Remember its 7m tip to tip, so more like 5m between bikes. There must be some draft, otherwise it would be a pretty amazing coincidence that 6 guys would have identical bike splits and all finish together.
…and Faris knows this as well. That probably counts for a big part of his frustration and statements after the race. Even with all the group in legal position he was doing a lot more work and the others pretty much refused to share. The Germans have always pushed the bike, and usually as a group. Zach and Hellrieigel would wait for each other before chasing the leaders, not to draft, but to push each other to go harder. Leder, Muller, Zach, Hellreigel, and the other German IM stars liked to be in a pack and challenge each other to take the pace higher and higher. Once the rest of the field was dispatched, the stonger of the bunch would make a break for it. Those guys usually tried to crush everyone else before dropping each other. If Faris could have stayed with Normann they would have really torn up the old record. As it was, Normann had only himself to push the limits, but he knew that that was his only chance for victory.