Bernhard, Hartley and Webber WEC Champions

The winning No. 18 Porsche

At the FIA World Endurance Championship's finale in Bahrain on Saturday, Porsche won four more titles. Former F1 driver Mark Webber (Australia), Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Brendon Hartley (New Zealand) are the new World Champions with the Porsche 919 Hybrid. The sixth race win for Porsche was taken by their teammates Romain Dumas (France), Neel Jani (Switzerland) and Marc Lieb (Germany).

For Porsche a perfect season has come to an end: They took the overall victory at the 24 Hours in Le Mans, won the Manufacturers' World Championship title at the penultimate round in Shanghai – and now have been crowned the drivers' World Champions too.

Audi was strong in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) finale, but not strong enough. Marcel Fassler/Andre Lotterer/Benoit Treluyer (CH/D/F) are world championship runners-up for the third time in succession. In the end, the Audi driver trio came up short by only five points of clinching its second World Championship title after 2012.

In one of the season's most thrilling WEC races, the brand with the four rings dominated the action in the early stage. Initially, Lucas di Grassi (BR) in the number '8' Audi R18 e-tron quattro led the race, trailed in second place by the sister car. In these positions, Audi was heading for the title, as the Porsche of its championship rival had lost ground. However, when Loic Duval (F) in the number '8' Audi lost eight laps due to a brake disc defect, the tide turned.

Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer battled up to the end of the race and saw the checkered flag in second place, while Timo Bernhard/Brendon Hartley/Mark Webber only needed fifth place for Porsche to win the title. Lucas di Grassi/Loic Duval/Oliver Jarvis achieved sixth place.

Richard Lietz

In the GT class for production-based cars, in which Porsche competes with the Porsche 911 RSR, the competition version of the iconic 911, the company won three titles: Porsche took the manufacturers' title, Richard Lietz (Austria) took the drivers' title and Porsche Team Manthey won the team title.

Matthias Muller, Chairman of the board of Management, Volkswagen AG: "I am very happy about the Porsche Team's great sporting success here in Bahrain, and I'd like to congratulate Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Weber for the drivers' title. The World Endurance Championship's ground-braking regulations allows both of the group's brands – Audi and Porsche – to test and develop future technologies for road going cars. Motorsport was and remains an important tool within the Volkswagen Group. I would also like to congratulate Richard Lietz and Porsche Team Manthey for the three GT titles."

Oliver Blume, Chairman of the board Porsche AG: "Today is a great day for Porsche. To win the drivers' title and the three GT titles, this crowns this exciting and successful year in the World Endurance Championship. The 17th overall victory at Le Mans, the early win of the manufacturers' title and now the drivers' title for the Porsche 919 Hybrid trio prove the strength of this young team. By returning to top level motorsport Porsche continues what has been a successful history – this is a great position to start the 2016 season from."

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