Monday 15th April 2013

Audi one-two at Silverstone six-hour

R18 takes Tourist Trophy at opening round of World Endurance Championship

---

It was edge-of-the-seat stuff at yesterday’s Six Hours of Silverstone as a battle between the two Audi R18s in the closing hour of the race resulted in victory for the number two car of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval.

Toyota's TS030s came in third and fourth

After an hour spent swapping positions with his team-mate, world champion Benoit Treluyer, McNish swept past for the final time, finishing the race less than four seconds ahead and, in doing so, claiming both the race victory and this year’s RAC International Tourist Trophy.

The one-two for Audi represents a continuation of the team’s LMP1 dominance, with closest rival Toyota’s lead TS030 hybrid, driven by Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Stephane Sarrazin, finishing a lap behind the two R18s.

In the LMP2 class, the rain shower that hit the race in the third hour (and reminded us that we'd forgotten to bring any sort of weatherproofing) spelled disaster for the number 26 G-Drive car, then being driven by John Martin, who span his car on the exit of the final turn, clouting the pit wall and ending his race. That gifted the lead to the number 25 Delta-ADR car driven by Tor Graves, Antonio Pizzonia and James Walker, who duly went on to win the class.

Corvette and Astons performed well

Meanwhile, there was triumph for the thundering Aston Martin V8 Vantages in both GTE classes, with Darren Turner, Stefun Mucke and Bruno Senna claiming victory in GTE-Pro, and Christoffer Nygaard, Kristian Poulsen and Allan Simonsen taking the GTE-Am victores, both having qualified first in their respective classes. Kamui Kobayashi and team-mate Toni Vilander piloted their Ferrari458 Italia to second in the GTE-Pro class, and the Chevrolet Corvette of Patrick Bornhauser, Julien Canal and Fernando Rees took second in GTE-Am. Sadly, though, the works-supported Manthey Porsche 991 RSR cars made their GTE-Pro debut with less of a bang and more of a gentle phut, struggling to match the pace of the Astons and coming in with fourth- and sixth-place finishes in their class of six. Let's hope their fortunes improve later in the season so that the celebratory tone of the 911's 50th anniversary year can be maintained!

[Images: Prime Exposures]

[Al 450]

That's a good result for Aston, they deserve more recognition for their endurance racing.

[yeti]

Al 450 said:

That's a good result for Aston, they deserve more recognition for their endurance racing.

Indeed, Astons victories bode very well for Le Mans

It's been a long while that anything remotely interesting happened in LMP1 though sadly.

[hyper jay]

2014 will see that change ...

[zebedee]

McNish's last stint was truly epic, I certainly found it interesting. As have the Audi/Toyota duels been throughout 2012 in the main. I am looking forward to 2014 though.

[Monsterlime]

Was an excellent race, although it does sound like PH didn't learn from the wet/frozen fun of Saturday.

It should be pointed out that Toyota were running the 2012 cars, and NOT their 2013 cars. 1 of which will apparently make its début at Spa.

[threespires]

hyper jay said:

2014 will see that change ...

Please explain why to the uninitiated ...

[zebedee]

threespires said:

Please explain why to the uninitiated ...

P O R S C H E

[threespires]

zebedee said:

P O R S C H E

Can you expand please, as I said I know nothing about the series..

[Monsterlime]

Porsche will be bringing their new LMP1 effort in 2014 (not the 991 RSR as seen on Sunday) which will be a direct competitor to the Audi and Toyota efforts. Porsche have a rather sizeable amount of pedigree in this class, so it should make things rather interesting.

[indyxe]

threespires said:

Can you expand please, as I said I know nothing about the series..

ACO rule changes to engine design and size has been relaxed from 2014 season, – "The limitations of cylinders, restrictors and turbo pressures are removed.
"BUT" there will be a limit on fuel that can be used per lap, I think its about 4 litres for diesel and 5 litres for petrol, and further reductions on tank capacity.

So for the 2014 season you are going to see more manufacturers coming into the series, including Porsche, and the rumours are Porsche have signed Mark Webber on a 5 year deal.

You may also see formula one engines being used in this series as there is no rules saying they cant, so things look very good for Le Mans 2014

[threespires]

indyxe said:

ACO rule changes to engine design and size has been relaxed from 2014 season, – "The limitations of cylinders, restrictors and turbo pressures are removed.
"BUT" there will be a limit on fuel that can be used per lap, I think its about 4 litres for diesel and 5 litres for petrol, and further reductions on tank capacity.

So for the 2014 season you are going to see more manufacturers coming into the series, including Porsche, and the rumours are Porsche have signed Mark Webber on a 5 year deal.

You may also see formula one engines being used in this series as there is no rules saying they cant, so things look very good for Le Mans 2014

Thanks for info.. I must follow this series more intently.

[hdrflow]

FIA WEC - Silverstone - April 2013 by hdrflow, on Flickr


FIA WEC - Silverstone - April 2013 by hdrflow, on Flickr


FIA WEC - Silverstone - April 2013 by hdrflow, on Flickr

More pics from me on Flickr.

Hopefully pics are allowed in this thread. Mods, please kick me if not.

As usual, was cold and wet at Silverstone. But was great racing.

[Krikkit]

I have high hopes for the 2013-spec TS030 as well. It'd be nice to see LMP1 heating up a bit more.

[hyper jay]

and me .great car

bottom line get to lm 2014

[williamp]

..or this year for the Gt class. You have (almost) works entries (or heavily works supported) entries from Aston, Ferrari, Porsche and Corvette in the Gt category.

The porsche set-up was very impressive on sunday: for 2 cars, they had about 5 transporters. They seem to be taking the GT class very seriously

[hyper jay]

yes ill be there .

i struggled to follow the wec p2 and gt,s this weekend ,was it me or does silverstone not have the ability to use the postion lights on the car doors ?

[indyxe]

hyper jay said:

yes ill be there .

i struggled to follow the wec p2 and gt,s this weekend ,was it me or does silverstone not have the ability to use the postion lights on the car doors ?

yes I was also very annoyed at no position lights on the cars, Its not so bad when you listen to the commentary on radio Le Mans, but my radio batteries died with 2 hours to go.
I was only there for the Sunday WEC race, why is it that the new Silverstone pit complex and straight seems that there is no atmosphere, the podium is miles away from the crowds, and you need binoculars to see anyone on the podium. you cant see all the pits from the opposite side because most of the pit straight is below the level of the track. and last but probably the worst thing about the pits is if you want to get there from the other side of the track you either have to walk miles to get there or get the bus !! why o why didn't the cost in a walk way tunnel into the new development.
All the market stalls selling memorabilia and merchandise were behind the pits so they didn't get my business.

[b0rk]

The position light system is broken for the whole season technical issues with the supplier according to radio lemans. Didn't listen carefully enough to understand if the issue was contractual between ACO and the supplier or if the supplier had gone bump.

[smilo996]

"the works-supported Manthey Porsche 991 RSR cars made their GTE-Pro debut with less of a bang and more of a gentle phut, struggling to match the pace of the Astons and coming in with fourth- and sixth-place finishes in their class of six". Couldn't help but chuckle after all the fanfare of how wonderful the Porka's are. Nice to see Aston and Ferrari on top of their game.

[zebedee]

indyxe said:

yes I was also very annoyed at no position lights on the cars, Its not so bad when you listen to the commentary on radio Le Mans, but my radio batteries died with 2 hours to go.
I was only there for the Sunday WEC race, why is it that the new Silverstone pit complex and straight seems that there is no atmosphere, the podium is miles away from the crowds, and you need binoculars to see anyone on the podium. you cant see all the pits from the opposite side because most of the pit straight is below the level of the track. and last but probably the worst thing about the pits is if you want to get there from the other side of the track you either have to walk miles to get there or get the bus !! why o why didn't the cost in a walk way tunnel into the new development.
All the market stalls selling memorabilia and merchandise were behind the pits so they didn't get my business.

because Silverstone is an embarrasment of a circuit. A spangly new wing with a hopeless media centre with no windows and all the infrastructure set up for the old layout. Gravel, metal fences, cones, buses... It is a disgusting mess and I am ashamed of it. No thought for the fans whatsover or the experience of being there (which is basically quite unpleasant). I'd take a race meeting at Oulton Park any time!