Porsche secures titles in FIA WEC season finale at Bahrain - MotorSportsTalk

Porsche Team’s trio of Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard have captured the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship following a dramatic, troubled but triumphant afternoon into evening at the Six Hours of Bahrain, the eighth and final round of the season.

The trio’s No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid went to the garage early with engine troubles and lost five laps. In the final hour of the race, Webber limped home fighting hybrid issues, but was still able to bring the car home in fifth place overall.

The No. 17 car won four races on the trot from the Six Hours of Nürburgring at the end of August through the penultimate round of the season, the Six Hours of Shanghai, earlier this month.

On the whole, Porsche claimed its sixth consecutive victory in today’s race, as the sister No. 18 trio of Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb finally broke through for their first win of the year. As the third car, the No. 19 entry of Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Nico Hulkenberg won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in mid-June, it means all three of the factory entries have claimed a win this year.

Lieb was the particular standout from today’s race, as he fought off the advances of the No. 7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro driven by Benoit Treluyer. Treluyer, along with teammates Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler, came up just short of both the win and the Driver’s World Championship.

A late race pass by Sam Bird on Tandy in LMP2, Bird in the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2 Nissan and Tandy in the No. 47 KCMG Oreca 05 Nissan, netted the G-Drive trio of Bird, Roman Rusinov and Julien Canal not just the race win but that class title as well. It ends a dramatic season-long title battle between the two of them, where several differences of opinion joined some instances of contact on track – particularly at Fuji.

Richard Lietz won the GTE-Pro driver’s title and Porsche the manufacturer’s cup, while like in LMP1, the overall spoils went to the sister entry for the first time in 2015. Frederic Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet, the latter of whom won the GT Le Mans championship in IMSA this season, took the class race win in the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR.

GTE-Am was split, with Aston Martin Racing’s trio of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda winning in their No. 98 Aston Martin Vantage V8 for the first time since before Le Mans, at Spa back in May. Meanwhile SMP Racing’s trio of Andrea Bertolini, Victor Shaytar and Alexey Basov, the season-long class dominant entry in the No. 72 Ferrari F458 Italia, won that class driving title.

Today’s race brought to a conclusion one of the more exciting seasons in recent memory, as most if not all eight rounds packed drama, thrills and chills into every six-hour event (and most of the 24 at Le Mans).

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Ryan Hunter-Reay was named to replace Conor Daly in Ed Carpenter Racing’s No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet, starting in the NTT IndyCar Series event next week at Road America.

Hunter-Reay is the 2012 series champion and 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner. He finished 11th for Dreyer & Reinbold last month in the 107th Indy 500, his first start since the 2021 season finale. He drove full time for Andretti Autosport from 2010-21.

“We need to improve our competitiveness and I wanted to add a fresh perspective from a driver like Ryan who has a massive amount of experience and success as well as a reputation as a team leader. I am excited to welcome Ryan to the team,” team owner Ed Carpenter said in a team release. “We have worked together in the past as teammates and he tested for ECR at Barber Motorsports Park in October 2021, where he made an immediate impact as we were able to qualify one of our cars on the pole following that test. I am confident that his experience and technical abilities will be an asset to ECR as we move forward toward our goals as a team.”

Hunter-Reay has 18 IndyCar victories, most recently in 2018. He also is a winner in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, having been a part of winning entries in the 2020 Twelve Hours of Sebring and 2018 Petit Le Mans. Last year, he was an endurance driver for Cadillac Racing while being on standby for Chip Ganassi Racing.

He replaces Daly, whose departure was announced a day earlier in what the driver and team said was a mutual decision.

“I was surprised when I got the call from Ed,” Hunter-Reay said in a team release. “He described how frustrated he was that his team has not been able to realize its potential despite their efforts, investments, as well as technical and personnel changes over the past few years and asked for my help. Ed and I are very close friends and have been for a long time. I’ve worked with the team in the past and they are a very talented group with high expectations and a committed partner in BITNILE.COM.

“This will certainly be a challenge for me as well. It’s a tough situation jumping in a car in the middle of the season without any testing in what I believe to be the most competitive series in the world. Certainly, part of my motivation in saying ‘yes’ to Ed is the great challenge ahead. The last time I turned right driving an NTT IndyCar Series car was in October of 2021 with this team at Barber. However, I remain very confident in both my driving and technical abilities and believe by working with the talented people at ECR and Team Chevy, while representing BITNILE.COM, we will make progress. I am going to do everything I can do to help the team achieve its long-term objectives.”

Said Milton “Todd” Ault, the chairman of sponsor BitNile.com: “It is great for BitNile.com to be aligned with an Indy 500 Winner and an NTT IndyCar Series champion. I have followed Ryan’s career for years and I am confident he will challenge the entire ECR team to perform at higher levels. I wish everyone luck at Road America.”