He fought hard for an early lead in the race at the start, racing for 10 laps before suffering a tyre puncture, which put his team on the back foot.

But he continued to race after that, racing a double stint and not handing the car over to teammate Timo Bernhard until the end of lap 84, and from there Bernhard and third team member Brendon Hartley brought the car home in third after six hours on the track.

Webber told Porchse while he thought he raced well at the start, the tyre puncture and time taken to change tyres held his men back, and he praised his teammates for their efforts in the race.

"I had a good start and was able to put pressure on Toyota, but then a punctured rear left tyre hurt our race," he said.

"The puncture was cruel, but Timo and Brendon did a great job to get the car back into third."

It was the best result since round one of the Championship at Silverstone, when Webber's men finished third in their first WEC race.

He collected fifth in Austin, Texas three weeks ago, after a disappointing 12th in Spa, Belgium and a crash-out at the 24 hours of Le Mans.

Having spoken to his son during the week, Webber's father Alan Webber said he had worked hard with his team to get their car and racing ability back to podium standard.

"He was quite pleased with the performance of the car and how it went, and it was unfortunate they had a puncture a bit earlier than they planned," Alan Webber said.

"The circuit suited the car really. They're improving the car all the time, but I think the car suited that circuit, and they probably chose the right tyres, which would have had a bearing on the result as well."

Alan Webber said according to Mark, his team had prepared the car as well as they could have for the race.

"They're probably working on next year's car already," Alan Webber said.

"They'll be out to get up with the Toyota's and Audi's.'

Webber's next race will be the six hours of Shanghai on November 2.