WEC: Neel Jani has to give away victory
LONG TRACK WRC At the 6-hour race at the Nürburgring, Neel Jani would have deserved victory with Porsche. But after the retirement at Le Mans, he already had to put himself at the service of his teammates for the first time. Sébastien Buemi was also unable to shake off his bad luck with Toyota. The fourth round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) in front of a total of 52000 [...]
The fourth round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) in front of a total of 52,000 spectators at the Nürburgring was exciting on the outside. With a new aerodynamic package that generates more downforce than was needed at Le Mans, Porsche caught up with the faster Toyota at the start of the season in terms of performance.
On the German GP circuit, the only two LMP1 manufacturers had a nice fight in the first half of the race with several lead changes. Only when the collected rubber abrasion influenced the vehicle balance of the Toyota TS050 Hybrid more than it did with the Porsche 919 Hybrid, the die was cast in favor of the defending champions. Toyota had to settle for third place with Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and José María López trailing by 1:04 minutes after 1048 race kilometers.
However, the decision to win the German WRC round was made by Porsche's own team long before that. A month ago, the car driven by Neel Jani, André Lotterer and Nick Tandy fell victim to a major engine failure at Le Mans with four hours to go and 13 laps to go.
"As a result, we not only lost a sure victory, but also the chance to win the world championship title," says the 33-year-old from Biel, lamenting this fate, which will haunt him for months to come.
Because Porsche teammates Earl Bamber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley inherited the triumph at Le Mans and shot to the top of the standings thanks to the 50 World Championship points, Jani now has to put himself and his team partners at their service.
After winning Le Mans in 2015 and 2016, Porsche is doing everything in its power to bring the manufacturers' and drivers' championship titles to Stuttgart. That's why the team management imposed an internal stable order after the first third of the season. And that's why the last refueling stop of André Lotterer in the Porsche #1 after 197 of 204 laps took 20 seconds longer than that of Timo Bernhard in the Porsche #2. This ensured the one-two in the right order and extended the lead in the drivers' championship.
"Of course we don't enjoy it because we'd rather win ourselves. But that's just part of our job," says the world champion grudgingly. "For that, Porsche also provides us with a car with which we can fight for victory at any time..."
Jani's only hope of getting another shot at one of the remaining five 6-hour races rests on an open battle with Toyota. If one of the two Toyota teams places itself between the two Porsches, the true team-internal strength will decide.
Early defect on Sébastien Buemi's Toyota
At the Nürburgring, Sébastien Buemi's car dropped out of the decision even earlier than at Le Mans. Due to a defective fuel pump on the opening lap, the driver from the canton of Vaud was only able to start the race after an eight-and-a-half-minute repair stop. Of course, Buemi, Davidson and Nakajima were unable to make up the resulting five-lap deficit under their own steam.
Although the trio quickly moved past all the GT and LMP2 cars into fourth place overall, this only resulted in 12 world championship points. As a result, the winners of the first two 6-hour races at Silverstone and Spa are now 30 points behind the winners of Le Mans and Nürburgring in the world championship.
With 130 championship points still up for grabs, nothing is lost yet for Sébastien Buemi, unlike Neel Jani who, with a gap of 62 points, really doesn't need to get his hopes up.
