A flywheel KERS system developed by Williams Hybrid Power saw Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler finish third at the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit at the weekend.

Williams Hybrid Power (WHP) was quick to offer its congratulations to Porsche AG following a successful race for the 911 GT3 R Hybrid which uses WHP's magnetically-loaded composite flywheel technology.

Although the car completed a full race distance in the opening round of the championship, Saturday's result marks the first occasion when the system has been operated at its full performance potential.

Having completed 28 laps of the 20.8km track in the four-hour endurance race, the hybrid programme had reached a major milestone in its development programme, following a week of intensive testing on the demanding Nordschleife circuit.

"The hybrid system clearly helped us to save fuel," said Bergmeister. "Moreover, it's a great feeling to have those extra 120kW from the electric motors when you accelerate out of the corners."

"We are delighted with the progress Porsche AG have made with our MLC flywheel technology in the GT3 R Hybrid," said Ian Foley, Williams Hybrid Power's Managing Director, "particularly over the past few weeks. The system has now operated at its full output over a considerable distance during testing last week and racing today. I feel we are now a definite step closer to the goal of showing how flywheel technology can benefit both performance and fuel economy in the forthcoming Nürburgring 24 hour race on 15th and 16th of May."

Following recent talks, it is believed that KERS could return to F1 in 2011, Williams being one of the few teams developing a flywheel system.