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Porsche Motorsport and Timing Partner Chopard; Closer to World Endurance Championship 2016
Fuji International Speedway - Japan – 16th October 2016
Fuji Speedway
After three consecutive victories at Nürburgring, in Mexico and the USA, the Porsche Motorsport LMP1 teams came to Japan hoping to extend their lead in the WEC at the Six Hours of Fuji 2016.
The #1 Porsche hybrid race car finished third. Led by Romain Dumas, the #2 Porsche sister-car achieved fifth place.
Chopard, official timing partner to Porsche Motorsport, presented its new 100-piece limited edition Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Black Edition chronograph for the first time in Japan.
Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber finished 3rd at 6Hours of Fuji 2016
Having not won a WEC race since 2014, Toyota secured a victory as triumphant home team in the 6 Hours of Fuji 2016, after a final hour strategic gamble by not changing tyres at the final pit stop. That turned a seven-second deficit to Audi into a 13-second advantage that was nursed on worn tyres through the final 45 minutes of the race.
Toyota won by 1.439 seconds from Audi and the Porsche #1 car (Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber) was 15.9 seconds further back.
This year’s Le Mans winners and current championship leaders (Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb) started from sixth position in Porsche #2 car. After car balance problems, they came in fifth.
Tight Race at 6 Hours of Fuji
After those results in Fuji, Porsche extended its lead in the manufacturers’ standings.
Porsche increased its lead over Audi (263 points for Porsche and 204 points for Audi). Toyota follows with 174 points. This race marks the beginning of the "finishing push" as there are only two more six-hour races before the end of the championship.
Porsche #2 car (Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb) continues to lead in the drivers’ world championship by 23 points.
Chopard’s ambassador Mark Webber said: “The start and first lap of the race was pretty clean racing for everyone. Then we settled into the groove. The Audi and Toyota were faster than us in the beginning but we stayed in the game and improved when the track temperatures came down a bit.”
Driver Change in Pit Stop
Brendon Hartley commented: “I was the third driver in the car and had a pretty smooth stint. When I got back into the car I had a nice fight with the Toyota. In the end, he was in front and didn’t change tyres at the last pit stop. We did change tyres and were obviously hoping to benefit from competitors' tyre degradation, but that didn’t happen and we remained third. After three race wins in a row, we would have preferred another one, but regardless it was a very strong race today.”
Chopard Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Black Edition
Chopard Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Black Edition
It was the turn of Japanese fans to see the Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Black Edition watch that was launched at the 2016 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The grooves on the case evoke the cooling fins of race-car engines and the straight lines on the dial are inspired by the Porsche 919 Hybrid car's rear diffuser.
The red 919 logo appearing on the hours counter is identical to the numbers of the Porsche Hybrid competition cars.
Design Inspiration
Until the next race in Shanghai on 6th November 2016..........
What CHOPARD watch will you be wearing this weekend?
Regards,
MTF
