It was under a beautiful sun and a great turn-out of 54,000 spectators (an increase from 2014) that took place the second round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

Porsche and Audi literally crushed the lead of the race. At the start, the three Porsche 919 Hybrids remained in the lead, while Audi sounded the charge: the two R18 e-tron quattros came up to fourth and fifth positions. But Porsche's start was not a walk in the park. After an accident for the No. 19 then a penalty for the No. 17, the No. 18 was left to face Audi. Between the Porsche and the No. 7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Fässler-Lotterer-Tréluyer began a thrilling battle that raged during the second half of the race. Under the checkered flag, the first two finished in the same order as at Silverstone, with the No. 7 Audi victorious ahead of the No. 18 Porsche. The other 919 Hybrid of Bernhard-Hartley-Webber finished third ahead of the No. 9 Audi (Albuquerque-Bonanomi-Rast). After a great fight with the Audis, the first Toyota finished fifth thanks to Alexander Wurz-Stéphane Sarrazin-Mike Conway, set back in the battle for victory.

In LM P2, Team SARD Morand's No. 43 Morgan celebrated its entry in the World Championship by leading the first lap, before G-Drive Racing's No. 26 Ligier JS P2, with pole position in the class, turned things around following a penalty incurred by Jota Sport's No. 38 Gibson for an early start. It took it an hour and a half to regain the lead after Mitch Evans passed Julien Canal. But the winner at the 6 Hours of Silverstone was forced to retire, the sister car of Yacaman-Derani-Gonzalez (No. 27) reaching the second step on the podium, behind Jota Sport, class title-holder at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and ahead of Team SARD Morand. Noteworthy was the superb showing by Chinese team KCMG's Oreca 05-Nissan: starting from the pit after the cancellation of its qualifying time, it made it to the finish in fourth place in the class, and the Alpine A450B rounded out the top 5 in LM P2. 

It has long been thought the LM GTE Pro and LM GTE Am classes are promised to Aston Martin, who has dominated for some time. But though the No. 98 Vantage of Mathias Lauda-Pedro Lamy-Paul dalla Lana won its second consecutive victory after the 6 Hours of Silverstone ahead of the No. 83 and No. 72 Ferrari 458 Italias, the other Vantage of Alex McDowall-Fernando Rees-Richie Stanaway (No. 99) found itself grappling during the last hour with the 458 Italia of World Champions Gianmaria Bruni-Toni Vilander, until it dealt with a mandatory minute-long stop in the last 15 minutes of the race following an infraction during its final refueling. The No. 52 lost two places in the misadventure and finished fourth behind the two factory Porsche 911 RSRs of Richard Lietz-Frédéric Makowiecki (2nd) and Kevin Estre-Sven Müller (3rd).

And so ends the big "dress rehearsal" before the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans. The players once again put on an exciting race - especially in the second half - which suggests great moments at Le Mans for the 83rd edition to come...and who knows, a totally different outcome?

Race results

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo: Vision Sport Agency