FIA WEC 2017: Looking back to the 6 Hours of Mexico

Right before the FIA WEC action starts again at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas tomorrow, let's briefly look back at the 6 Hours of Mexico 2 weeks ago, courtesy of our friends at Sportscarglobal.com. 

© FIA WEC/Adrenal Media

Hopefully we have not seen the last of the Circuit Hermano Rodriguez, its layout appears to lend itself to great category racing and plenty of inter-category congestion it all made for an exciting race on what was a difficult weekend for the World Endurance Championship. The race exemplified exactly why we enjoy this form of racing, while Porsches domination continues, the categories delivered some spectacular clashes.

© FIA WEC/Adrenal Media

In LMP1 the gulf in performance between the Porsche 919 Hybrid and Toyota TS050 Hybrid was very evident with Porsche locking out the front row and quite simply driving away from their competitors. Porsche have made no secret of their application of team orders and whilst at times the #1 car put up a fight, it was left for the #2 to take the overall and LMP1 win. Brendon Hartley showed uncharacteristic decent after being called in for the first pit-stop, and bumble-bee chewing Nick Tandy (seemingly not happy with the tattered season) in the #1 and pushing so hard he incurred a pitlane speed penalty for team-mate Andre Lotterer to serve.

© FIA WEC/Adrenal Media

The LMP2 contest was hard fought, and turbulent in equal measure. Rebellion #31 came full of vigour, and were fighting the ever-mighty DC Racing Jota Sport run #38 through the initial phase, the Oliver Jarvis pedalled (#38) Oreca appearing to get the advantage until a clutch issue led to its fall down the running order. The #31 in the hands of Bruno Senna was running well, but challenges came through from both the Signatech-Alpine #36 and the resurgent Manor Racing #24. Indeed the clashes between Nico Lapierre and Ben Hanley respectively in the closing stages led to some of the best race action of the weekend. Senna in the #31 Valiante-Rebellion came out on top which is great news that another team, refugees from LMP1-L has found pace and success in the LMP2 category.

In GTE-Pro the pendulum swung as the altitude impacted on performance. During the initial phases the #95 Aston Martin performed well but seemed to drop away a little, Porsche RSRs and Ford GTs took up the challenge, however a wayward backmarker in the #61 Clearwater Ferrari 488 hit the #92 Porsche RSR whilst being lapped and sent Christensen in to a spin, which effectively put him out of the lead pack. 

Further clashes between the #51 Ferrari 488 of James Calado and Olivier Pla in the #66 Ford GT led to both of those cars suffering delay, leaving the #71 Ferrari to seemingly win the race. Yet a 10-second penalty was added on to that car’s time, which resulted in much joy back at the Aston Martin Racing #95 Nicki Thiim bringing the car home on the top step. The Porsche RSR #91 of Leitz and Makowiecki ran reliably and picked up a third behind the penalised #71 Ferrari.

© FIA WEC/Adrenal Media

GTE-Am was a race long flip-flop of positions between the #77 Proton Racing Porsche RSR, the ever present #98 Aston Martin Vantage of Paul Dalla Lana and crew, with a bit part for the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche. Clearly the Porsche contenders where keen to show pace having both signed deals for 2018 private mid-engined RSRs (as per GTE-Pro 2017). Unfortunately the #98 Aston Martin ventured wide of the track once too many times, and a penalty resulted in the #77 Proton Racing car of Cairoli and Reid to taking a deserved win.

Watch the race highlights below:

This story original was published by Nick Holland (@nh247) on Sportscarglobal.com.

FIA WEC - 6 Hours of Mexico: Porsche locks out front row

Porsche locked out the front row tonight at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico city.  After leading the first 2 practice sessions, both Porsche 919 Hybrids outpaced the Toyota's again in qualifying. Signatech Alpine clinched pole in LMP2, Ferrari in GTE Pro and Demspey-Proton Racing in GTE Am.

With rain predicted for the end of the qualifying sessions, the LMP1 and LMP2 cars were released out of the pitlane almost immediately after the GTE qualifying. 

© FIA WEC/Adrenal Media

Brendan Hartley quickly set the fastest time in his #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid before handing over the wheel to Timo Bernhard. Both drivers set an average time of 1.24.562 which gave them and edge of 0.148 seconds over André Lotterer and Nick Tandy in the #1 Porsche. Tandy tried hard by the end of the session to close the gap with the #2 car but wasn't helped by rain that came in at the final minutes. Behind the Porsches, Toyota kept on pushing the whole session but stranded behind both Porsches. Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez were the fastest Toyota drivers, taking third place on the grid with an average time of 1.24.802. Kazuki Nakajima and Sébastian Buemi complete the second row later today. 

© FIA WEC/Adrenal Media

André Negrao & Nicolas Lapierre took pole position in LMP2 and fifth place on the grid with a combined qualifying time of 1.32.809 in their #36 Signatech Alpine. The #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing of Ho-Pin Tung and Thomas Laurent was second fastest, 0.296 seconds behind the Alpine. The #31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca of Bruno Senna and Nicolas Prost will start in third position tomorrow, despite Bruno Senna being the fastest man on track during qualifying. Rounding out the top 5 are the #26 G-Drive Racind and #25 CEFC Manor TRS Racing.  Bad luck for the second Vaillante Rebellion when David Heinemeier Hansson exceeded the pitlane maximum speed and saw his time deleted. The #13 will have to start at the back of the grid. 

© FIA WEC/Adrenal Media

Davide Rigon and Sam Bird took pole position in the GTE Pro class. A perfect return for Bird who missed the previous race at the Nürburgring due to the Formula E race in New York. Bird and Rigon set an average time of 1.39.688 in their Ferrari F488 GTE, an improvement of last years lap record. Second fastest were Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen in the #95 Aston Martin with a combined time of 1.39.534, just one tenth of a second behind the leading Ferrari. Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell put the #67 Ford GT on third place, just ahead of the #66 sister car of Olivier Pla and Stefan Mücke.  All 8 cars in class qualified within 0.83 seconds.

© FIA WEC/Adrenal Media

In the Am class it's the #77 Dempsey-Proton Competition Porsche of Matteo Cairoli and Christian Ried who took the honours. An average laptime of 1.42.056 put them on front of the field, closely chased by Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana in the #98 Aston Martin Vantage (+ 0.102 seconds). The third spot on the grid went to the #86 Gulf Racing UK Porsche which has been in the top 3 all weekend. Benjamin Barker set the fastest lap overall in this qualifying session, combined with the lap of Michael Wainwright, they managed an average time of 1.42.965. The Ferrari's of Clearwater Racing and Spirit of Race complete the class grid for the race. 

Results LMP1 and LMP2
Results LMGTE Pro and Am

Toyota Gazoo Racing picked up pace again to lead the pack in the third and final free practice session.

© FIA WEC/Adrenal Media

Sebastian Buemi put the #8 TS050 Hybrid on top with a lap of 1.25.789, almost a second faster than Jose Maria Lopez in the second practice session. Nick Tandy put the #1 Porsche on second place with a 1.25.983 but lost out the top spot due to exceeding the maximum speed in the pitlane. His best lap of 1.25.678 being cancelled by the race stewards. Third fastest was Mike Conway in the #7 Toyota, 0.280 seconds behind Buemi. 

LMP2 was very close in the final practice session, the first 4 cars only separated by 0.061 seconds. Alex Brundle was fastest overall in his #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07 in 1.33.130, the fastest time in LMP2 so far for the weekend. Nico Lapierre showed his speed again in the #36 Signatech Alpine Matmut, just 0.014 seconds short of Brundle. A very close third was Alex Lynn in the #26 G-Drive, a whisper of 0.006 seconds behind Lapierre. Thomas Laurent, who lead the class for a long time, rounded out the top 4 with a lap of 1.33.191.

In GTE Pro Ferrari got back on top with Sam Bird in his #71 Ferrari F488. Bird clocked a 1.39.722 which was 0.166 faster than Stefan Mücke in the #66 Ford GT and the #92 Porsche of Kevin Estre. Ben Barker got on top of the GTE Am sheets in his #86 Gulf Racing UK Porsche (1.41.6 09), beating Matteo Cairoli in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche with only 0.005 seconds. After struggling for speed in the first two sessions, the #61 Clearwater Ferrari took third place, just under a second of both Porsches.

FP3 Results
Kristof Vermeulen.

FIA WEC - 6 Hours of Mexico: Porsche dominates first practice sessions

Porsche has dominated both 90 minute free practice sessions ahead of the 6 Hours of Mexico tomorrow. André Lotterer was fastest on a drying track yesterday, Brendon Hartley topped the timesheets today in the second free practice. 

In a dry session this morning, laptimes dropped significantly compared to yesterday. Hartley did a 1.25.007 in his #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid, 0.484 seconds ahead of Nick Tandy in the #1 Porsche. Both Toyota's struggled for pace as they lost over 1.6 seconds compared to Porsches quickest times. Jose Maria Lopez was the quickest man in the #8 Toyota in this session in 1.26.681.  

Ho Pin Tung lead the LMP2 class in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca with a 1.33.390, outpacing Alex Lynn in the #26 G-Drive Oreca who set a 1.33.666 on the timetable. Bruno Senna was now the fastest driver in a Vaillante Rebellion, putting the #31 in third place, just under half a second from Ho Pin Tung. 

The Aston Martins outpaced the competition in the GTE Pro class. Marco Sorensen went quickest in the #97 Vantage V8 in 1.39.931, ahead of the co-driver Nicki Thiim. Daniel Serra put the #95 Aston on the second place with a 1.40.202. His teammate Darren Turner was fourth fastest overall. The first non Aston Martin driver was James Calado in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, 0.381 seconds behind Sorensen. 

In the GTE AM class, Matteo Cairoli had 2 perfect runs so far being fastest in both practice session. His fastest lap this morning was a 1.41.536, which put him 0.367 seconds ahead of Pedro Lamy in the #98 Aston Martin.  Ben Barker was third fastest in the #96 Porsche in a 1.41.979. 

Porsche also dominated yesterdays first 90 minute practice session in the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.  

André Lotterer set the fastest time on a drying track in his #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid with a 1.27.026.  Second fastest was the #2 sister car of Earl Bamber, 0.649 seconds behind Lotterer.  The Toyota's were on top of the timesheets at the start of the session, but lost time to the Porsches when the track started to dry out. Mike Conway was fastest in the #7 TS050 (1:28.029), Sebastian Buémi in the #8 Toyota (1:29.131). 

Nicolas Lapierre set the pace in the LMP2 class, steering his #36 Signatech Alpine round the Mexican track in 1.35.556. Mathias Beche in the #13 Vaillante Rebellion was second fastest, 0.367 seconds behind the Frenchman. Bruno Senna in the second Vaillante Rebellion Oreca 07 was third fastest, 0.657 seconds behind Lapierre. Roman Rusinov (#26 G-Drive) and Vitaly Petrov (#25 CEFC Manor TRS Racing) completed the top 5. 

In GTE-Pro we saw three different cars on top of the timesheets. James Calado was fastest in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari F488 in 1.41.101. Fred Makowiecki placed his #91 Porsche 911 RSR on second place, just 0.076 seconds behind the Ferrari.  Aston Martin Racing completed the top 3 with Nicki Thiim behind the wheel of the #95 Vantage V8. 

GTE-Am saw the older – naturally aspirated – cars outpace the turbocharged Ferrari's. Matteo Cairoli drove the fastest lap in the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche (1.42.469) ahead of Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche (1.42.576) and Pedro Lamy in the #98 Aston Vantage V8. 

The final practice session and qualifying is set for this afternoon local time in Mexico.

Results FP1
Results FP2

Kristof Vermeulen.