Victory for vice world champion Buemi, LMP2 title to Rebellion
WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP After his fifth victory of the season at the Bahrain 6 Hours, Sébastien Buemi is the runner-up in the 2017 World Endurance Championship. In the LMP2 class, the title goes to the Swiss-flagged Rebellion team. Sweet happy ending with a bitter aftertaste for Sébastien Buemi. Together with Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima, the 29-year-old from the canton of Vaud celebrated the [...]
Sweet happy ending with a bitter aftertaste for Sébastien Buemi. Together with Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima, the 29-year-old driver from the canton of Vaud celebrated his fifth win of the season with Toyota in the Bahrain 6 Hours on Saturday evening. No team won more races in 2017.
The decisive factor, however, was the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Porsche won with the trio Earl Bamber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley and, thanks to the double points score, laid the foundation for winning the world championship title among teams and drivers. This decision was already made at the penultimate race in China. Buemi and Nakajima (Davidson was absent from one race) are, however, set as runners-up in the world championship.
Neel Jani started from pole position in his Porsche 919 Hybrid after a fantastic record lap in qualifying and led the final race for 17 laps. Buemi then moved ahead of his compatriot and drove to an unchallenged victory.
A slight collision by Jani's team partner Nick Tandy while lapping required an additional pit stop, resulting in only third place behind his WRC-winning teammates. This means that Neel Jani actually remains winless in the 2017 season. In two races, Jani, Tandy and Lotterer had to give way to their teammates due to the stable order.
The last time the dethroned world champion stood at the top of the podium was at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 2016. Bahrain was the last race for Porsche, as the Germans are now preparing to enter Formula E. It remains to be seen whether Toyota will remain the only LMP1 manufacturer or also leave the scene.
Team Rebellion also flew the Swiss flag at the final round. The team from England, financed by Lausanne industrialist Alexandre Pesci, took its fifth victory of the season in the LMP2 class with the faster of the two Oreca-Gibson cars.
Bruno Senna (BR) and Julien Canal (F), who were successful for the fourth time, took the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 drivers. The third driver Nicolas Prost (F) had to skip the race at the Nürburgring because of Formula E. Together with team Mathias Beche (Geneva), Nelson Piquet jr. (BR) and David Heinemeier Hansson (DK), who finished third in Bahrain, they also secured overall victory for Rebellion in the LMP2 team classification.
