Positions five and six following various setbacksAudi maintains second place in the manufacturers’ standings
Audi proved its untiring endurance racing spirit in round eight of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in China. In spite of diverse adversities, the six drivers and the team never lost their concentration and in the end still managed to score 18 points. As a result, Audi defended second place in the manufacturers’ standings before the finale to be held in Bahrain in two weeks’ time.
The 6 Hours of Shanghai turned into a perseverance test for Audi this year. Initially, car number 8 driven by Lucas di Grassi/Loïc Duval/Oliver Jarvis (BR/F/GB) was among the front runners. One hour into the race, di Grassi, with a gap of 6.4 seconds, was in position two. During the first pit stop, however, the team noticed an irregularity. The R18 could not be refueled as intended. The fuel tank was absorbing clearly less fuel than planned, reducing the subsequent pit stop intervals accordingly until the mechanics managed to correct the defect during a service. Number 8, however, ultimately had to settle for fifth place.
Car number 7 of Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer (CH/D/F) was initially running in position six and advanced to fifth place about halfway through the race. However, a misunderstanding shortly after the race’s midpoint resulted in the team suffering unsuspected long-term consequences. While lapping slower participants, the race cars of Oliver Jarvis and Benoît Tréluyer touched. The contact damaged the right-hand side pod of car number 7 at the level of the compressed air connector. As a result, the air jack could no longer be operated at the next pit stop. Replacing the damaged components cost the team more than 25 minutes. With a 14-lap deficit, Fässler resumed the race in 16th place, subsequently making up ground to see the checkered flag in position six. “These setbacks were very disappointing,” said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, summing up the event. “Seeing the strong commitment shown by the entire team and our drivers was gratifying for us. They never gave up and battled for Audi for six hours straight. As a result, we scored 18 points and managed to defend our second place in the standings. We can still become vice world champions in the finale.”
Stefan Dreyer, Head of LMP at Audi Sport, added: “Since May, we’ve been delivering an unbroken string of podium finishes including a victory in the FIA WEC. Today, we would again have liked to take a trophy home, but didn’t manage to do so. Instead we experienced the spirit of endurance racing. Even if a situation appears to have no prospect of success, it’s always worth battling for every single point. A big thank you for this goes to the entire squad.”
In only two weeks’ time, Audi will be contesting an emotional finale. Round nine of the FIA WEC in Bahrain on November 19 will not only mark the end of the 2016 endurance racing season. After 18 years and 106 victories achieved with its Le Mans prototypes to date, Audi will be ending a particularly unusual success story in modern automobile racing.
Race results
1 Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (Porsche) 195 laps
2 Conway/Kobayashi/Sarrazin (Toyota) +59.785s
3 Buemi/Davidson/Nakajima (Toyota) +1m 06.038s
4 Dumas/Jani/Lieb (Porsche) + 1m 40.855s
5 Di Grassi/Duval/Jarvis (Audi R18) –3 laps
6 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi) –14 laps
7 Kaffer/Trummer/Webb (CLM P1/01) –14 laps
8 Brundle/Rusinov/Stevens (Oreca-Nissan) –15 laps
9 Blomqvist/Gelael/Giovinazzi (Ligier-Nissan) –16 laps
10 Albuquerque/Gonzalez/Senna (Ligier-Nissan) –16 laps
Quotes from the Audi team following round eight of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “For us, the result is very disappointing. We’d been hoping to be in contention for victory. Unfortunately, a number of things got in our way in the race. As a result, both cars lost a lot of time in the pits and we didn’t manage to score a podium result. Impressive to see was the fighting spirit shown by the squad that never gave up. That’s the spirit we’re taking into the final race as well. We’re hoping to be able to end the season with a victory in Bahrain.”
Stefan Dreyer (Head of LMP): “Congratulations to today’s winners. We were planning to battle for victory here but, unfortunately, there were too many incidents. A displacer separated in the fuel tank of the number 8 Audi, preventing us from refueling as scheduled. Consequently, this car was no longer in contention for the top spot. Car number 7 had balance issues, particularly at the beginning. The performance of the fuel flow meter wasn’t perfect either. In spite of these setbacks, the entire squad battled up until the end. In these last weeks of Audi’s LMP program, my thanks go to all the employees at Audi Sport, Team Joest Racing and all drivers.”
Ralf Jüttner (Team Director Audi Sport Team Joest): “Number 8 was initially able to keep pace well.During the first stop, however, we noticed a refueling issue.Although we were able to correct it, we lost a huge amount of time in total. Number 7 had a difficult day as well. As a result, we’re looking back on a very disappointing race. Thank you to everyone for having kept up their motivation at such a high level in spite of this.”
Lucas di Grassi (Audi R18 #8): “Initially, we were in second place and our pace was okay. Unfortunately, we subsequently had a refueling issue, causing us to lose a lot of time during the pit stops. In the end, it was just a matter of finishing the race. Now we need to concentrate on Bahrain in order to achieve a positive ending.”
Loïc Duval (Audi R18 #8): “Congratulations toPorsche and Toyota who decided the race among themselves. At the beginning, we were doing pretty well, but then we noticed the refueling issue. It ruined our race because we spent a lot of time in the pits and had to change our strategy as well. With that, we were no longer in contention.”
Oliver Jarvis (Audi R18 #8): “The refueling issue resulted in a tough race for us, after we’dinitially been running well.When I was sitting in the car later, our race was okay at first, but then some vibrations developed because our tires picked up rubber from other cars. Unfortunately, contact with our sister car happened on top of everything else. Congratulations to Porsche and Toyota. Now they’ll be battling for the title in the finale.”
Marcel Fässler (Audi R18 #7): “It was a disappointing race. Today, we definitely weren’t able to battle for the top spots. We just weren’t fast enough. Unfortunately, to make things worse, there was an incident between the twoAudi R18 cars. This shouldn’t happen when you’re only separated by one lap to begin with. We still managed to make up a few positions before seeing the checkered flag.”
André Lotterer (Audi R18 #7): “Today, we didn’t achieve the result we’d been planning for. When I was driving, we didn’t find good balance. The tires had only little grip, so the car was difficult to drive.”
Benoît Tréluyer (Audi R18 #7): “This was a difficult day for us throughout. My teammates weren’t very happy. While I was driving, the car felt pretty decent. On average, lap times similar to those of Toyota, who were in front of us, were possible. Unfortunately, there was a misunderstanding with our sister car. I spun following contact. The resulting damage, however, was only obvious at the pit stop. We had to repair the air jack system, which caused us to lose a lot of time.”
