running wide.^[49]

Mark Webber (pictured in 2014) led from pole position until the No. 17 Porsche's rear drivetrain forced him out of the race.

Derani passed Tandy on the run to Village corner for second in LMP2. Tréluyer put Buemi under pressure for third overall, and di Grassi retook fifth from Wurz. Later, Bachler took over the lead of LMGTE Am, and Tréluyer lost fourth to his teammate di Grassi leaving Copse corner. Overtakes occurred in LMGTE Pro as Porsche teammates Lietz and Patrick Pilet got by Stanaway, and Bruni moved past the latter at Stowe corner.^[46][49] Forty-one minutes in the first full course yellow was necessitated by Chatin's No. 36 Signatech Alpine car's incorrectly fitted left-rear wheel coming loose heading into Corse turn. This resulted in him veering heavily into the outside tyre barrier with the left-rear of his vehicle. Chatin was unhurt and boarded an ambulance without aid.^[46][49][51] Several drivers in the top categories made their first pit stops for fuel and tyres under the full course yellow while others remained on the circuit.^[44] Racing resumed in the forty-sixth minute with Webber leading teammate Dumas.^[49] Race control then noticed that repairs to the wall at Copse corner had not been undertaken. The second full course yellow was activated early in the second hour to allow this to happen. This was detrimental to the trio of LMGTE Pro Aston Martins who lost time making their pit stops between the green flag and the full course yellow.^[52]

Immediately after the restart, Buemi could not use the No. 1 Toyota's hybrid boost system because there was no charge in the capacitor. Buemi was caught off guard as he was overtaken around the outside by Tréluyer at Becketts turn and then by di Grassi at Vale corner to drop to fifth overall.^[46][53]Davide Rigon in the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari took the LMGTE Pro lead because it was on an alternative strategy. Tandy lost third in LMP2 to Dalziel after a slow in-lap.^[46][47] An hour and twenty minutes in (lap 44) Webber drove the No. 17 Porsche into the pit lane for a terminal rear drivetrain issue and the car was retired.^[54][55] This gave Lieb the outright lead as he relieved Dumas in the No. 18 Porsche and the Audis of di Grassi and Tréluyer gained second and third.^[44] The Audis duelled over second in slower traffic when Tréluyer passed di Grassi around the inside going into Abbey corner. Their fast pace, however, put them into the run-off area, but they rejoined on the approach to Farm curve without losing a lot of time.^[46][49][52] Di Grassi was lapping Christian Ried's No. 88 Abu Dhabi Proton Racing Porsche when the two connected at Becketts corner. Di Grassi returned to the pit lane and repairs to the No. 8 vehicle's rear-left deck took two minutes. The car rejoined a lap down in sixth with Loïc Duval aboard.^[47][49][52]

Roman Rusinov (pictured in 2013) contributed to the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Ligier's victory by over a lap from the sister No. 28 car.

As the second round of pit stops for fuel and driver changes began, Tréluyer drew closer to Lieb and took advantage of him being delayed by Danny Watts' No. 42 Strakka Racing Dome. He passed Lieb around the outside for the overall lead into Becketts turn. Tréluyer held the lead momentarily as Lieb retook it due to the Porsche 919 Hybrid's superior straight-line speed on the Wellington Straight into Stowe corner. The two made their pit stops afterwards as Fässler took over the No. 7 Audi and Jani got into the No. 18 Porsche. Wurz gained the overall lead after an earlier pit stop during the full course yellow allowed him to have a forty-second advantage at the front of the field.^[49][52] Later, Tandy's No. 47 KCMG car went into the garage after a stone punctured a hole in its radiator and created water pressure issues.^[50][55] Jani lost second to Fässler at Village corner; Jani responded by reclaiming the position on the Wellington Straight. The two repeated the same manoeuvres over the following three laps until Fässler slowed slightly. In the meantime, Makowiecki's No. 92 Porsche gained the LMGTE Pro lead when Rigon made the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari's second pit stop and James Calado relieved him. ^[47][49]

Davidson was closing by one second per lap on the duelling Jani and Fässler. Duval got the No. 8 Audi back onto the lead lap when he and Jani negotiated their way past a LMGTE Am Ferrari.^[52] During the third phase of pit stops, Conway's No. 2 Toyota was lapping Gianluca Roda's No. 50 Larbre Compétition Corvette at Becketts corner when he was unseen by Roda. Conway mounted the kerb in avoidance hitting a thin plastic bollard that lodged itself in the front of the Toyota's splitter affecting its turn-in handing.^[49][56] Conway's teammate Davidson overtook him for second soon after and then became the leader as Jani's No. 18 Porsche entered the pit lane for fuel and tyres; Dumas relieved him.^[52] Dumas emerged just in front of the No. 7 Audi which now had Lotterer aboard. Dumas forced Lieb wide onto the outside line at Village corner for third and kept the position on the Hangar Straight.^[46][49] Lotterer's newer tyres allowed him to close on Conway, and he passed him around the inside at Vale corner for second. Conway later ran wide at Abbey turn because of his worn tyres and lost fourth to Dumas.^[46][52]

Rusinov had an anxious moment in the No. 26 G-Drive Ligier when he was blocked by the No.97 Aston Martin under braking at the end of the Wellington Staight and spun at Brooklands turn. He recovered without losing the LMP2 class lead to teammate González as his advantage over him was one minute. Lotterer was quicker than race leader Davidson through slower traffic and attempted to pass him around the inside at Brooklands corner, but Davidson blocked the try on the Wellington Straight. The following lap, Lotterer tried again going into Village turn and was successful this time round and subsequently pulled away.^[46][52] Bruni's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari took the lead of LMGTE Pro in the fifth minute of the third hour after Pilet's No. 92 Porsche picked up a right-front puncture from going off the circuit. It was taken into the garage for four minutes and fell to sixth in class with Makowiecki behind the wheel.^[47][49][57] Dumas returned to the overall lead during the next pit stop cycle. Lotterer then retook it by double stinting his tyres and only having fuel put in his car. Lieb was now in the No. 18 Porsche when he slid off the racing line onto some astroturf leaving Stowe corner but regained control of the car without losing too much time. Conway turned onto the inside line at Vale corner to get past Lieb for third three minutes later.^[46][49]

Marcel Fässler (pictured in 2015) helped to claim the No. 7 Audi's ninth overall victory in the World Endurance Championship.

Duval's No. 8 Audi was forced into the pit lane after running onto grass. The team took six and a half minutes and four laps to clean debris at the front of the car and it was overtaken by Jarvis.^[46][47][57] Rigon caught his teammate Vilander and tried unsuccessfully to pass him around the outside at Village corner for the LMGTE Pro lead. A few minutes later, Rigon tried again, passed Vilander and pulled away from him.^[46][49] Jarvis in the No. 8 Audi saw some space to get by Poulsen's No. 50 Larbre Compétition Corvette at Becketts turn, but Poulsen turned to block Jarvis and the two collided. Poulsen continued after assistance from marshals to get the No. 50 vehicle out of a gravel trap. Meanwhile, Jani relieved Dumas, and Fässler took over from Lotterer at their pit stops.^[49][57] The two LMGTE Pro AF Corse Ferraris started again to duel for the class lead. Bruni made a try at overtaking Calado at Brooklands corner but was unable to get past due to Calado blocking him. On the following lap, Bruni tried again and was successful this time passing Calado at the same corner.^[57]

In the final hour, Jani moved the No. 18 Porsche into second and closed on Fässler's No. 7 Audi. Jani moved past Fässler on the Wellington Straight due to the Porsche's straightline speed advantage, but the latter came back to reclaim the lead. It momentarily returned to Jani until it was retaken by Fässler entering Copse corner as the Porsche struggled to stay with Audi in the circuit's turns.^[44][46][49] Jani re-took the lead and kept it for two minutes before making his last pit stop for left-hand side tyres and no fuel.^[49] The final retiree came with 40 minutes to go when Klien went off at Village corner and failed to return the No. 4 ByKolles car to the top ten. Its radiator was damaged and it had stiff handling because of aerodynamic deficiencies.^[46][48] Buemi made the No. 1 Toyota's final pit stop for fuel from second overall and came out behind Jani who opened up a four second gap over the car. Drama came with 18 minutes left when race control deemed Fässler to have transgressed track limits while passing slower cars on the outside tarmac run-off area at the exit of Club corner. They handed him a ten-second stop-and-go penalty, and he served it with 15 minutes to go and then took up fuel.^{[49][58][59][60]}

Fässler kept the lead after his race engineer Leena Gade encouraged him to push hard. In the meantime Jani lowered the gap to twelve seconds, and he steadily reduced it over the following 14 minutes by pushing hard with his lap times in the one minute and 42 second range.^[47][61] However, Fässler maintained the overall lead and crossed the start/finish line in a new race distance record of 201 laps to win by 4.610 seconds and took his, Lotterer and Tréluyer's ninth outright career victory in the series.^[54][60] Buemi got the No. 1 Toyota onto the final step of the overall podium in third.^[54] Bird maintained No. 26 G-Drive Oreca's advantage and won in LMP2 with a one-lap lead over the sister No. 28 car.^[50] The third-placed No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports car failed its post-race technical inspection. Its front and rear underfloor skid planks were deemed to be under the minimum thickness of 20 mm (2.0 cm), and the No. 42 Strakka Racing entry was given third in LMP2.^[62] The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari of Rigon and Vilander was unchallenged in the final hour of the race and won in LMGTE Pro. The No. 91 Porsche of Christensen and Lietz took second; Bruni and Calado's No. 71 AF Corse entry came in third.^[63] In LMGTE Am, Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Lamy took their third successive win at Silverstone in the No. 98 Aston Martin and were 13.712 seconds ahead of Rui Águas, Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo's No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari.^[63]

Post-race

The top three finishers of all four classes appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and at a later press conference. Lotterer acknowledged Audi were under pressure to perform from the first lap and spoke of their desire to carry momentum into Spa-Francorchamps.^[53] Fässler spoke of his sadness over his stop-and-go penalty and said he felt it would have been fairer had the team been given time to think about their situation.^[64] Nevertheless, he was pleased with the duel he had with Jani.^[61] Tréluyer also expressed his frustration over the penalty as he discussed the situation with his co-drivers. He noted several cars had gone off the circuit throughout the race, but said he was happy with the victory, which he called "a well-deserved reward for all the effort the team have put in over the winter."^[65] Jani spoke of his enjoyment competing in the race and as he was trusting Fässler to battle him without making contact, "For sure it was a great sportscar race and all three manufacturers are all very close. We have to push because it is a six-our sprint race."^[66] Davidson said he felt Toyota had to double stint their tyres to stay in contention for the victory. He spoke of his hope of getting into a position where they had an advantage on circuits that have higher levels of tyre wear than Silverstone.^[66]

Journalists reviewing the race agreed that the battle between Fässler's No. 7 Audi and Jani's No. 18 Porsche for the win was its highlight.^[53][54][61] Jack Philipps of Motor Sport wrote that it was like "Mini Cooper against Ford Falcon", and called it, "Utterly scintillating and, when the second Audi joined the battle to unlap itself, even more spectacular".^[53]The Guardian's Giles Richards commented that the momentum Audi were anxious to maintain would be tested at Spa and the 24 Hours of Le Mans since the gap between the three manufacturers was marginal. "Audi have once again made their point that you underestimate them at your peril, but the team who use the hashtag #welcomechallenges have found their offer accepted with a powerful and determined threat this year and one that bodes well for a cracking season."^[54] Writing for NBC Sports, Luke Smith said, "At the start of what looks poised to be the WEC’s biggest season to date, Silverstone played host to an incredible feast of racing on Sunday as the LMP1 titans all laid claim to their title bid."^[61] David Hobbs of AOL considered Lotterer to be Audi's best driver at Silverstone as he was instrumental in helping the manufacturer take what the journalist called "a famous victory".^[59]

As this was the first race of the season, Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer became the leaders of the Drivers' Championship with 25 points each. They were seven points ahead of their nearest rivals Lieb, Jani and Dumas in second. The trio were a further three points ahead of Buemi, Davidson and Nakajima in third. Their teammates Wurz, Sarrazin and Conway were fourth with twelve points. Duval, di Grassi and Jarvis rounded out the top five with ten points.^[67] Audi took the early lead of the Manufacturers' Championship with 35 points. They were seven points ahead of their nearest rivals Toyota in second; the third-placed manufacturer Porsche had scored 19 points with seven rounds left in the season.^[67]

Race results

The minimum number of laps for classification (70% of the overall winning car's race distance) was 141 laps. Class winners are denoted in bold and .^[68]

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired
					Engine
1	LMP1	7	Audi Sport Team Joest	André Lotterer Marcel Fässler Benoît Tréluyer	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	M	201	6:00:30.876
					Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo Diesel V6
2	LMP1	18	Porsche Team	Marc Lieb Romain Dumas Neel Jani	Porsche 919 Hybrid	M	201	+4.610
					Porsche 2.0 L Turbo V4
3	LMP1	1	Toyota Racing	Anthony Davidson Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	M	201	+10.206
					Toyota 3.7 L V8
4	LMP1	2	Toyota Racing	Alexander Wurz Stéphane Sarrazin Mike Conway	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	M	200	+1 Lap
					Toyota 3.7 L V8
5	LMP1	8	Audi Sport Team Joest	Loïc Duval Lucas di Grassi Oliver Jarvis	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	M	197	+4 Laps
					Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo Diesel V6
6	LMP2	26	G-Drive Racing	Roman Rusinov Julien Canal Sam Bird	Ligier JS P2	D	185	+16 Laps
					Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
7	LMP2	28	G-Drive Racing	Gustavo Yacamán Ricardo González Pipo Derani	Ligier JS P2	D	184	+17 Laps
					Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
8	LMP2	42	Strakka Racing	Nick Leventis Jonny Kane Danny Watts	Strakka Dome S103	M	178	+23 Laps
					Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
9	LMGTE Pro	51	AF Corse	Gianmaria Bruni Toni Vilander	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	M	172	+29 Laps
					Ferrari 4.5 L V8
10	LMGTE Pro	91	Porsche Team Manthey	Richard Lietz Michael Christensen	Porsche 911 RSR	M	172	+29 Laps
					Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
11	LMGTE Pro	71	AF Corse	Davide Rigon James Calado	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	M	172	+29 Laps
					Ferrari 4.5 L V8
12	LMGTE Pro	95	Aston Martin Racing	Christoffer Nygaard Nicki Thiim Marco Sørensen	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE	M	171	+30 Laps
					Aston Martin 4.5 L V8
13	LMGTE Pro	97	Aston Martin Racing	Darren Turner Stefan Mücke	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE	M	171	+30 Laps
					Aston Martin 4.5 L V8
14	LMGTE Pro	99	Aston Martin Racing V8	Fernando Rees Alex MacDowall Richie Stanaway	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE	M	171	+30 Laps
					Aston Martin 4.5 L V8
15	LMGTE Pro	92	Porsche Team Manthey	Patrick Pilet Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 911 RSR	M	170	+31 Laps
					Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
16	LMGTE Am	98	Aston Martin Racing	Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE	M	168	+33 Laps
					Aston Martin 4.5 L V8
17	LMGTE Am	83	AF Corse	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Rui Águas	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	M	168	+33 Laps
					Ferrari 4.5 L V8
18	LMGTE Am	72	SMP Racing	Viktor Shaitar Aleksey Basov Andrea Bertolini	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	M	168	+33 Laps
					Ferrari 4.5 L V8
19	LMP2	47	KCMG	Matthew Howson Richard Bradley Nick Tandy	Oreca 05	D	167	+34 Laps
					Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
20	LMGTE Am	96	Aston Martin Racing	Roald Goethe Stuart Hall Francesco Castellacci	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE	M	166	+35 Laps
					Aston Martin 4.5 L V8
21	LMGTE Am	88	Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing	Christian Ried Klaus Bachler Khalded Al Qubaisi	Porsche 911 RSR	M	166	+35 Laps
					Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
22	LMP2	35	OAK Racing	Jacques Nicolet Jean-Marc Merlin Erik Maris	Ligier JS P2	D	165	+36 Laps
					Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
23	LMGTE Am	77	Dempsey Racing-Proton	Patrick Dempsey Patrick Long Marco Seefried	Porsche 911 RSR	M	165	+36 Laps
					Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
24	LMP2	31	Extreme Speed Motorsports	Ed Brown David Brabham Jon Fogarty	HPD ARX-03b	D	165	+36 Laps
					Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6
25	LMGTE Am	50	Larbre Compétition	Gianluca Roda Paolo Ruberti Kristian Poulsen	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	M	160	+41 Laps
					Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
DNF	LMP1	4	Team ByKolles	Simon Trummer Vitantonio Liuzzi Christian Klien	CLM P1/01	M	116	Retired
					AER P60 Turbo V6
DNF	LMP1	17	Porsche Team	Timo Bernhard Brendon Hartley Mark Webber	Porsche 919 Hybrid	M	44	Drivetrain
					Porsche 2.0 L Turbo V4
DNF	LMP2	36	Signatech Alpine	Nelson Panciatici Paul-Loup Chatin Vincent Capillaire	Alpine A450b	D	20	Accident
					Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
EX	LMP2	30	Extreme Speed Motorsports	Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel David Heinemeier Hansson	HPD ARX-03b	D	183	Disqualified
					Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6

Standings after the race

World Endurance Drivers' Championship standings[67] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Marcel Fässler André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer 25 2 Romain Dumas Neel Jani Marc Lieb 18 3 Sébastien Buemi Anthony Davidson Kazuki Nakajima 15 4 Mike Conway Stéphane Sarrazin Alexander Wurz 12 5 Loïc Duval Lucas di Grassi Oliver Jarvis 10

World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship standings[67] Pos. +/– Constructor Points 1 Audi 35 2 Toyota 27 3 Porsche 15

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for the Drivers' Championship standings.

References