Wunderbar: Four Formula E drivers claim WEC podiums in Germany

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After a thrilling Le Mans 24 Hours last month, the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) returned to action this weekend at the Nürburgring circuit in the west of Germany. Eleven Formula E drivers past and present took part, with Loïc Duval and Lucas di Grassi (LMP1), Bruno Senna (LMP2) and Sam Bird (GTE Pro) all finishing on class podiums.

Seven drivers from the all-electric single seater series took part in the top LMP1 class, however it was the Porsche trio of Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard who took the overall win. Nonetheless, Audi duo Loïc Duval (Dragon Racing) and Lucas di Grassi (ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport) put in an excellent performance in the #8 machine they share with Oliver Jarvis, finishing 2nd overall after a hard-fought race. The car had led earlier in the race but a mix of fortunately timed full-course yellows and strong pace saw Porsche take the overall win. Duval had earlier shown his credentials by holding off the second Porsche of Le Mans winner Neel Jani after a physical battle on track, while di Grassi showed strong pace and consistency throughout his stint.

After the heartbreak of Le Mans, when victory was snatched away just a few minutes from the end, the race in Germany turned out to be a frustrating and lonely one for Toyota’s Sébastien Buemi, in his first WEC start since being crowned Formula E champion three weeks back with Renault e.dams. The #5 Toyota he shares with Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima qualified sixth and could only manage P5 by the end of the race, one lap down on the Porsche and Audi machines, after a largely anonymous race.

The sister #6 Toyota that Venturi duo Stéphane Sarrazin and Mike Conway share with Kamui Kobayashi qualified in P5 but, after engine issues, ended up P6 overall, four laps down on the leading cars. This disappointment compounded the misery for the Japanese manufacturer – whose factory is actually in Cologne, around 100km from the Nürburgring.

Another Formula E duo competes for Rebellion Racing, with Renault e.dams’ Nicolas Prost and Mahindra Racing’s Nick Heidfeld sharing the Swiss team’s privateer #12 LMP1 car. They had driven alongside NEXTEV TCR’s Nelson Piquet Jr for the first three rounds of the season, but he has now been replaced by Mathias Beche. The #12 car has suffered from many gremlins throughout the season, and things were no different in Germany as they made several unplanned pit stops due to technical issues – limping home in P17 overall, 8th in the LMP1 class.

There was only one Formula E driver represented in the GT classes, with DS Virgin Racing‘s Sam Bird continuing his successful campaign for the factory Ferrari squad AF Corse in the GTE Pro class. He and team-mate Davide Rigon took a class podium with P2 in their #71 Ferrari 488 GTE, finishing the race just under 30 seconds behind team-mates Gianmaria Bruni and James Calado as Ferrari took a 1-2. Bird and Rigon had won the class in both Silverstone and Spa before retiring at Le Mans, so this was a good way to bounce back.

The LMP2 class was represented by three current and former Formula E racers in Germany. Team Aguri racer René Rast – from Minden around 300km away – took class pole alongside Roman Rusinov and Alex Brundle in G-Drive’s #26 machine. The early stages looked good for the trio, before a gearbox issue forced them to retire from the race. Things went a lot better for the #43 RGR by Morand machine piloted by Mahindra Racing’s Bruno Senna alongside Filipe Albuquerque and Ricardo Gonzalez, however. P4 in class during qualifying was turned into P2 in the race, as they put in a consistent performance to finish on the class podium for the first time since the season opener in Silverstone – which they won.

Rounding out the LMP2 class, former Team China Racing (now NEXTEV TCR) driver Ho-Pin Tung and his Baxi DC Racing Alpine team-mates David Cheng and Nelson Panciatici qualified P11 on the grid out of twelve LMP2 machines, but showed good consistency and reliability to make up four places and finish P7 in class.

The next WEC race is the 6 Hours of Mexico on the 3rd of September.

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Images courtesy of Rajan Jangda

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