Despite hinting that having both cars make dawn would be as good as a win, Porsche found themselves in contentin for outright victory after 22 hours of running at Le Mans.
When the TS040 Hybrid of Alexander Wurz was taken out by an electrical fire and mechanical issues struck the lead Audi of Tom Kristensen, the #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid (of Timo Bernhard/Brendon Hartley/Mark Webber) was perfectly poised to take advantage. However with six hours remaining, a front-end problem slowed the #20 machine whilst in a duel for victory with the #2 Audi before retiring to the pits on just electric power just two hours short of the mark.
Webber as usually was brutally frank about Porsche's return to La Sarthe.
"There were no *** ups anywhere, but Audi and Toyota knocked seven bells out of each-other" said Webber. "You've got to graft. We'll be back next year, give it a big go (and) be right there", he said.
Timo Bernhard echoed Webber sentiments, saying: "The car was running well. We had some difficult issues with the balance of the car, and it was not easy to drive. But in the end, I was saving fuel and keeping away from the kerbs. And then we had a broken engine, which happened in first gear. But I think the bottom line is, it’s a great return by Porsche.“
Porsche worked frantically to get the #14 Porsche of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb going to cross the line under its own power after experiencing drive-train problems.