WEC: Team orders shape Porsche Fuji 1-2

Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard claimed a third World Endurance Championship victory in a row after Porsche invoked team orders in the final minutes of the Fuji 6 Hours.

Race leader Neel Jani, who was partnered by Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb, slowed in the #18 919 Hybrid to give up a 30-second lead and allow the Porsche lineup with the best chance of taking the drivers' title to take the win.

Bernhard crossed the line 14 seconds to the fore to take a win that means he and his team-mates move into a one-point championship lead over Audi trio Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer.

The Audi drivers also benefited from team orders at the end of a race held in mixed conditions to claim third position ahead of their team-mates in the sister car. Loic Duval was brought into the pits four minutes to go for an unscheduled pit stop, which dropped the #8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro to fourth in the final classification.

"It was #18's day today and they deserved the win, but it was decided to flip the position around at the end," Webber said. "So we owe them one in the future."

The #18 Porsche held an advantage over the winning car from the moment Webber went off at Turn 3 on the first green flag lap. The former Formula 1 driver also suffered hybrid issues in his opening stint, but made up ground in the second hour before Lieb found himself with a lead of 50s after he jumped in the car during a full-course yellow period.

Porsche maintained its hold on the top step of the WEC podium despite a strong challenge from Audi in the wettest phase of a race that started behind the safety car.

Marcel Fassler quickly moved the #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro past the two Porsches that had blocked out the front row when the race went green after 16 laps. The Swiss was then able to hang onto the lead for much of his second stint before Dumas moved past early in the third hour.

Lotterer was able to briefly get the Audi back up to second ahead of Hartley on intermediate tyres before a gamble on an early switch to slicks failed to pay off.

Toyota picked up fifth and sixth positions, Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson coming home ahead of the sister car of Alex Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway.

G-DRIVE WINS LMP2 AFTER KCMG CLASH

G-Drive Racing came out on top in LMP2 for the second race running, in controversial circumstances. Sam Bird, Julien Canal and Roman Rusinov claimed victory after a clash with the rival KCMG ORECA-Nissan 05 in the final hour.

Rusinov was fighting back at KCMG driver Richard Bradley after losing the class lead when he made contact with the back of the ORECA as he attempted to pass.

Bradley, who shared the KCMG entry with Nick Tandy and Matt Howson, was forced to pit and then tangled with the second G-Drive Ligier of Gustavo Yacaman as he tried to take third place and crashed out of the race.

Second place in class went to the Signatech Alpine ORECA-Nissan 03R driven by Paul-Loup Chatin, Nelson Panciatici and Vincent Capillaire.

Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni triumphed in the GTE Pro class for the AF Corse Ferrari squad after running one set of wet tires for three and a half hours.

The best of the Manthey Porsches of Patrick Pilet and Frederic Makowiecki overhauled the second AF car of James Calado and Davide Rigon to claim the runner-up spot in class right at the end.

DEMPSEY'S FIRST VICTORY

Racing actor Patrick Dempsey (ABOVE) took his first WEC class victory in GTE Am with the Proton Porsche team.

The 911 RSR he shared with Patrick Long and Marco Seefried claimed honors by 17s from the Aston Martin Vantage GTE driven by Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda.

RESULTS:

Originally on Autosport.com