Tuesday 7th May 2013

Audi eyes Le Mans after Spa win

R18 E-Tron Quattro teams lock out podium at the second round of the WEC

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Another dominant display from Audi this weekend at the Spa Six-Hour resulted in the Number One R18 of Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler coming back from an unscheduled pitstop for a puncture to take the victory. It was part of a dream result for the team, with the other two Audis finishing in second and third to conclude a bona fide podium lockout.

The result puts the team 20 points ahead of factory LMP1 rival Toyota, the newly-revised TS030 being forced to retire after a strong start with a brake overheating issue related to the hybrid system. The sister Toyota, a 2012-spec car, came in behind the Audis in fourth, ahead of the privateer LMP1 cars, among which it was the Lola-Toyota of Jani, Heidfeld and Prost which took the spoils.

Ferrari versus Aston Martin in GTE-Pro

Further back in LMP2, meanwhile, a closely-fought battle in the closing stages of the race resulted in a victory for the Pecom Racing car of Nicolas Minassian, Pierre Kaffer and Luis Perez, who also had to overcome a puncture that caused them not one, but two extra pits stops. 12.5 seconds was the winning margin in the end - nothing like cutting it fine, eh?

Mind you, if you thought that was close, the GTE-Pro class put that to shame. Just ten seconds separated the top three cars, with the winning Ferrari, driven by, Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella finishing nine seconds of the Senna-Makowiecki-Bell Aston Martin, which in turn held off a late charge from the Ferrari of Kamui Kobayashi and Toni Vilander. Kobayashi and Vilander had led the class for a significant proportion of the race, but lost out gallingly in the last round of pit stops. There was further disappointment for Porsche, meanwhile, as the lead 911 RSR, which had been running in third, was involved in a final-hour collision; the remaining car finished in a lowly fifth place. In the GTE-Am class, meanwhile, there was another Ferrari triumph, this time in the hands of Matteo Malucelli, Enzo Potolocchio and Rui Aguas.

With two races down, the WEC teams will now turn their attention to the next event in the series: Le Mans, in mid-June. We hope you'll join us there to see the championship unfold!

[Antj]

whatever way you try to jazz it up Le mans 2013 is going to be a boring LMP1 race, roll on 2014

[Vocal Minority]

I disagree, the Toyota has shown that in 2013 spec it is competitive (both at Silverstone and the one that finished here were 2012). They have the funds and time to test the niggles out.

[AlexS]

The Le Mans spec Toyota and Audi were actually closely matched. The Toyota in 4th was a 2012 car.

[RobGT81]

Vocal Minority said:

I disagree, the Toyota has shown that in 2013 spec it is competitive (both at Silverstone and the one that finished here were 2012). They have the funds and time to test the niggles out.

Not sure about the time.. not long till test day now.