World champions Porsche LMP team bid farewell to WEC

World champions Porsche LMP team bid farewell to WEC

With two podium finishes at the last round in Bahrain, the Porsche LMP Team bid a fond farewell to the FIA World Endurance Championship. Drivers Earl Bamber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, who were crowned world champions two weeks ago, finished second in what was an incident-filled 2017 finale.

This year’s Le Mans winners dropped behind after an early incident but impressively fought back. The sister car, shared by Neel Jani, André Lotterer and Nick Tandy started from pole position but also suffered a set-back after a collision and a subsequent penalty. Lotterer clocked the fastest race lap and finished in third position after six hours of racing. Toyota won the night race.

With this race, one of the most successful chapters of Porsche’s motorsport history comes to an end. From 2015 to date, the Porsche LMP Team took three consecutive Le Mans victories plus three successive manufacturers’ world championship titles while Porsche 919 Hybrid drivers won the drivers’ world championship title on three occasions.

Since the 919’s debut in 2014, the tally from 34 races is 17 wins with seven of them being one-two victories. Furthermore 20 pole positions and 13 fastest race laps were achieved.

Word is Porsche wants to tackle Formula E at a later date.

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