Debut title Webber's to lose

The look on Mark Webber’s face after losing pole at Texas said it all.

We’d seen it countless times before being on the receiving end of a pasting by Sebastien Vettel, but there was something different this time. A recognition perhaps, that – for a man who still doesn’t have a championship to his name – now was the time to strike.

Making an aggressive move on the sister car of Marc Lieb at turn one at COTA mightn’t have looked like team play at work, there was some method in the madness. While both Porsche’s have had their fair share of niggles, the number 17 entry of Mark Webber, Timo Brendon Hartley have been enjoying the better run of late, with so much speed to burn that even after serving penalties they were still more than a minute up the road from Audi.

With this kind of momentum you are forced to make your own luck and number 17 did so by slashing André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler’s championship lead to 10 points.

With the sister Porsche 35.5 points in arrears with just three rounds remaining, Porsche may soon have to consider team orders if a similar result ensues in Fuji. Yes, WEC is a team sport, but if Vettel has taught Webber anything, it’s that sometimes synergy requires a bit of a nudge.

But if Texas and Nurburgring have proved anything, it’s that Porsche have been susceptible to unforced errors. Double-stinting on rubber despite an insurmountable speed advantage is tempting the kind of fate Mercedes AMG Petronas did so in Malaysia with dire consequences.

Likewise, an adventitious miscue that saw Webber overshoot his pit-box in Texas nearly cost the number 17 crew the race with the ensuing one-minute stop-go penalty imposed for a separate misdemeanour involving a mechanic touching the car during a refuelling stop, which is forbidden under WEC rules.

Despite being behind in the championship, it appears the WEC title is Porsche’s to lose. Lucky for them that Audi’s signature metronomic consistency appears to have left them as well this year, while Toyota have turned their attentions to a 2016 title attack.

No pressure then, but with too much space available, sometimes crucial ingredients fall between the cracks.