Motorsport: Bitter end for Marcel Fässler

Everything played into Marcel Fässler's cards: a strong performance in the practice sessions, the best time in qualifying together with André Lotterer and, in addition, a flawless performance in the first half of the race. "We were fast enough to win today," explained the man from Schwyz, crestfallen. A collision caused by a GT driver with the Audi R18 driven by Benoit Tréluyer at that point prevented the first success of the season for the Audi trio that ultimately finished sixth.

The best Swiss was Neel Jani, who finished a rather unremarkable race in fourth place. A broken aero part had slowed down his Porsche 919 Hybrid early on. As Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard in the other Porsche celebrated their third consecutive victory, relegating the second Audi to second place, Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb did not lose many points in the WRC. They now lead this by 37.5 points to Fässler's Audi teammate, with 78 points still up for grabs in the final three rounds.

Long dry spell for Sébastien Buemi
One lap behind Jani's car, Sébastien Buemi finished in fifth position. His Toyota TS050 Hybrid suffered from a defective turbo blow-off valve. While the second Toyota finished in third place, Buemi is still waiting for a podium finish so far. Rebellion Racing won the classification of the LMP1 privateer teams with the car of Alexandre Imperatori and Mathéo Tuscher as well as Dominik Kraihamer (A) in 7th place.

In the GT class, Joël Camathias once again attracted attention. With second place in his class, the Porsche driver from Ticino once again made it onto the podium. The 35-year-old had already climbed the podium at the Nürburgring and in Mexico.

www.fiawec.com
Photos: FIA WEC