Fifth grid front row lock out in qualifying for the Porsche 919 Hybrid

Car #18 / PORSCHE TEAM (DEU) / Porsche 919 Hybrid Hybrid / Romain Dumas (FRA) / Neel Jani (CHE) / Marc Lieb (DEU) Free Practice 1 – 6 Hours of COTA at Circuit Of The Americas – Austin – Texas – USA

The Porsche 919 Hybrid continued to prove its outstanding qualifying performance when taking the fifth pole position in the fifth round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship. It is also the fifth consecutive front row grid lock out for the innovative Le Mans Prototypes from Stuttgart.

The number 18 car of drivers Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE) is going to start from pole position for the third time this year. The number 17 car of Timo Bernhard (DE), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AUS) will be next to them on the grid for tomorrow’s six-hour race at the challenging Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas (US).

In the WEC the average of the best laps of two drivers counts for the grid position. Jani/Lieb achieved an average time of 1:46.211 minutes, with Jani putting in the overall fastest lap with a time of 1:46.018 minutes. Bernhard/Hartley shared qualifying duties in the number 17 car and achieved an average lap time of 1:46.375 minutes.

Porsche, the 2015 Le Mans winner, wants to defend the lead in the manufacturers’ world championship in tomorrow’s race. The six-hour race in Austin is the fifth of eight rounds of the 2015 WEC, and will start on Saturday at 17:00 hrs local time (00:00 hrs CEST). The TV channel Eurosport will broadcast the entire race and the podium ceremony live. Live feed, timing and more is available at the FIA WEC App. Live features such as on-board cameras, timing and GPS tracking are also available in the Porsche Motorsport App (free of charge).