Porsche could have scored a one-two if Marc Lieb - one of the three winners at the 84th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Romain Dumas and Neel Jani - in the #88 Porsche 911 hadn't made contact with the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid during an overtaking, encuring a drive-through and causing the mecanics to have to change the damaged front hood. The Race Direction neutralized the race in order to remove debris left by the accident, one of five neutralizations at the 6 Hours of Nürburgring.

The woes of the winning driver line-up at Le Mans, which finished in fourth, paved the way for the #1 sister car driven by world endurance champions Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber toward victory with a comfortable buffer of 53 seconds on the two Audi R18s that started from the first row. The Audis finished neck-and-neck after stunning duels with the Porsches. The #8 Audi driven by Lucas di Grassi, Loïc Duval (winner at Le Mans in 2013), and Oliver Jarvis (third at the 24 Hours) held on to a lead of less than a second on the #7 R18 of Marcel Fässler, who clocked the fastest in-race lap, and André Lotterer (three-time winners at the 24 Hours of Le Mans) in the absence of Benoît Tréluyer, injured during a bicycle outing

The two Toyotas failed to join the fight: the #6 TS050 Hybrid had to stop for more than five minutes, an engine part having detached itself, and a portion of the body from the #5 sister car rubbing the wheel causing a cloud of smoke. It was also in a big puff of smoke that the race ended for Team ByKOLLES' #4 CLM P1/01, allowing the #13 and #12 Rebellion R-One, whose nose had to be changed, to earn the maximum points in the race for the FIA Endurance Private LM P1 Teams Trophy.

Signatech Alpine also left the race with the maximum points wining in LM P2 after the same was achieved at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. As always, the top speed of Nicolas Lapierre, former official Toyota driver, impressed and his teammates Gustavo Menezes and Stéphane Richelmi did a flawless race. Early on, the French car rid itself of G-Drive Racing's #26 Oreca affected by gearbox problems, but remained under threat by RGR by Morand Racing's #43 Ligier JS P2-Nissan; Filipe Albuquerque, Ricardo Gonzalez and Bruno Senna having crossed the finish line 16 seconds behind the Alpine. The #31 Ligier JS P2 of Extreme Speed Motorsports, passing from Dunlop to Michelin prior to the German race, rounded out the podium thanks to "Pipo" Derani, winner at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring at the beginning of the year, Ryan Dalziel, winner at Le Mans in 2012, and Chris Cumming.

Another winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2012) won in the LM GTE Pro class: Gianmaria Bruni crossed the finish line in first place in AF Corse's #51 Ferrari 488 GTE. It was the third victory of the Italian manufacturer's weapon in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) since the beginning of the season, but the first for Gianmaria Bruni/Toni Vilander. The Italian and Finnish duo came in ahead of the #71 sister car driven by James Calado and Sam Bird after a great fight with the #95 Aston Martin Vantage driven by the Danish pair Nicki Thiim/Marco Sørensen. Ford, winner at Le Mans, finished fourth with the #66 Ford GT, whereas the second car had a fire which ended without injury for Andy Priaulx in pit lane.

It was not a fire, but an incursion into the gravel trap and a penalty that ended the hopes of victory for AF Corse's #83 Ferrari 458 Italia in LM GTE Am. The transalpine team and the trio François Perrodo-Rui Aguas-Emmanuel Collard still managed to reach the third step on the podium behind the official #98 Aston Martin Vantage of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda, and the #78 Porsche 911 of KCMG, winning team in LM P2 at last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, with at the wheel Christian Ried, official Porsche driver Wolf Henzle and Joel Camathias. The latter was disqualified after the race for a non-compliant body height, which allowed Larbre Compétition's #50 Corvette C7.R (Yutaka Yamagashi, Pierre Ragues, Paolo Ruberti) to claim a podium finish and AF Corse's Ferrari to climb one step higher.

Now the competitors in the WEC will now cross the Atlantic for the first edition of the 6 Hours of Mexico which will take place September 3rd.

Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

> Special content and exclusive videos: get more with myACO! Join here!
> More info about the online community myACO free to endurance racing fans here!