The 35 competitors at the 6 Hours of Shanghai began their race this morning at 11:00 local time behind the safety car. The wet track caused Thomas Laurent to hydroplane and head into a safety barrier, but luckily repairs allowed the Rebellion Racing's #3 R13 to cross the finish line in fifth place just behind the #1 sister car.

In the final moments of the race, three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner with Audi André Lotterer was unable to get the upper hand on Vitaly Petrov despite the drive-through penalty in the last hour incurred by SMP Racing's #11 BR Engineering BR1 for excessive speed in pit lane. As a result, Jenson Button reached a podium finish for the first time in the FIA WEC.

The 2009 F1 world champion finished just behind Fernando Alonso whose #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid was never able to catch up to its #7 sister car after being blocked at the red light at the end of pit lane for seemingly endless seconds when the safety car was deployed as the car refueled. The winners of the 86th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans - Fernando Alonso, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima - ceded victory to pole-sitters Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López, winning twice in a row after the 6 Hours of Fuji.

This round - interrupted twice by red flags in the first half - also marked the second consecutive win for Jackie Chan DC Racing: after the #37 ORECA 07 in Japan, it was the #38's turn to win in China. Ho-Pin Tung, at home, Gabriel Aubry, licensed by the ACO, and Stéphane Richelmi managed a flawless race, winning decisively over DragonSpeed's #31 ORECA 07-Gibson shared by 2014 world endurance champion Anthony Davidson, former F1 driver Pastor Maldonado and Roberto Gonzalez. The trio finished ahead of the Alpine A470, based on an ORECA chassis, fielded by Signatech Alpine Matmut. Nicolas Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet and André Negrão, LMP2 winners at the 24 Hours in June, still claimed the third step on the LMP2 podium despite a detour into a gravel trap early in the race.

On the other hand, no second win for the #92 Porsche 911 RSR, LMGTE Pro class winner at Le Mans this year, even though as the prototypes were refueling during a neutralization, Michael Christensen and Kévin Estre found themselves leading the race in the overall classification! The Franco-Danish duo finished in third place under the checkered flag just behind teammates Richard Lietz and Gianmaria Bruni at the wheel of the #91 Porsche. The two German drivers slipped between the two Aston Martin Vantages, the "Dane Train" (#95) giving the British marque's newest model its first victory. Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen even finished ahead of every prototype in the LMP2 class by snatching seventh place overall. The pole-sitters with the #66 Ford GT were hindered by contact made with the #92 Porsche, and the other car (#67) caused deployment of the safety car when it landed in a gravel trap.

Under neutralization, Gulf Racing's #86 Porsche 911 RSR had an incident shortly after the second interruption, leaving Dempsey-Proton Racing's #77 Porsche to win the LMGTE Am class again after Le Mans. Christian Ried, Julien Andlauer, Matt Campbell, their team and constructor lost all points earned since the beginning of the season after it was detected one of their electronic control units was sending erroneous data to race direction during refuelings. This paved the way for a Porsche hat trick thanks to Team Project 1 (second) and the #88 entered by Dempsey-Proton Racing, earning the same points as the #77 sister car (third).

The World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) competitors now have a break until next year, 13 March 2019, for the 1,000 miles (or 8 hours) of Sebring. Yannick Dalmas should have an easier race in Florida than Shanghai, the FIA driver-consultant having hit the track in the safety car to determine if conditions were acceptable for the race to resume. Even with his skill it wasn't a simple task: at Le Mans in 2016, the four-time winner of the race - the 87th edition of which will close out the 2018-2019 Super Season 15-16 June 2019, demonstrated his level of dexterity on a soaked track with a few slides worthy of a drift competition.

Results

 

PHOTO (Copyright - João Filipe/AdrenalMedia.com - FIA WEC): The #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid beat out its sister car for the top step on the overall podium at the 2018 6 Hours of Shanghai.