2015 6 Hours of Silverstone

Entry list (pictured in 2009) took the place of nine-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen. A total of 29 cars were officially entered for the 6 Hours of Silverstone with most of the entries in the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) classes. The 2014 race winners, Toyota, returned to defend their title. Three manufacturers, Porsche, Toyota and Audi Sport Team Joest, were represented in LMP1 by two cars each. Team ByKolles were the sole LMP1 privateer team partaking in the race. Similarly, Rebellion Racing signed a contract to run Advanced Engine Research V6 twin-turbocharged engines instead of Toyota V8s they had used since 2012. This prompted the team to withdraw from the first two races so they and chassis developer Oreca could modify the R-Ones to accommodate the new engine. After the retirement of nine-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, Audi internally promoted Oliver Jarvis to the squad. ByKolles's Simon Trummer was stranded in Switzerland due to a French air traffic control strike, and Christian Klien, who was signed to drive for Team SARD Morand, was contacted on the day of the first practice session to take his place. LMP2 consisted of 8 cars with 27 drivers in 4 different types of chassis. 2013 class champions OAK Racing returned to the World Endurance Championship (WEC) under their own banner for team owner and driver Jacques Nicolet. Their G-Drive Racing team, which won four races in 2014, expanded to two-cars for 2015. All three entries used the Ligier JS P2-Nissan. KCMG also remained in the WEC for 2015, replacing their Oreca 03R with the newer 05 car. Strakka Racing, who had filed a full-season entry in 2014 but failed to race after development delays with their Strakka-Dome S103 car, returned for 2015 with an unchanged programme. (pictured in 2007) replaced Johannes van Overbeek who injured his rib due to a coughing fit. Defending ELMS champions Signatech, who previously participated in 2012, had backing from Alpine with their Oreca-based A450 chassis with Nissan power. Morand Racing also shifted from the ELMS, partnering with the Japanese firm SARD in a joint effort. The team initially entered two improved Morgan LMP2 cars with Judd engines but problems with a sale to data encryption company Kairos meant the team missed the event. One of their drivers Johannes van Overbeek injured his rib due to a coughing fit the week before and was replaced by 2009 Le Mans co-winner David Brabham. The Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro) field consisted of three manufacturers (Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche), while Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) included six teams: Aston Martin Racing, AF Corse, Larbre Compétition, Dempsey-Racing Proton, Porsche Team Manthley, and SMP Racing. 2012 LMGTE Am Teams' champions Larbre Compétition returned to the series for the first time in two years, campaigning the first customer Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. Preview A FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Doha on 3 December 2014 confirmed the 6 Hours of Silverstone as part of the FIA WEC's 2015 schedule. It was the first of eight endurance sports car races of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship, It was held on 12 April 2015 at the 18-turn Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England, following two days of practice and qualifying. Since the 2013 edition, the overall winners have been presented with the RAC Tourist Trophy. Romain Dumas, one of three drivers of the No. 18 Porsche 919 Hybrid, expected more of a battle with his rivals than in 2014. His co-driver Marc Lieb said there was "a score to settle" after retiring early from the 2014 edition. Defending series champions Sébastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson along with their co-driver Kazuki Nakajima revealed their aim of repeating their victory at Silverstone, but Buemi noted the unpredictability of the conditions at the track. Going into the race, the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, and the organiser of the series, Automobile Club de l'Ouest, altered the balance of performance in the LMGTE classes for the first time in the season to try to create parity. of ballast was added to the LMGTE Pro class Ferrari 458 Italia and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage to reduce their handling abilities. The weight of the Porsche 911 RSR was lowered by to increase its performance. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage also received a decrease in performance with the reduction of its air restrictor by . No changes were made to the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. ==Practice==

(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. Lucas di Grassi set the fastest lap in the No. 8 Audi at 1:42.291, 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. Gustavo Yacamán led LMP2 in G-Drive Racing's No. 28 Ligier JS P2-Nissan car with a lap of 1:50.213, 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. Brendon Hartley was the best of the Porsches in third and his teammate Dumas was fourth. 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 1:48.676 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. 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. 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. Nakajima was the fastest of the two Toyotas in second, and Porsches teammates Lieb and Timo Bernhard were third and fourth. Derani set a late lap of 2:05.786 to go fastest in LMP2, followed by Matthew Howson's No. 47 KCMG Oreca 05. 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. ==Qualifying==

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. Webber in the No. 17 Porsche set a benchmark 1:39.908 lap. His co-driver Hartley went faster in clear air, with a 1:39.634 time. The team claimed pole position with a two-lap average of 1:39.721. 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. 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. Lotterer and Fässler's No. 7 Audi took fifth and Sarrazin and Mike Conway's No. 2 Toyota qualified sixth. The crew of the No. 4 ByKolles Racing car were more than ten seconds slower than the manufacturer field and completed the LMP1 field. Howson and Nick Tandy in the No. 47 KCMG car was 1.3 seconds slower in third. 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 1:59.970, although Sørensen made some minor errors on his lap. 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 2:01.998, 0.937 seconds faster than Larbre Compétition's No. 50 Corvette of Paolo Ruberti and Kristian Poulsen in second. ==Race==

The weather at the start were dry and sunny with the air temperature between ; the track temperature ranged from . When the race began before a crowd of 45,000 spectators at 12:00 British Summer Time (UTC+01:00), 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. 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. 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. After going wide, Wurz lost fifth to Tréluyer as Bird retook the LMP2 lead from Tandy at Brooklands corner on the sixth lap. The overall leaders encountered slower traffic 12 minutes in; di Grassi was caught out by this and fell to fifth behind Tréluyer and Wurz by running wide. Several drivers made their first pit stops for fuel and tyres under the full course yellow while others remained on the circuit. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 1:42 range. 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. 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 on a six-stop strategy in which the team decided to switch only the left-hand tyres for the final stop. 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. Nevertheless, he was pleased with the duel he had with Jani. Jani said he enjoyed driving in the race and was trusting of Fässler to battle him without contact, "For sure it was a great sportscar race and all three manufacturers are all very close. We have to push because it is a six-hour sprint race." Davidson said he felt Toyota had to double stint their tyres to stay in contention for the victory but hoped to get into a position where they had an advantage on circuits with higher levels of tyre wear than Silverstone. Audi took the early lead in the Manufacturers' Championship with 35 points, seven points ahead of Toyota in second; the third-placed manufacturer Porsche had scored 19 points with seven rounds left in the season. == Standings after the race ==

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