2016 6 Hours of Nürburgring

Entrants

For the 6 Hours of Nürburgring, 33 cars were officially entered, with the bulk of the entries in Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2). The 2015 race winners, Porsche, returned to defend their title. Three manufacturers were represented in LMP1, including a duo of cars entered by Porsche, Toyota and Audi Sport Team Joest. Rebellion Racing and ByKolles Racing were the two representatives of the LMP1 privateer teams. Audi driver Benoît Tréluyer was forced to miss the race because he sustained a spinal column injury after falling off his mountain bike during his training programme. Audi chose not to employ a replacement which meant the team's No. 7 car would be driven by his teammates Marcel Fässler and André Lotterer as a two-person entry. It was the first World Endurance Championship event that Tréluyer had missed since he joined the series in 2012. Mathias Beche returned to the sport for the first time in the 2016 season, replacing Nelson Piquet Jr. who participated in the year's first three races in Rebellion Racing's No. 12 car.

LMP2 consisted of 11 cars with 33 drivers in six different types of chassis. Following the departure of Nathanaël Berthon before the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Alex Brundle was signed by G-Drive to drive in the team's No. 26 Oreca 05 entry alongside regular drivers Roman Rusinov and René Rast for the remainder of the season. Renault Sport Trophy competitor Lewis Williamson made his début entry in the World Endurance Championship with Strakka Racing in its No. 42 Gibson 015S vehicle alongside Nick Leventis and Jonny Kane, replacing Danny Watts who remained part of the team for the rest of the year. Will Stevens was replaced by Antônio Pizzonia in Manor's Oreca 05 No. 44 entry who partnered regular co-driver Tor Graves. James Jakes was replaced by Manor with Matthew Howson who was selected because of his experience in driving the team's car.

The Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro) field comprised of four manufacturers (Aston Martin, Ford, Ferrari and Porsche), while the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) entrants consisted of six teams: Aston Martin Racing, AF Corse, KCMG, Larbre Compétition, Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing and Gulf Racing. Aston Martin Racing made changes to the driver line-ups in their No. 95 and No. 97 entries. Darren Turner was moved to the No. 97 car alongside Richie Stanaway, while Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen remained in the team's No. 95 entry as a two-person crew. The driver change was necessitated to give the team an increased chance of winning the World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers. Jonathan Adam and Fernando Rees remained under contract with Aston Martin but were not slated to take part in any other races in the year; the former concentrated on sharing a TF Sport car with Derek Johnson the British GT Championship. Paolo Ruberti returned to compete in the No. 50 Larbre Compétition car after missing the 24 Hours of Le Mans due to injury.

Background

The 6 Hours of Nürburgring was confirmed as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship's 2016 schedule in December 2015 in a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris. It was the fourth of nine scheduled endurance sports car rounds of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship, the second running of the event as part of the championship, and the race was held on 24 July at the Nürburgring GP-Strecke circuit with two preceding days of practice and qualifying. The Nürburgring GP-Strecke track layout, last modified in 2002, is 5.148 kilometres (3.199 mi) long and is composed of sixteen corners. This year's running of the event saw the first usage of the tighter Veedol Chicane in the World Endurance Championship as was previously used in Formula One races.

Before the race Porsche drivers Marc Lieb, Neel Jani and Romain Dumas led the Drivers' Championship with 93 points, 38 ahead of their nearest rivals Loïc Duval, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis who were a further one in front of third-placed Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Stéphane Sarrazin. Lotterer, Fassler and Treulyer were fourth with 34 points and Dominik Kraihamer, Alexandre Imperatori and Mathéo Tuscher rounded out the top five on 15 points. Porsche were leading the Manufacturers' Championship with 127 points, 38 ahead of their nearest rival Audi in second while the third-placed manufacturer Toyota had accumulated 79 points. Porsche had so far dominated the championship, with Audi securing victory in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Kobayashi, Conway and Sarrazin had twice finished in second, while Kraihmer, Imperatori and Tuscher had twice secured third-place finishes.

Several teams made modifications to their cars in preparation for the event. Porsche introduced its third (and final) aerodynamic configuration that produced a large amount of downforce and less drag. It was tested and evaluated in a four-day test session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Most of the car's modifications were covered by its bodywork, giving the vehicle a new front-end appearance. Because of the track's short and tight layout, Toyota elected to début an ultra-high downforce specification along with updates to the car's front and rear bodywork which was developed at the team's wind tunnels at their motor sport headquarters in Cologne. In the Balance of Performance adjustments, the Porsche 911 RSR's weight was decreased by 15 kilograms (33 lb) but its engine power was reduced because the vehicle's air restrictor was reduced in size by two millimetres (0.079 in), while the Aston Martin Vantage GTE was equipped with the larger diameter restrictor it ran with at Spa-Francorchamps.

Practice

Three practice sessions—two on Friday and a third on Saturday—were held before the Sunday race. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions lasted 90 minutes; the third, one-hour session was held on Saturday morning. Lap times were not comparable to the previous year's because of the usage of the slower Veedol Chicane. The No. 2 Porsche driven by Lieb led the 90-minute period with 18 minutes and remaining with a fastest lap time of one minute and 41.703 seconds, nearly half of one-tenth of a second faster than teammate Brendon Hartley in the first Porsche. The LMP2 category was led by Brundle in the No. 26 Manor vehicle with a lap of one minute and 50.748 seconds which was recorded late in the session. James Calado in the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari was quickest in LMGTE Pro while Pedro Lamy helped Aston Martin Racing to be fastest in the LMGTE Am category. The session was disrupted when Nicolas Lapierre's No. 36 Singatech Alpine had a rear-left suspension failure and went off into the exit of the turn one gravel trap which prompted the deployment of the full course yellow before a red flag was later shown although race control system continued to show the latter as in operation.

In the second practice session, which took place in mild weather conditions and was later affected by rain on portions of the track, Mark Webber in the No. 1 Porsche set the fastest lap time of the day at one minute and 40.997 seconds twenty minutes into practice. He finished 0.014 seconds faster than the second-placed Fässler, who in turn, was 0.125 seconds quicker than his team-mate Loïc Duval in third. Dumas' car suffered a front-left brake disc failure, causing him to drive into the turn one barriers and damaged the front-end of his car, rendering him unable to take any further part in the 90-minute period and triggering a full course yellow. Stéphane Richelmi's No. 36 Singatech Alpine entry led the LMP2 category early on in the session but Rast ended it as the fastest driver in the class with a time of one minute and 48.965 seconds, more than a second faster than Brundle's Strakka car. The LMGTE Pro class was led by Stanaway in the No. 97 Aston Martin while Rui Águas in the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari be the fastest in the LMGTE Am field. Lamy and David Cheng were summoned by the stewards to race control after the two made contact.

The third (and final) practice session was delayed three times for 45 minutes from its original start time because foggy weather conditions prevented the medical helicopter from flying and was initially held on a damp track, although some light rain fell towards the session's conclusion. Cars were equipped with intermediate tyres to start the session before switching to dry slick tyres when the track became drier. Webber set the fastest timed lap at one minute and 41.002 seconds with twenty minutes of the 60-minute period remaining, and was nearly three-tenths of a second faster than Anthony Davidson in Toyota's No. 5 entry. Duval spun the No. 8 Audi at the second turn late in the session. Rast was the fastest LMP2 driver with a lap of one minute and 50.260 seconds in the session's final minute, nearly seven-tenths of a second quicker than Graves in Manor's No. 44 car. Gianmaria Bruni recorded the quickest time in the LMGTE Pro category, driving the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari, while David Heinemeier Hansson in the No. 88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing vehicle was the fastest driver in the LMGTE Am class, despite spinning his car in the session's closing minutes.

Qualifying

Friday's afternoon qualification session was divided into two groups that lasted 25 minutes each. Cars in the LMGTE Pro and AM categories were sent out first and, after a five-minute interval, LMP1 and LMP2 vehicles drove onto the track. All vehicles were required to be driven by two participants for one timed lap each and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest average times. The fastest qualifier was awarded one point which went towards the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championships. Light rain fell before qualifying started causing teams to use intermediate tyres on their cars until a dry line emerged on the track and vehicles were equipped with dry-compound tyres. Rain later returned to the track which prevented anyone from improving on their fastest lap times. The session was marked by a battle between Audi and Porsche.

Lotterer in the No. 8 Audi was fastest on the car's first timed lap and remained fastest with an average time of one minute and 39.444 seconds to clinch the team's second pole position of the season. The car was joined on the grid's front row by the second Audi of di Grassi, Jarvis and Duval. Jarvis had his fastest time revoked after spinning at the NGK chicane late in qualifying because he had violated track limits. Porsche's No. 1 entry took third with Webber and Timo Bernhard behind the wheel; the former was unable to improve on his lap time and misjudged his braking points and went across the NGK chicane, while Bernard was held up by LMP2 vehicles on both his laps. They were ahead of the team's second entry, driven by Lieb and Jani, and both Toyota cars took fifth and sixth. Lieb had no electrical boost on his first lap, while on his second one, he braked early for the chicane. Davidson attributed the first car's position to having one timed lap and being caught up in traffic, while Sébastien Buemi stated it was due to Toyota placing their focus on the race which compromised their qualifying performance. Sarrazin was unable to push hard because of the damp track. The two Rebellion cars rounded out the LMP1 qualifiers in seventh and ninth; they were separated by the No. 4 ByKolles Racing car of Simon Trummer, Oliver Webb and Pierre Kaffer.

In LMP2 the No. 26 G-Drive Oreca of Rast and Rusinov took the fastest time at one minute and 48,985 seconds, securing the team's fourth consecutive class first position start of the season. The car was 0.743 seconds in front of the second-placed qualifier, the No. 36 Singatech Alpine entry, driven by Gustavo Menezes and Richelmi. Williamson, in his first World Endurance Championship qualifying session, recorded a time of one minute and 49.924 with Kane setting a one minute and 49.600 seconds for an average lap total of one minute and 49.762 seconds. Thiim and Sørensen, competing in the No. 97 Aston Martin, were the fastest LMGTE Pro qualifiers with a late two-lap average of two minutes and 1.712 seconds which was recorded when the track was at its driest. The No. 66 Ford GT of Stefan Mücke and Olivier Pla were 0.247 seconds off the place had the class pole until the No. 97 Aston Martin's laps. Stanaway and Turner in the second Aston Martin qualified third in class, ahead of fourth-placed Bruni and Calado in the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari. Bruni had slick dry tyres fitted to the car and went off the track at the Mercedes Arena exit which caused his pit crew to install intermediate tyres. Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing's No. 88 entry driven by Patrick Long and Khaled Al Qubaisi took the LMGTE Am category pole position with an average time of two minutes and 6.011 seconds in the first qualifying session's closing minutes. The two were nearly two-tenths of a second ahead of Wolf Henzler's No. 88 KCMG Porsche with Paul Lalla Dana in the No. 97 Aston Martin third.

Post-qualifying

Trummer and Ed Brown failed to complete the minimum qualifying times in qualifying but were allowed to take part in the race although they were prohibited from being the starting driver for their respective entries, the No. 4 ByKolles car and the No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier JS P2 Nissan.

Qualifying results

Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.

Race

Weather conditions at the start of the race were sunny and dry with an air temperature between 20–24 °C (68–75 °F) and a track temperature ranging from 24.5–32 °C (76.1–89.6 °F); weather forecasts predicted conditions would remain consistent with a 20% chance of rain. 58,000 people attended the race. The race started at 13:00 Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00). The No. 7 Audi maintained its pole position advantage heading into the first turn, with Bernard in Porsche's first entry overtaking Audi's No. 8 vehicle around the outside for second place overall in the second corner. Mücke in the No. 66 Ford GT moved into the LMGTE Pro category lead in the first turn and Aston Martin's No. 95 entry fell from first to third with the team's No. 97 car moving into second in the class while Abu Dhabi-Proton's No. 88 Porsche maintained the LMGTE Am class lead. Mücke lost the category lead at the beginning of lap two when he made a mistake, allowing both Aston Martin cars into the first and second positions. The stewards investigated the start but elected to take no further action.

Fassler extended his lead over Jarvis to 1.5 seconds while both Toyota entries were lapping one second slower than the leader's place, while the No. 4 ByKolles car moved in front of Rebellion Racing's No. 13 entry. Bernard lost control of his car while lapping one of the Ford GT entrants which allowed Jarvis to close up to the Porsche driver. Bernard attempted to pass Fässler around the outside of turn one for the first position but the latter defended his line and narrowly avoided going wide off the track. It allowed Jarvis and Jani to again close the gap and made it a four-car battle for first place while lapping slower cars. Bruni battled Mücke for third in the LMGTE Pro class and had Harry Tincknell in the second Ford close behind him. Bernard caught Fässler, who was held up by one of the Aston Martin cars in the final turn, and temporarily claimed the lead in the first corner before running wide, and avoided hitting the KCMG car, allowing the No. 7 Audi to retake the position at the turn's exit. Jani attempted to move in front around the inside of Jarvis, but after driving back onto the racing line heading into the first turn, he locked his tyres, causing him to drive straight, and Mücke's front-end made contact with the Porsche's left-rear quarter, causing it to spin into the run-off area.

In the battle for first Fässler held off another challenge from Bernhard, while Jani rejoined in track in fourth place narrowly ahead of Nakajima in the No. 5 Toyota. The contest for second in the LMGTE Pro category continued with the top four cars running closely together without any action until Tincknell overtook Bruni around the inside for fourth position at the first corner. The stewarts elected not to take any action over the collision between Jani and Mücke at turn one, and Filipe Albuquerque overtook Nicolas Minassian for fifth position in the LMP2 class. The first round of lead car pit stops for car adjustments and driver changes commenced after 50 minutes when both Audi cars made pit stops. After the pit stops, Hartley took over the No. 1 Porsche and took over the lead because both Audi entries were delayed by slower cars. Fuel went onto the hot exhaust of the second-placed No. 66 Ford GT in the LMGTE Pro class which did not have its breather cap closed and it caused a flash fire which required driver Andy Priaulx, who had just taken over Tincknell's driving duties, to leave the car and course officials and the team's crew members to were needed extinguish the flames. The fire damaged the car's turbocharger, causing it to run at a reduced pace.

Lieb reported his car had a vibration while the first Porsche was warned about track limits. The No. 95 Aston Martin continued the lead the LMGTE Pro field but the team's second lap required a door change because it lost one of its wing mirrors, dropping it to sixth. Joël Camathias in KCMG's Porsche was now running at the front of the LMGTE Am category ahead of the second-placed No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari. Jarvis closed to 0.8 seconds to Hartley until the latter went half a second quicker but later reported his car was loose under braking when entering the track's corners. Hartley lost time while lapping cars and Jarvis overtook him for the event's overall lead at the NGK chicane. Hartley was caught by Lotterer who passed him for second at the first turn. Porsche identified a loss in tyre pressure in Hartley's car and chose to pit him, where he switched driving duties with Webber and Lieb made a pit stop from the lead, handing the first two overall positions to the Toyota cars. Buemi held it for the next laps until their stops and ceded it to Webber. Pierre Ragues became the LMGTE Am class leader after moving in front of François Perrodo and the KCMG Porsche. The first full course yellow was necessitated when Perrodo spun his car into the NGK chicane gravel trap. Marshals cleaned the track at the ninth and twelfth turns.

During the full course yellow, Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing's No. 88 car caught fire but the flames were extinguished and was able to rejoin the race. The race resumed nine minutes later with Webber remaining the leader at the restart. Christian Ried overtook Yutaka Yamagishi for the LMGTE Am category lead in the first corner before Mathias Lauda was able to claim the position on the following lap. Brundle drove slowly with a gearbox issue and made a pit stop from the lead of the LMP2 class before being pushed into the garage to become the race's first retirement. The overall leading drivers made pit stops after two hours and 30 minutes which saw the deployment of the second full course yellow when one of the Toyota's dive plain was located in the sixth corner. Racing resumed after four minutes with Jani leading the field, ahead of teammate Bernhard and di Grassi. Jani held a 10-second lead over Bernhard as the race entered its halfway mark and the chance of rain decreased significantly. Webb stopped his car at the outside of the eleventh turn with smoke billowing from his car and retired, prompting the third full course yellow. During the full course yellow, several cars elected to make pit stops for fuel and driver changes.

Racing resumed seven minutes later with Lieb maintaining the No. 2 Porsche's advantage over teammate Hartley. Thiim was overtaken by Bruni for the LMGTE Pro class lead, while Hartley reduced the time deficit to teammate Lieb to eleven seconds. The No. 83 AF Corse entry was issued with a 20-second time penalty after it was observed speeding in the pit lane during the full course yellow period. Toyota's No. 6 car was pushed into the garage to repair a loose engine component. Sam Bird, in the No. 71 AF Corse car, went off the track and into the turn five gravel trap but recovered and remained in third place in the LMGTE Pro category. Pizzonia in Manor's No. 44 vehicle passed Leventis's No. 42 Strakka Racing entry to move into third place in the LMP2 class, and the latter fell to fifth after he was overtaken by Derani. A fourth full course yellow was triggered when Lieb attempted to lap Kahled Al-Qubaisi in the No. 88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing car but hit him, sending it into the turn six gravel trap. Most of the LMP1 and LMP2 runners made pit stops during the full course yellow. Lieb's front-left diveplane was damaged and required repairs, Audi's No. 7 car had its front bodywork changed and the track was cleaned by marshals.

The race resumed thirteen minutes later with the No. 1 Porsche driven by Webber leading teammate Jani and Duval, Jani closed the gap to teammate Webber over the next ten minutes and was instructed by Porsche to allow Jani to move ahead of him because of the Swiss driver's faster pace. Jani overtook Webber to move into first place at the first corner shortly afterwards. Jani was issued with a drive-through penalty for his collision with the No. 88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing car which he served four minutes later. He was able to catch Duval and attempted to pass him around the outside but the French driver defended his position at the first turn. The two drivers continued to battle which allowed Lotterer to reduce the time distance. Lotterer attempted to overtake Jani around the outside but Jani defended his position, causing Lotterer to run wide with the two drivers making minor contact. Lotterer reduced his speed but caught back up to Jani while moving through slower cars. Jani was overtaken by Lotterer at the NGK chicane but the two drivers drove alongside each other in the final turn and Jani reclaimed second position at turn one. Jani's car was hit at its rear-end by a BR01 entry at the chicane. Lotterer was able to move into second by passing Jani in the Mercedes Arena section.

The fifth (and final) full course yellow was shown to allow marshals to remove the debris from Jani's car. All of the cars elected to make pit stops during the full course yellow period. Bernhard took over Webber's driving duties in the No. 1 Porsche and remained the leader at the restart six minutes later. The No. 2 Porsche was shown a black and orange flag, requiring it to make a pit stop for repairs to its left-rear quarter, and remerged in fourth position. Second-placed LMP2 driver Bruno Senna went into gravel and grass but rejoined without any significant damage. Bernhard maintained his lead throughout the remainder of the event and took the first victory of the season for the No. 1 Porsche, and its first since the 2015 6 Hours of Shanghai. The No. 8 Audi finished in second, ahead of the team's No. 7 entry in third. The No. 36 Singatech Alpine car of Menzes, Lapierre, and Menzes secured the victory in the LMP2 category, and their third consecutive victory of the year, 16 seconds ahead of second-placed No. 43 RGR Sport entry, AF Corse's No. 51 Ferrari in the LMGTE Pro class clinched its first victory of the season, the first of Calado's career and the 13th for Bruni, followed in second place by teammates, Bird and Rigon, who was 47 seconds adrift at the finish. Lamy and Dalla Lana clinched Aston Martin's second victory in the LMGTE Am category, ahead of Perrodo and Collard in the No. 83 AF Corse entry. KCMG's No. 78 Porsche initially finished second but was disqualified when it was discovered that the car's minimum ride height was not compliant with the regulations.

Post-race

The result meant Lieb, Jani and Dumas maintained their lead in the Drivers' Championship with 105 points, 32 ahead of second-place finishers Duval, di Grassi and Jarvis and a further four in front of Kobayashi, Conway and Sarrazin. Third-place finishers Fässler and Lotterer allowed them to remain in fourth place on 39 points, and the winners of the event, Bernhard, Webber and Hartley moved into fifth place on 25.5 points. Porsche increased its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship on 162 points, 35 in front of their nearest rival Audi in second, and a further 32 ahead of Toyota with five races left in the season.

Race results

The minimum number of laps for classification (70% of the overall winning car's race distance) was 136 laps. Class winners are denoted in bold.