No. 2 Porsche building a buffer in WEC battle

After winning last weekend's 6 Hours of Nurburgring, Brendon Hartley, Earl Bamber and Timo Bernhard have opened up a 30-point lead in the FIA World Endurance Drivers' Championship with five rounds remaining.

Headlining the team's 1-2 at its home race, and taking 50 points for its Le Mans win, they have 108 points, and a major advantage over the No. 8 Toyota crew of Anthony Davidson, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi, who have 78. The fourth-place finish after the car's fuel pump problem has proven costly to the trio, who will be in need of a positive result next time out in Mexico City.

Behind, the trio of Andre Lotterer, Neel Jani and Nick Tandy in the No. 1 Porsche are still behind the No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing drivers, despite finishing second at the Nurburgring. The Jackie Chan DC crew of Ho Pin Tung, Oliver Jarvis and Thomas Laurent have accumulated 60 points, while Lotterer, Tandy and Jani have 46.

The two sister factory hybrids from Porsche and Toyota are even further back after the ebbs and flows of the first four rounds of the season. The No. 1 Porsche crew have 46, and the No. 7 Toyota trio has just 36.5. The two cars are all but out of the title race.

In the manufacturers title race, last weekend's results went Porsches way also. By scoring 43 points from a 1-2 finish (Toyota scored 27), Porsche now leads by 39.5 points.

The LMP2 leaders are running away from the competition too. With three wins out of four races this year, Jarvis, Tung and Laurent are now in the driving seat in the LMP2 title race. They have a 46-point advantage, making them almost two wins clear of the nearest competitor.

The only real challenger hanging in there is the Vaillante Rebellion No. 31 full-season duo of Bruno Senna and Julien Canal in second. The pair – with stand-in Filipe Albuquerque – took their third second place finish last weekend, the others being at Silverstone and Spa.

In the Endurance Trophy For LMP2 Teams, it's the same situation, the No. 38 has the lead with 116 points, over the No. 31 that has 70.

The GTE ranks though, are far closer, and look set to provide some fascinating storylines for the remainder of the season.

At the Nürburgring, the gaps have closed in GTE Pro, thanks to the No. 97 Aston Martin and title leading No. 67 Ford finishing off the podium. There's now with just 20 points separating the top five teams in the FIA Endurance Trophy For LMGTE Pro Teams.

The No. 67 Ford UK is still atop the points tally, but just 11 points ahead of the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari after its first win of the season, and the No. 91 Porsche. The two are level on points, though the No. 51 is ahead due to its having a win to its name.

This has left the No. 97 Aston Martin fourth with 69 points. Fifth spot is now filled by the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari that finished last in the class at the Nürburgring with gear shifter problems and has 64.

The Drivers' title race has taken a slightly different course, as it's been affected by the inclusion of GTE Am drivers (eligible for the championship) scoring highly at Le Mans.

Ford's Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell are on top with 84 points, with Pipo Derani alone in second (though he will slip down the order as the season wears on now his Ford deal is over).

Their nearest true title rivals are therefore the No. 91 Porsche pair of Fred Makowiecki and Richard Lietz that are a point off Derani and 11 points off the leaders.

Fourth – but actually third because of Derani – are Darren Turner, Jonathan Adam and Daniel Serra from the Aston Martin camp. After being just 11 points back following their Le Mans win, they're now 15 points back after finishing behind Tincknell and Priaulx at the 'Ring.

The GT FIA World Endurance Manufacturers Championship is also wide open. The strong run from AF Corse's Ferraris in the Eifel Forest has helped them move to joint-first with Ford on 135 points. Aston Martin have 113 in third, with Porsche on 106 in fourth.

GTE AM is set up to be just as exciting. With its first win of the season on home turf, Dempsey Proton Racing has emerged as a title challenger for the fly-away rounds.

In the Team's race, Clearwater Racing, after its 25 points from Silverstone and 50 at Le Mans, is still on top with 102. But the Dempsey team is just eight points behind, thanks to the leaders finishing fourth last weekend.

There is a third protagonist, the No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage, which would be second had it not slipped to third in the 6 Hours of Nürburgring behind the Spirit of Race Ferrari during the final hour.

Meanwhile, in the Endurance Trophy For GT AM Drivers, it's all changed since Le Mans. Christian Ried, Marvin Dienst and Matteo Cairoli are now level for first on 88 points with Clearwater's trio of Keita Sawa, Matt Griffin and Weng Sun Mok after their win. The Clearwater drivers don't have as many points as the team, as the drivers which dropped points at Le Mans by finishing behind guest-entered GTE AM drivers.

Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Pedro Lamy are third, but only by two points.