Porsche tightened its grip on both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ crowns in the FIA World Endurance Championship by taking a dominant one-two finish in Sunday’s 6 Hours of Mexico at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Headed up by the championship-leading No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid crew of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber, Porsche finished over a lap clear of Toyota, who failed to put up any firm challenge in Mexico.
The result saw Porsche extend its lead in both championships as it looks to sign off from its time in the WEC’s LMP1 class in style, having announced its closure five weeks ago.
While the battle for overall honors in Mexico offered little in the way of a race, LMP2 came up trumps as the No. 31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca 07 Gibson held on for victory, seeing off a late charge from the CEFC Manor TRS Racing squad.
Impressive stints from Jean-Eric Vergne and Ben Hanley in the No. 24 Oreca gave Manor a shot at its first WEC win, only for a late spin for Hanley to stunt the team’s charge and drop it to third in class behind the No. 36 Signatech Alpine entry.
GTE-Pro saw AF Corse and Aston Martin Racing battle hard for victory throughout the six hours, with the No. 71 Ferrari 488 GTE taking the checkered flag first by just 0.9 seconds.
However, Davide Rigon and Sam Bird were denied a second win of the season after receiving a penalty for speeding under a full course yellow, resigning them to P2 behind the No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE shared by Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen.
Dempsey-Proton Racing picked up its second win of the season in GTE-Am courtesy of Christian Ried, Marvin Dienst and Matteo Cairoli in the No. 77 Porsche 911 RSR, finishing a lap clear of the No. 98 Aston Martin.
The WEC returns in two weeks’ time with its sole visit to the United States at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.