Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer took top honours in the Qatar 1812Km despite Estre having to make an unscheduled pitstop with fewer than 10 laps to go due to a missing number panel on the left-hand side of the factory #6 Penske 963 LMDh.
It marked the German manufacturer’s first overall victory in the WEC since Brendon Hartley, Timo Bernhard and Earl Bamber triumphed in the six-hour fixture at Austin in 2017 with the LMP1-spec Porsche 919 Hybrid.
The #6 Porsche was in control of the race from the middle of the second hour, when a mistake from the #93 Peugeot 9X8 of Nico Muller at Turn 1 promoted Vanthoor to the lead of the race.
The gap between the two cars fluctuated as the race progressed, with Muller bringing Porsche’s lead to under 10 seconds at the beginning of hour six after returning to the wheel of the Peugeot.
However, Vanthoor was able to rebuild his advantage out front after sunset in Doha, putting the Porsche well out of reach as the race descended into a procession.
A minor contact with a Lexus GT3 car at Turn 3 in the penultimate hour for Estre seemed like the only blip in an otherwise faultless performance from the Porsche Penske Motorsport team until the outfit was forced to call in Estre into the pits in the final 15 minutes of the race to stick a new number panel on the car.
Despite losing 20 seconds in the process, Estre still crossed the finish line with over 30 seconds in hand over the #12 Jota Porsche to claim a historic win for the German marque in the WEC season-opener.
Peugeot seemed set for its best-ever finish in the WEC until Vergne suddenly lost power with just two laps to go while running in second, promoting the #12 Jota-run 963 of Callum Ilott, Will Stevens and Norman Nato to second at the finish.
Ilott was able to hold off the #5 factory 963 of Matt Campbell in the final laps, with the two cars ending up just one-second adrift at the finish as Porsche cars swept the podium positions.
The polesitting #5 963 of Campbell, Michael Christensen and Frederic Makoweicki had to make two early pitstops due to tyre-related vibrations, meaning it wasn’t able to contend with the sister car for victory.
The Chip Ganassi Cadillac was lucky to finish fourth after sustaining heavy damage to the left-front side of the car in a Turn 1 crash with the #94 Peugeot of Paul di Resta, which was triggered by contact between Alex Lynn and Hanson’s Jota Porsche.
Source: Autosport