Mixed fortunes of WEC drivers at the Nürburgring 24 hours.

Several of the drivers entered in the FIA World Endurance Championship also raced in the legendary 24 Hours of Nürburgring last weekend. The race was won for the first time in its history by Audi, one of two manufacturers competing for the title of World Champions in LMP1, but only one driver competing in the full season of the World Championship was on the podium: Pierre Kaffer, driver of Pecom Racing, who finished third in a Mercedes entered by Hankook Team Heico.

The Manthey Racing team, with five wins in the last six 24h in the Eifel, started as favourites, but mechanical problems disrupted the progress of the Porsche 911 and Romain Dumas, who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2010, was hit in the last lap while he was en route to third place. The quartet Lucas Luhr, Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz (the latter two are racing for of Team Felbermayr-Proton in LMGTE Pro) and Romain Dumas could not be classified, because they did not complete the last lap.

"After having had so much fun driving, it's frustrating to end this way", said Romain Dumas. "We tried so hard to catch up ... A podium finish would have been a great reward for the drivers and the team. Nobody gave up: we fought to the end. We knew that the consistency was our strength, but we had too many incidents."

Unlike the World Championship, Romain Dumas was driving for Porsche last weekend (for whom he is a works driver), and not for Audi. Similarly, Pierre Kaffer, with a victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring with Audi in 2004, was driving a Mercedes. The German driver swapped the Oreca-03 Nissan of Pecom Racing for a Mercedes SLS for a weekend: "To our great joy, the strategy of putting pressure on our direct competitor to the end of the race paid off, which allowed us to finish in the top three. Too bad that the sister car retired with only 15 minutes of the race remaining. "

Markus Palttala, driver of the Porsche of JMW-Avila (category LMGTE Am) just missed the podium, taking 4th place in a BMW, while Marcel Fässler, who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year, passed the finish line in fifth position.

The next 24 hours race for WEC drivers is on the  16th and 17th of June for the 80th Le Mans 24 Hours, which will be preceded by the Test Day on 3rd June.

Dave Davies (quotes from Mercedes news and Romain Dumas)

Photo: FRANCORCHAMPS (BELGIUM), CIRCUIT OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, 6 HOURS OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, THURSDAY MAY 3RD 2012, PRACTICE. Pierre Kaffer climbed on the third step of the podium at the Nürburgring 24 Hours.