Less than five seconds! That was the difference between the day's winners and their underlings, Romain Dumas - victorious at Le Mans in 2010 - Neel Jani and Marc Lieb in the No. 18 Porsche 919 Hybrid. It must be said the show was fantastic throughout the race in LM P1, the three constructors entered each having led the race at any given time. The intensity allowed the Audi Sport Team Joest trio of friends to beat the race's distance record in front of 45,000 spectators amassed since Friday.

However, Audi almost lost everything in the last half hour after the R18 e-tron quattro incurred a penalty for exceeding circuit restrictions when it passed two competitors. The lead that Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer had managed to carve out was still enough to keep the lead, even though the only Porsche still in the race was less than 10 seconds behind. The No. 17 Porsche of Timo Bernhard - winner at Le Mans in 2010 - Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber - who started from the pole - was forced to retire following gearbox issues, only one 919 Hybrid remaining in the running, but each of the three manufacturs experienced technical problems with one of their cars, and only three cars finished in the same lap.

The pace set by Porsche yesterday during qualifying could have suggested domination solely on the part of the German manufacturer during the race, but the 919 Hybrids fell back in rank in the race, leaving the two Audis to complete the two fastest laps and allowing Toyota to hunker down and reach the third step on the podium thanks to an impeccable job by world champions Sébastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson, along with Kazuki Nakajima, despite speeds slower than during the free practice. The closeness of the forces made for a suspenseful race in terms of overall victory, which was not the case in the LM P2 class.

Indeed, G-Drive Racing's two No. 26 and No. 28 Ligier JS P2-Nissans crushed the competition, as suggested during the first two days of free practice sessions. As if on parade, Roman Rusinov, Julien Canal and Sam Bird crossed the finish line ahead of their teammates Gustavo Yacaman, Luis Felipe Derani and Ricardo Gonzalez. Having started from third position on the grid, Chinese team KCMG ended up finishing fifth in the class, while the Alpine was the only one to give up following an accident when it lost a wheel causing two yellow flags. Still left were ESM and its venerable HPD ARX03bs which knew perfectly well how to play their hand to round out the podium thanks to owner-driver Scott Sharp, Ryan Dalziel - victorious in the class at Le Mans in 2012 - and David Heinemeier Hansson, winner at the 2014 24 Hours in LM GTE Am. However, the car was disqualified after the post-race technical verifications, leaving the third step on the podium to the new Strakka Dome S103 of the LM P2 winners at 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans which performed well and showed it can be counted on in the future.

Though G-Drive Racing solidified its favourable results from the free practice and qualifying sessions in LM P2, Aston Martin Racing was unable to do the same in LM GTE Pro, none of the three Vantages that started from the first three spots claimed a podium finish in the class: the British constructor having bet on a staggered refueling strategy, but lost its wager and finished a lap behind the first three cars. Since the No. 92 Porsche 911 had a problem with shocks, there were only two cars still capable of going up against the 2014 winners of the GT constructors and drivers world cup, Ferrari and the duo Gianmaria Bruni-Toni Vilander: the No. 91 Porsche of Richard Lietz and Michael Christsensen and the Italian car of James Calado and Davide Rigon. The task proved too difficult and it was in this order that the three protagonists would cross the finish line separated by 12 seconds.

Aston Martin Racing still managed to save face thanks to the win for Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda in LM GTE Am, having started from the pole, Larbre Compétition's Corvette which had been at its side on the starting grid incurring a one-minute penalty for a refueling infraction, just like KCMG's Oreca in LM P2. The way was paved for AF Corse who placed the three Ferraris it entered in two different classes on the podium thanks to François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard - and his 20 participations and two podiums at the 24 Hours of Le Mans - and Rui Aguas. The second Ferrari entered in LM GTE Am for Russian team SMP Racing, winner of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) LM P2 trophy last year, rounded out the podium with Andrea Bertolini - former FIA GT1 world champion - Viktor Shaytar and Aleksey Basov, and the actor Patrick Dempsey made it to the checkered flag at his first participation in an FIA WEC race.

The players in the FIA WEC will soon head to Belgium for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on May 2nd before tackling the big race of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 13th and 14th.

Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo: Copyright - Laurent CARTALADE, VSA

PHOTO: TOWCESTER (NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, U.K.), SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT, FIA WEC, 6 HOURS OF SILVERSTONE, FRIDAY APRIL 10 2015, FREE PRACTICE. Audi didn't skip a beat and won at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, beating the existing distance record.