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Race report
Stuttgart. Finishing second and third at the penultimate round of the FIA World Endurance Championship allowed
The race took place on a consistently dry track with ambient temperatures of around 15 degrees Celsius. The abrasive tarmac of the Chinese Formula One circuit was a decisive factor as normal.
How the race went for car number 1:
Start driver Nick Tandy, who had his 33rd birthday today, battles with both Toyotas and successfully defends second position until a sensor issue drops him back on lap 19. He receives instructions via radio how to activate the back up solution. The 919 is running fine again, but Tandy is now in fourth position, running one minute and 15 seconds behind the third placed sister
How the race went for car number 2:
For a short time after the start, Earl Bamber manages to improve to third position but then has to let the faster number 8 Toyota go and finds himself back in fourth. When the other
Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1: “Today’s race told another chapter of an almost unbelievable success story that shortly comes to an end. For the achievement of six world championship titles and three Le Mans overall victories, this team deserves the highest praise. With a great team spirit and good fun, they had a common aim: to win races for
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: “First of all congratulations to Toyota for a strong performance in today’s race. Congratulations also to Earl Bamber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley for the drivers’ championship. For sure it’s a sensational story to win all these titles and races three years in a row. At the same time, it was a big relief today not just for me but for the entire team that we could seal the two championships with one race remaining. It was not an easy situation in recent months, especially after the announcement was made to stop after this season. But we kept everyone focussed and built up a points gap in the middle of the season. We are really happy that this worked out today. A big thank you to everyone back home in Weissach for the sensational work they have done again this year. A big thank you to the race team here that was delivering despite all of the pressure at each race. And finally, a big thank you to all six drivers. What they have done this year was sensational team work – also between the two cars. “
Drivers
Neel Jani (33, Switzerland): “Our car number 1 crew has been unlucky this year, a throttle sensor problem causing us a problem in this race. But we would not have caught both Toyotas and so in this regard, it wasn’t a massive problem. Now we have to turn around this streak of bad luck in Bahrain – a race win would be great. Congratulations to the sister car crew for the title.”
André Lotterer (35, Germany): “It’s cool that we got on the podium with both
Nick Tandy (33, Great Britain): “The sensor issue is a big shame because we really were in the fight with the two Toyotas but the problem cost us nearly one lap. Afterwards only a safety car or a very fortunate full course yellow could have allowed us to get back in contention. However, we were lucky that we could stay in the race because it was not known how quickly the problem could be fixed. Congrats to Timo, Brendon and Earl.”
Drivers
Earl Bamber (27, New Zealand): “World Champion! It just sounds amazing. The team was fighting hard for it all year and now we grab the manufacturers and drivers world championship. I did a double stint at the start of the race. It was okay but it didn’t look like we were on the right tyre. I just tried to manage the tyre as best as I could for the double stint. The tyres held on very, very well actually, but we didn’t have a chance against the Toyota. The task was to bring it home in third position which ultimately became second. This weekend is super special. I can hardly believe that I won my first championship with
Timo Bernhard (36, Germany): “The second world championship title – this is kind of crazy and difficult to put in words. It is an honour to drive for the
Brendon Hartley (27, New Zealand): “I was second in the car and stayed there for 76 laps. We lost a lot of downforce in the beginning, so the first stint was hard work. At the stop, we changed the nose which improved this issue. But we had one set of tyres less than all the other cars after we lost one in qualifying. So this was a kind of game over for us. But we definitely have had an incredibly year. Taking the World Championship title after winning Le Mans – it might take a while until it all sinks in. I had a few busy weeks but sharing this moment with Earl and Timo I will not forget for the rest of my life.”
All scores: http://www.fiawec.com/en/season/result
All results: http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com
All reports on the previous season can be found in our archive.