2015 6 Hours of Silverstone

Benoît Tréluyer (pictured in 2013) set the fastest overall lap in all the three practice sessions.

There were three practice sessions—one 90-minute session each on Friday afternoon and early evening and a one-hour session on Saturday morning—preceding Sunday's race.[18] The first session was held in sunny weather and most of the best efforts from the drivers came in its opening minutes.[23] Lucas di Grassi set the fastest lap in the No. 8 Audi at 1 minute, 42.291 seconds, 0.144 seconds faster than Mark Webber's No. 17 Porsche. André Lotterer in Audi's No. 7 vehicle was third, and Neel Jani was fourth in the sister Porsche. The fastest Toyota was fifth after a lap from Alexander Wurz.[24] Gustavo Yacamán led LMP2 in G-Drive Racing's No. 28 Ligier JS P2-Nissan car with a lap of 1 minute, 50.213 seconds, 0.053 seconds quicker than teammate Sam Bird. The No. 95 Aston Martin V8 Vantage driven by Nicki Thiim was quickest early on in LMGTE Pro. Klaus Bachler in the No. 88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR led in LMGTE Am.[23]

Jarvis in the Audi No. 8 car led the second session early on before the No. 7 entry driven by Benoît Tréluyer's was fastest with the day's best time of 1 minute, 41.526 seconds. Jarvis's lap was 0.298 seconds slower putting the No. 8 car second overall.[25] Brendon Hartley was the best of the Porsches in third and his teammate Dumas was fourth.[25][26] The two Toyotas of Stéphane Sarrazin and Nakajima were fifth and sixth. The pair of G-Drive Racing Ligiers were again fastest in LMP2 with Pipo Derani going quickest of the day with a 1 minute, 48.676 seconds lap, and Bird six-tenths of a second slower. The two Porsche Team Manthey cars of Richard Lietz (No. 91) and Frédéric Makowiecki (No. 92) led LMGTE Pro. Pedro Lamy's No. 98 Aston Martin recorded the fastest lap in LMGTE Am.[26]

The third (and final) practice session was held in damp weather.[27] Buemi and Wurz's Toyotas were the early pace setters until Marcel Fässler's No. 7 Audi went faster as some cars went off the slippery track and into Copse corner's gravel trap.[28] A dry line began to appear after 25 minutes. The fastest laps fell by five seconds as Lotterer improved on co-driver Fässler's time.[28] Nelson Panciatici necessitated the showing of localised full course yellow flags when he spun and beached the No. 36 Signatech Alpine in the gravel trap at Stowe corner with 12 minutes to go.[27][28] After practice restarted, Lotterer set the fastest overall lap at 1 minute, 52.094 seconds in the final minutes.[29] Nakajima was the fastest of the two Toyotas in second, and Porsches teammates Lieb and Timo Bernhard were third and fourth.[30] Derani set a late lap of 2 minutes, 5.786 seconds to go fastest in LMP2, followed by Matthew Howson's No. 47 KCMG Oreca 05.[27][29] Makowiecki put the No. 92 Porsche atop of LMGTE Pro, as the fastest LMGTE Am lap came from Emmanuel Collard's AF Corse No. 83 Ferrari 458 Italia.[27][28]

Brendon Hartley helped put the No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid on pole position in qualifying.

Saturday's afternoon qualifying session was divided into two 20 minute groups.[18] Cars in LMGTE Pro and AM were sent out first before LMP1 and LMP2 entries. All cars were required to have two drivers set one timed lap each and their fastest average lap times set the starting order. The fastest team and drivers earned one point towards their respective championships.[31] Webber in the No. 17 Porsche set a benchmark 1 minute, 39.908 seconds lap. His co-driver Hartley went faster in clear air, with a 1 minute, 39.634 seconds time. The team claimed pole position with a two-lap average of 1 minute, 39.721 seconds.[32][33] They were joined on the grid's front row by their teammates Jani and Dumas who were 0.619 seconds slower. Dumas attributed the No. 18 car's slower pace to him making an error on his first lap and being delayed by slower traffic on his next try.[34] Di Grassi and Jarvis put the No. 8 Audi 0.012 seconds behind the slower Porsche in third. The fastest Toyota was the No. 1 car of Davidson and Nakajima in fourth after Nakajima lost time in slower traffic in the final third of the lap.[35][36] Lotterer and Fässler's No. 7 Audi took fifth and Sarrazin and Mike Conway's No. 2 Toyota qualified sixth.[32] The LMP1 manufacturer field was close together as the first six were separated by almost two seconds.[37] The crew of the No. 4 ByKolles Racing car were more than ten seconds slower than the manufacturer field and completed the LMP1 field.[33]

In LMP2, G-Drive Racing swept the front row of the class grid as Derani and Ricardo González in the No. 28 car took pole position by going faster than Roman Rusinov's and Olivier Pla 2014 pole lap with a two-lap average lap of 1 minute, 48.021 seconds, 0.062 seconds ahead of the sister No. 26 car of Rusinov and Bird.[38] Howson and Nick Tandy in the No. 47 KCMG car was 1.3 seconds slower in third.[33][36] Signatech Alpine's No. 36 vehicle came fourth in the hands of Paul-Loup Chatin and Vincent Capillaire. The No. 30 ESM car of Ryan Dalziel and David Heinemeier Hansson in fifth were 3.5 seconds slower than the new generation of class vehicles.[39][40] Thiim and Marco Sørensen, competing in the No. 97 Aston Martin, were the fastest LMGTE Pro qualifiers. They had the only two-lap average time under 2 minutes, at 1 minute, 59.970 seconds, although Sørensen made some minor errors on his lap.[37] Richie Stanaway and Fernando Rees in the No. 99 car were 0.206 seconds slower in second, while Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke's No. 95 car gave Aston Martin the first three positions in category.[33][36] Lietz and Michael Christensen sharing the No. 91 Porsche took fourth and the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander qualified fifth.[41] In LMGTE Am, Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana completed a sweep of GTE pole positions for Aston Martin with a two-lap class average of 2 minutes, 1.998 seconds, 0.937 seconds faster than Larbre Compétition's No. 50 Corvette of Paolo Ruberti and Kristian Poulsen in second.[37] The No. 88 Abu Dhabi Racing Proton Porsche driven by Khaled al Qubaisi and Bachler qualified third in class. The duo held second until the No. 50 Larbre Compétition Corvette went faster.[40]

The weather at the start were dry and sunny with the air temperature between 12.7 and 15.3 °C (54.9 and 59.5 °F); the track temperature ranged from 10.5 to 15.5 °C (50.9 to 59.9 °F).[43] When the race began before a crowd of 45,000 spectators at 12:00 British Summer Time (UTC+01:00),[44][45] Webber retained the lead into the first corner as his teammate Dumas came under attack from di Grassi into Aintree turn. Elsewhere, Tandy made a fast getaway in the KCMG Oreca to claim the lead of LMP2 from the pair of G-Drive Ligiers.[46] On lap three, Di Grassi again tried to overtake Dumas but put himself on the outside of Loop corner, forcing him to slow and give Buemi an opportunity to pass him for third.[47][48] The No. 4 ByKolles Racing CLM P1/01 of Vitantonio Liuzzi sustained damage to its floor after reported contact by Dalziel's No. 30 ESM, necessitating half an hour of repairs to the car in the garage.[46][49] After going wide, Wurz lost fifth to Tréluyer as Bird retook the LMP2 lead from Tandy at Brooklands corner on the sixth lap.[47][50][51] The overall leaders encountered slower traffic twelve minutes in; di Grassi was caught out by this and fell to fifth behind Tréluyer and Wurz by running wide.[50]

Mark Webber (pictured in 2014) led from pole position until the No. 17 Porsche's rear drivetrain forced him out of the race.

Derani passed Tandy on the run to Village corner for second in LMP2. Tréluyer put Buemi under pressure for third overall, and di Grassi retook fifth from Wurz. Later, Bachler took over the lead of LMGTE Am, and Tréluyer lost fourth to his teammate di Grassi leaving Copse corner. Overtakes occurred in LMGTE Pro as Porsche teammates Lietz and Patrick Pilet got by Stanaway, and Bruni moved past the latter at Stowe corner.[47][50] Forty-one minutes in, the first full course yellow was necessitated by Chatin's No. 36 Signatech Alpine car's incorrectly fitted left-rear wheel coming loose into Corse turn. The vehicle's left-rear struck the outside tyre barrier. Chatin was unhurt and boarded an ambulance without aid.[47][50][52] Several drivers made their first pit stops for fuel and tyres under the full course yellow while others remained on the circuit.[45] Racing resumed five minutes later with Webber leading teammate Dumas.[50] Race control noticed no repairs to the wall at Copse corner had been done. The second full course yellow was activated early in the second hour to allow this to happen. This caused the trio of LMGTE Pro Aston Martins to lose time making their pit stops between the green flag and the full course yellow.[53]

Immediately after the restart, Buemi could not use his hybrid boost system because there was no charge in the capacitor. Buemi was caught off guard as Tréluyer overtook him on the outside at Becketts turn and then by di Grassi at Vale corner to fall to fifth overall.[47][54] Davide Rigon in the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari took the LMGTE Pro lead because they were on an alternative strategy. Tandy lost third in LMP2 to Dalziel after a slow in-lap.[47][48] An hour and 20 minutes in (lap 44) Webber drove the No. 17 Porsche into the pit lane to retire the car with a rear drivetrain issue.[55][56] This gave Lieb the outright lead as he relieved Dumas in the No. 18 Porsche and the Audis of di Grassi and Tréluyer gained second and third.[45] The Audis duelled over second in slower traffic when Tréluyer passed di Grassi on the inside into Abbey corner. Their fast pace, however, put them onto the run-off area, but they rejoined into Farm curve without losing a plethora of time.[47][50][53] Di Grassi was lapping Christian Ried's No. 88 Abu Dhabi Proton Racing Porsche when the two connected at Becketts corner. Di Grassi returned to the pit lane and repairs to the No. 8 vehicle's rear-left deck took two minutes. The car rejoined a lap down in sixth with Loïc Duval aboard.[48][50][53]

Roman Rusinov (pictured in 2013) contributed to the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Ligier's win by a lap from the sister No. 28 car.

As the second round of pit stops for fuel and driver changes began, Tréluyer drew closer to Lieb, who was momentarily delayed by Danny Watts' No. 42 Strakka Racing Dome, and Tréluyer moved into the lead on the outside into Becketts turn before Lieb retook it due to his car's higher straight-line speed on the Wellington Straight into Stowe corner. The two made their pit stops soon after as Fässler took over the No. 7 Audi and Jani entered the No. 18 Porsche. Wurz gained the overall lead after an earlier pit stop during the full course yellow allowed him to lead by 40 seconds.[50][53] Later, Tandy's No. 47 KCMG car went into the garage after a stone punctured a hole in its radiator and created water pressure issues.[51][56] Jani lost second to Fässler at Village corner; Jani responded by reclaiming the position on the Wellington Straight. The two repeated the same manoeuvres over the following three laps until Fässler slowed slightly. In the meantime, Makowiecki's No. 92 Porsche gained the LMGTE Pro lead when Rigon made the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari's second pit stop and James Calado relieved him.[48][50]

Davidson was closing by one second per lap on the duelling Jani and Fässler. Duval got the No. 8 Audi back onto the lead lap when he and Jani negotiated their way past a LMGTE Am Ferrari.[53] During the third phase of pit stops, Conway's No. 2 Toyota was lapping Gianluca Roda's No. 50 Larbre Compétition Corvette at Becketts corner when he was unseen by Roda. Conway mounted the kerb in avoidance, hitting a thin plastic bollard that lodged itself in the front of the Toyota's splitter affecting its turn-in handing.[50][57] Conway's teammate Davidson overtook him for second soon after and took the lead when Jani's No. 18 Porsche entered the pit lane for fuel and tyres; Dumas relieved him.[53] Dumas emerged just ahead of the No. 7 Audi which now had Lotterer aboard. Dumas forced Lieb wide onto the outside line at Village corner for third and kept the position on the Hangar Straight.[47][50] Lotterer's newer tyres allowed him to close on Conway, and he passed him on the inside at Vale corner for second. Conway later ran wide at Abbey turn because of his worn tyres and lost fourth to Dumas.[47][53]

Rusinov had an anxious moment in the No. 26 G-Drive Ligier when the No. 97 Aston Martin blocked him under braking for the end of the Wellington Staight and spun at Brooklands turn. He recovered without losing the LMP2 class lead to teammate González as he held a one-minute lead. Lotterer was quicker than race leader Davidson through slower traffic and attempted to pass him on the inside at Brooklands corner, but Davidson blocked him on the Wellington Straight. The following lap, Lotterer tried again into Village turn and was successful this time round and subsequently pulled away.[47][53] Bruni's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari took the lead of LMGTE Pro in the fifth minute of the third hour after Pilet's No. 92 Porsche picked up a right-front puncture from going off the circuit. The car entered the garage for four minutes and fell to sixth in class with Makowiecki aboard.[48][50][58] Dumas returned to the overall lead during the next pit stop cycle before Lotterer retook it by double stinting his tyres and only stopping for fuel. Lieb now drove the No. 18 Porsche when he went off the racing line onto some astroturf leaving Stowe corner but regained control of the car without losing too much time. Three minutes later, Conway passed Lieb on the inside at Vale corner for third.[47][50]

Marcel Fässler (pictured in 2015) helped achieve the No. 7 Audi's ninth overall win.

Duval's No. 8 Audi was forced into the pit lane after running onto grass, spending 6+1⁄2 minutes and four laps to clean debris at the front of the car.[47][48][58] Rigon caught his teammate Vilander and tried unsuccessfully to pass him on the outside at Village corner for the LMGTE Pro lead. A few minutes later, Rigon tried again, passed Vilander and pulled away.[47][50] Jarvis in the No. 8 Audi saw some space to pass Poulsen's No. 50 Larbre Compétition Corvette at Becketts turn, but Poulsen turned to block Jarvis and the two collided. Poulsen continued after marshal assistance to extricate him from the gravel trap. Meanwhile, Jani relieved Dumas, and Fässler took over from Lotterer at their pit stops.[50][58] The two LMGTE Pro AF Corse Ferraris started again to duel for the class lead. Bruni tried to overtake Calado at Brooklands corner but was unable to pass because Calado blocked him. On the next lap, Bruni tried again and was successful in passing Calado at the same corner.[58]

In the final hour, Jani moved the No. 18 Porsche into second and closed on Fässler's No. 7 Audi. Jani moved past Fässler on the Wellington Straight due to the Porsche's straightline speed advantage, but the latter came back to reclaim the lead. It momentarily returned to Jani until it was retaken by Fässler entering Copse corner as the Porsche struggled to stay with Audi in the turns.[45][47][50] Jani re-took the lead and kept it for two minutes before making his last pit stop for left-hand side tyres and no fuel.[50] The final retiree came with 40 minutes to go when Klien went off at Village corner and damaged the radiator and had stiff handling because of aerodynamic deficiencies.[47][49] Buemi made the No. 1 Toyota's final pit stop for fuel from second overall and came out behind Jani who opened up a four second gap over the car. Drama came with 18 minutes left when race control deemed Fässler to have transgressed track limits while passing slower cars on the outside tarmac run-off area at the exit of Club corner, imposing a 10-second stop-and-go penalty that he took with 15 minutes to go and then took fuel.[50][59][60][61]

Fässler kept the lead after his race engineer Leena Gade encouraged him to push hard. In the meantime Jani lowered the gap to 12 seconds, and steadily reduced it over the next 14 minutes by pushing hard with his lap times in the 1 minute, 42 second range.[48][62] However, Fässler maintained the overall lead and crossed the start/finish line in a new race distance record of 201 laps to win by 4.610 seconds for his, Lotterer and Tréluyer's ninth outright career victory.[55][61] Buemi got the No. 1 Toyota onto the final step of the overall podium in third.[55] Bird maintained No. 26 G-Drive Oreca's lead to win in LMP2 by one lap over the sister No. 28 car.[51] The third-placed No. 30 ESM car failed its post-race technical inspection. Its front and rear underfloor skid planks were deemed to be under the minimum thickness of 20 mm (2.0 cm), and the No. 42 Strakka Racing entry was given third in LMP2.[63] The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari of Rigon and Vilander was unchallenged in the final hour of the race and won in LMGTE Pro. The No. 91 Porsche of Christensen and Lietz took second; Bruni and Calado's No. 71 AF Corse car took third.[64] In LMGTE Am, Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Lamy took their third successive win at Silverstone in the No. 98 Aston Martin and were 13.712 seconds ahead of Rui Águas, Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo's No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari.[64]

Race results

The minimum number of laps for classification (70 per cent of the overall winning car's race distance) was 141 laps. Class winners are denoted in bold.[69]

Final race classification Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tyre Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 LMP1 7 Audi Sport Team Joest André Lotterer Marcel Fässler Benoît Tréluyer Audi R18 e-tron quattro M 201 6:00:30.876 Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo Diesel V6 2 LMP1 18 Porsche Team Marc Lieb Romain Dumas Neel Jani Porsche 919 Hybrid M 201 +4.610 Porsche 2.0 L Turbo V4 3 LMP1 1 Toyota Racing Anthony Davidson Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Toyota TS040 Hybrid M 201 +10.206 Toyota 3.7 L V8 4 LMP1 2 Toyota Racing Alexander Wurz Stéphane Sarrazin Mike Conway Toyota TS040 Hybrid M 200 +1 Lap Toyota 3.7 L V8 5 LMP1 8 Audi Sport Team Joest Loïc Duval Lucas di Grassi Oliver Jarvis Audi R18 e-tron quattro M 197 +4 Laps Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo Diesel V6 6 LMP2 26 G-Drive Racing Roman Rusinov Julien Canal Sam Bird Ligier JS P2 D 185 +16 Laps Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 7 LMP2 28 G-Drive Racing Gustavo Yacamán Ricardo González Pipo Derani Ligier JS P2 D 184 +17 Laps Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 8 LMP2 42 Strakka Racing Nick Leventis Jonny Kane Danny Watts Strakka Dome S103 M 178 +23 Laps Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 9 LMGTE Pro 51 AF Corse Gianmaria Bruni Toni Vilander Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 M 172 +29 Laps Ferrari 4.5 L V8 10 LMGTE Pro 91 Porsche Team Manthey Richard Lietz Michael Christensen Porsche 911 RSR M 172 +29 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 11 LMGTE Pro 71 AF Corse Davide Rigon James Calado Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 M 172 +29 Laps Ferrari 4.5 L V8 12 LMGTE Pro 95 Aston Martin Racing Christoffer Nygaard Nicki Thiim Marco Sørensen Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE M 171 +30 Laps Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 13 LMGTE Pro 97 Aston Martin Racing Darren Turner Stefan Mücke Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE M 171 +30 Laps Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 14 LMGTE Pro 99 Aston Martin Racing V8 Fernando Rees Alex MacDowall Richie Stanaway Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE M 171 +30 Laps Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 15 LMGTE Pro 92 Porsche Team Manthey Patrick Pilet Frédéric Makowiecki Porsche 911 RSR M 170 +31 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 16 LMGTE Am 98 Aston Martin Racing Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE M 168 +33 Laps Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 17 LMGTE Am 83 AF Corse François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Rui Águas Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 M 168 +33 Laps Ferrari 4.5 L V8 18 LMGTE Am 72 SMP Racing Viktor Shaitar Aleksey Basov Andrea Bertolini Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 M 168 +33 Laps Ferrari 4.5 L V8 19 LMP2 47 KCMG Matthew Howson Richard Bradley Nick Tandy Oreca 05 D 167 +34 Laps Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 20 LMGTE Am 96 Aston Martin Racing Roald Goethe Stuart Hall Francesco Castellacci Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE M 166 +35 Laps Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 21 LMGTE Am 88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Christian Ried Klaus Bachler Khalded Al Qubaisi Porsche 911 RSR M 166 +35 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 22 LMP2 35 OAK Racing Jacques Nicolet Jean-Marc Merlin Erik Maris Ligier JS P2 D 165 +36 Laps Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 23 LMGTE Am 77 Dempsey Racing-Proton Patrick Dempsey Patrick Long Marco Seefried Porsche 911 RSR M 165 +36 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 24 LMP2 31 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ed Brown David Brabham Jon Fogarty HPD ARX-03b D 165 +36 Laps Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6 25 LMGTE Am 50 Larbre Compétition Gianluca Roda Paolo Ruberti Kristian Poulsen Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 160 +41 Laps Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 DNF LMP1 4 Team ByKolles Simon Trummer Vitantonio Liuzzi Christian Klien CLM P1/01 M 116 Retired AER P60 Turbo V6 DNF LMP1 17 Porsche Team Timo Bernhard Brendon Hartley Mark Webber Porsche 919 Hybrid M 44 Drivetrain Porsche 2.0 L Turbo V4 DNF LMP2 36 Signatech Alpine Nelson Panciatici Paul-Loup Chatin Vincent Capillaire Alpine A450b D 20 Accident Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 EX LMP2 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel David Heinemeier Hansson HPD ARX-03b D 183 Disqualified Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6

Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer D Dunlop M Michelin

World Endurance Drivers' Championship standings[68] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Marcel Fässler André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer 25 2 Romain Dumas Neel Jani Marc Lieb 18 3 Sébastien Buemi Anthony Davidson Kazuki Nakajima 15 4 Mike Conway Stéphane Sarrazin Alexander Wurz 12 5 Loïc Duval Lucas di Grassi Oliver Jarvis 10

World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship standings[68] Pos. +/– Constructor Points 1 Audi 35 2 Toyota 27 3 Porsche 15

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for the Drivers' Championship standings.