Ferrari takes second consecutive Nürburgring win
Ferrari took a hard-earned win at the Nürburgring today after a typically frantic battle in the LMGTE Pro category
Photo: Ferrari Media
Ferrari took a hard-earned win at the Nürburgring today after a typically frantic battle in the LMGTE Pro category
The No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE driven by James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi took a first win of the season after the pair maximized their tyres and set-up to the fullest, heading home the two Porsche GT Team 911 RSR entries.
Calado reprised his breakthrough 2016 victory at Nürburgring while teammate Alessandro Pier Guidi took his maiden WEC win.
The British driver took the lead from the No.92 Porsche with an incisive move and then built an impressive gap to hand over to Pier Guidi who crossed the line 50-seconds ahead of the next-placed car, taking Ferrari’s second class win of the season.
Porsche took second and third places after enjoying its best race weekend of the season with the new-look 911 RSR model.
The No.91 car of Fréderic Makowiecki and Richard Lietz headed home the No.92 sister car of Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen by just eight seconds.
A fifth-place finish for Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx in the No.67 Ford GT was enough for them to retain the lead in the GT World Endurance Drivers’ Championship. They head Makowiecki and Lietz by 11 points as the WEC heads to Mexico City in early September.
Dempsey Proton win LMGTE Am thriller
LMGTE Am saw a popular home victory for Dempsey-Proton Racing. Christian Ried, Matteo Cairoli and Marvin Dienst held off the Spirit of Race Ferrari and Aston Martin Racing challenge to ensure that both Dienst and Cairoli took their first ever WEC wins. It was also Christian Ried’s first WEC class victory since Bahrain in 2012.
The Dempsey-Proton team fought hard for the win as they hunted down the Aston Martin Vantage of Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Paul Dalla Lana, coming under threat too from the Spirit of Race Ferrari which eventually finished took second place points for Miguel Molina, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr.
The winning margin for the Dempsey Proton Porsche was just 4.3 seconds as the class provided another nail-biting finish.
The LMGTE Am title fight could not be closer now as just two points separate three teams of drivers. Silverstone victors Keita Sawa, Matt Griffin and Weng Sun Mok are now level on points with Ried, Dienst and Cairoli, while the Aston Martin trio of Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Paul Dalla Lana are just two points adrift.
52,000 spectators enjoyed the fourth round of the 2017 FIA WEC, an event which saw a remarkable 510 overtakes for position. It was also one of the cleanest WEC ever races with no caution periods at all, and less than five minutes of on-track yellow flags.
The next round of the Championship will be the 6 Hours of Mexico in Mexico City on 3rd September. See you all there!
Provisional results and championship positions can be found HERE and race facts can be found HERE