WEC Six Hours of Austin Results: No. 1 Porsche Is No. 1

Porsche survived the brutal Texas heat to deliver an overall victory in the WEC Six Hours of Austin, with the team’s No. 1 entry also being tops on the day.

The heat made the WEC Six Hours of Austin a brutal test for everyone involved. Texas is known for its high temperatures and this weekend’s race was no exception, with drivers fighting to stay cool as well as stay ahead of one another on the track.

Yet it wasn’t just the weather that threw a curveball. The results from the Lone Star State did their best to shake up the status quo in the sportscar world, with every class featuring something worth talking about.

In LMP1 Audi’s form looked impressive starting after qualifying, when they landed on the front row by 0.7 of a second. That pace continued in the early stages of the race, with the No. 7 breaking away quickly. But that success soon turned to distress.

First, the sister car No. 8 stopped on track and then a bad break came when the third full-course caution of the race gave the No. 1 Porsche a chance to pit. And as if that wasn’t enough, the No. 7 soon ran into one of the Ford GT entries and paid a visit to a tire barrier as a result. By the time the dust had settled, the No. 1 Porsche was living up to its name.

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Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley, and Timo Bernhard scored another win, with the No. 8 Audi recovering to come second, and the No. 6 Toyota rounding out the podium. The Porsche trio passed Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler in overall points, adding more salt to Audi’s wounds.

The No. 2 Porsche of Neel Jani, Marc Lieb, and Romain Dumas finished fourth and holds a 37.5 point lead overall with three rounds left.

Where the pole-sitters failed in the top class, Signatech succeeded in LMP2.

Since finishing fourth at Silverstone, the French outfit has scored four wins and a second place result. It was a fairly easy affair for them in Austin, with RGR Sport and G-Drive finishing second and third, giving Signatech a 41-point edge overall.

The closest title fight on the grid came in GTE Pro, where the Aston Martin duo of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim further widened their margin with a victory from the pole. Current class runners up Davide Rigon and Sam Bird came third at COTA, but that still keeps them nine points off the Aston team’s pace.

Le Mans karma continued to bite Ford in this category as the No. 66 came into strife with an Audi and a Manor, copped a penalty for using too many tires, and was dealt a faulty air conditioner. You could say they were cooked from the start.

Things were a little rosier in GTE Am, where a good weekend for pole winners was capped off by a smooth win for the No. 98 Aston.

The Lamy/Dalla Lana/Lauda entry made up overall ground on the Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche and AF Corse Ferrari – who finished fifth and sixth respectively – but remain 42 points back in class.

The KCMG Porsche had their best race of the season to finish second, with the Labre Corvette coming in third.

Next: ARCA Results From Chicagoland

Below are the results from the WEC Six Hours of Austin:

LMP1:
No. 1 Porsche: Hartley/Webber/Dumas
No. 8 Audi: Duval/Jarvis/Di Grassi
No. 6 Toyota: Sarrazin/Conway/Kobayashi

LMP2:
No. 36 Signatech Alpine: Menzes/Lapierre/Richelmi
No. 43 RGR Sport: Albuquerque/Gonzalez/Senna
No. 26 G-Drive Racing: Rusinov/Rast/Brundle

GTE-Pro:
No. 95 Aston Martin: Sorensen/Thiim
No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari: Bruni/Calado
No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari: Rigon/Bird

GTE-Am:
No. 98 Aston Martin: Dalla Lana/Lamy/Lauda
No. 78 KCMG Porsche: Reid/Henzler/Camathias
No. 50 Labre Corvette: Ragues/Taylor/Viloen

The FIA WEC Six Hours of Fuji will be run on October 16th.

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