Motorsport: Neel Jani wins instead of Marcel Fässler
Although Marcel Fässler's winning Audi was subsequently disqualified, there was a Swiss victory at the World Endurance Championship opener in England thanks to the Porsche team with Neel Jani. Swiss drivers were successful in two other categories. After securing pole position in cold and wet conditions, the Audi R18 with Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer (D) and [...]
After securing pole position in cold and wet conditions, the Audi R18 driven by Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer (D) and Benoît Tréluyer (F) finished first in the 6 Hours of Silverstone in sunshine as well. This seemed to end Porsche's streak of six consecutive victories that began at Le Mans in June 2015. Marcel Fässler: "Even though we were in front in qualifying, we weren't expecting this success. Because we didn't know whether we'd be competitive enough in the dry as well."
But while the Audi team was celebrating the triumph, the commissioners found a breach of the rules and took the winners out of the classification. Article 3.5.6. a3 of the Technical Regulations states that the reference plate attached to the underbody for determining the minimum vehicle height must be at least 20 millimeters thick at all times. Apparently, it was abraded too much by the constant impact of the vehicle.
Neel Janis first world championship lead
Because the Audi team appealed after a long deliberation, the FIA court now has to decide the outcome of the World Championship opener. Until then, Porsche can consider itself the winner. After losing one car in a spectacular accident while lapping, the second Porsche 919 Hybrid with Neel Jani at the wheel put the leading Audi with Marcel Fässler under pressure in the final third of the race. An additional pit stop to change a flat tire set him back 46 seconds to the finish. If Audi's exclusion remains, the driver from Biel, together with Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas, would be leading a World Championship for the first time in his career. The Toyota with Sébastien Buemi fell far behind due to body damage after a tire blowout, the other TS050 Hybrid is provisionally classified second.
Victories for the Rebellion and Morand teams
As the second factory Audi also retired, the two Rebellion-AER V6s that won the FIA Trophy for LMP1 privateer teams move up to third and fourth place. This would be the first overall podium for the Swiss-flagged British team. At the wheel were the French Swiss Mathéo Tuscher and Alexandre Imperatori as well as Dominik Kraihamer. With the team sold to its Mexican driver Ricardo Gonzalez, Benoît Morand from Fribourg was also able to celebrate victory in the LMP2 classification as the operations manager.
www.fiawec.com
Photos: Audi, Adrenal Media
