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Le Mans / ALMS
LE MANS: Audi Sweeps Six Hours Of Spa
German diesels take unprecedented 1-2-3-4 sweep in second round of FIA WEC. Jota (LMP2) and Team Felbermayr-Proton (GTE-Pro) among class winners in Belgium...
The No. 3 Audi R18 Ultra of Romain Dumas, Loic Duval and Marc Gene took top honors at the final WEC race prior to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. (Photo: John Dagys)
Facing no factory competition, Audi headed into Saturday’s Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps as the clear favorite for top honors in the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The German diesels lived up to those expectations, taking a dominant sweep in a relatively trouble-free race at the famed Belgian circuit.
The No. 3 Audi R18 Ultra of Romain Dumas, Loic Duval and Marc Gene led an Audi 1-2-3-4 in the battle that began in wet conditions but dried out by the second hour. Those conditions benefited Audi’s traditional diesels, especially in the middle hours, compared to its pair of debuting diesel-hybrids.
Andre Lotterer in the No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro led the early stages but co-driver Benoit Treluyer lost the top spot on Lap 61 to Duval’s R18 Ultra, which started on intermediate-slicks. The Frenchman bridged out to a considerable gap to the defending Le Mans winner, who struggled for front grip in the hybrid.
“The car was definitely much better because I spent a few laps at the end with Ben [Treluyer], I could see the car was a little bit quicker and I was able to overtake him,” Duval said. “We didn't fight so much but it was good to extend the lead."
After a final fuel-only stop, co-driver Dumas crossed the line 46.801 seconds ahead of the No. 1 R18 e-tron quattro of Marcel Fassler in second, who made a late unscheduled stop for a suspected tire puncture.
The win for the No. 3 crew marked back-to-back Spa victories for Gene, who made his Audi debut while filling in for the injured Timo Bernhard, and also Duval’s first with the German factory squad in only his second start.
Two other firsts came from Oliver Jarvis and Marco Bonanomi, who finished third in the No. 4 R18 Ultra in both drivers’ factory prototype debuts.
Both of Audi’s R18 e-tron quattros, featuring hybrid power driven to the front wheels, struggled with lack of front grip once the circuit dried out, which ultimately helped decide today's winners in Belgium.
"Every time I wanted to keep the gap with Loic, I was understeering too much and I was making mistakes because I didn't have enough grip on the front,” Treluyer said. “Our front tires were not heating up enough and I couldn't really build the grip on the front. I had to manage with that for many laps."
The pole-sitting No. 2 e-tron quattro of Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen came home fourth after having two off-course excursions and also facing similar conditions to their hybrid teammates.
Rebellion Racing finished the best of the gasoline-powered LMP1s in fifth and sixth overall. However, its No. 12 Lola B12/60 Toyota of Neel Jani, Nicolas Prost and Nick Heidfeld finished some four laps behind the winning Audi.
The No. 21 Strakka Racing HPD ARX-03a of Danny Watts, Jonny Kane and Nick Leventis were classified seventh, with a suspected suspension failure late in the race costing the No. 15 OAK Racing Oak-Pescarolo Judd of Guillaime Moreau an eighth place result.
The hardest-fought battle was seen in LMP2, with ADR-Delta almost turning its pole position into a maiden class victory in the stacked 17-car starting field.
Open-wheel standout Robbie Kerr brought the British squad’s Oreca 03 Nissan to within four minutes of the checkered flag, but a surprise dive into the pits handed the lead and win to the British duo of Sam Hancock and Simon Dolan in the No. 38 Jota Zytek Z11SN.
Dolan had no radio communication during his final stint, making for a drama-filled closing laps for the gentleman racer in only his second prototype start. He edged out Kerr at the line by 6.378 seconds to take the narrow win for the European Le Mans Series regulars running as a guest entrant this weekend.
"I only started racing in 2008 when Sam started coaching me. To win a World Championship race is a dream come true," Dolan said. "Spa has always been a good track for us, really. It's even better now."
Kerr and co-drivers Tor Graves and class pole-sitter John Martin took home top points in the FIA WEC with their runner-up finish, ahead of the No. 48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03 Nissan of Jody Firth, Warren Hughes and Brendan Hartley, another ELMS guest entrant.
The No. 35 OAK Racing Morgan Judd of Bas Leinders and David Heinemeier Hansson came home fourth in class after also leading for a portion of the race.
Sebring winners Starworks Motorsport suffered cruel misfortune after an early race spin into the gravel trap by Enzo Potolicchio led to an oil scavenge pump belt failure for its HPD ARX-03b.
The car rejoined after losing 20 laps but became the quickest LMP2 entry on track, with Ryan Dalziel setting the classes’ fastest race lap en route to a 14th place finish, eighth in FIA WEC classification.
PHOTOS: FIA WEC Six Hours Of Spa
The No. 3 Audi R18 Ultra of Romain Dumas, Loic Duval and Marc Gene led an Audi 1-2-3-4 in the battle that began in wet conditions but dried out by the second hour. Those conditions benefited Audi’s traditional diesels, especially in the middle hours, compared to its pair of debuting diesel-hybrids.
Andre Lotterer in the No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro led the early stages but co-driver Benoit Treluyer lost the top spot on Lap 61 to Duval’s R18 Ultra, which started on intermediate-slicks. The Frenchman bridged out to a considerable gap to the defending Le Mans winner, who struggled for front grip in the hybrid.
“The car was definitely much better because I spent a few laps at the end with Ben [Treluyer], I could see the car was a little bit quicker and I was able to overtake him,” Duval said. “We didn't fight so much but it was good to extend the lead."
After a final fuel-only stop, co-driver Dumas crossed the line 46.801 seconds ahead of the No. 1 R18 e-tron quattro of Marcel Fassler in second, who made a late unscheduled stop for a suspected tire puncture.
The win for the No. 3 crew marked back-to-back Spa victories for Gene, who made his Audi debut while filling in for the injured Timo Bernhard, and also Duval’s first with the German factory squad in only his second start.
Two other firsts came from Oliver Jarvis and Marco Bonanomi, who finished third in the No. 4 R18 Ultra in both drivers’ factory prototype debuts.
Both of Audi’s R18 e-tron quattros, featuring hybrid power driven to the front wheels, struggled with lack of front grip once the circuit dried out, which ultimately helped decide today's winners in Belgium.
"Every time I wanted to keep the gap with Loic, I was understeering too much and I was making mistakes because I didn't have enough grip on the front,” Treluyer said. “Our front tires were not heating up enough and I couldn't really build the grip on the front. I had to manage with that for many laps."
The pole-sitting No. 2 e-tron quattro of Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen came home fourth after having two off-course excursions and also facing similar conditions to their hybrid teammates.
Rebellion Racing finished the best of the gasoline-powered LMP1s in fifth and sixth overall. However, its No. 12 Lola B12/60 Toyota of Neel Jani, Nicolas Prost and Nick Heidfeld finished some four laps behind the winning Audi.
The No. 21 Strakka Racing HPD ARX-03a of Danny Watts, Jonny Kane and Nick Leventis were classified seventh, with a suspected suspension failure late in the race costing the No. 15 OAK Racing Oak-Pescarolo Judd of Guillaime Moreau an eighth place result.
The hardest-fought battle was seen in LMP2, with ADR-Delta almost turning its pole position into a maiden class victory in the stacked 17-car starting field.
Open-wheel standout Robbie Kerr brought the British squad’s Oreca 03 Nissan to within four minutes of the checkered flag, but a surprise dive into the pits handed the lead and win to the British duo of Sam Hancock and Simon Dolan in the No. 38 Jota Zytek Z11SN.
Dolan had no radio communication during his final stint, making for a drama-filled closing laps for the gentleman racer in only his second prototype start. He edged out Kerr at the line by 6.378 seconds to take the narrow win for the European Le Mans Series regulars running as a guest entrant this weekend.
"I only started racing in 2008 when Sam started coaching me. To win a World Championship race is a dream come true," Dolan said. "Spa has always been a good track for us, really. It's even better now."
Kerr and co-drivers Tor Graves and class pole-sitter John Martin took home top points in the FIA WEC with their runner-up finish, ahead of the No. 48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03 Nissan of Jody Firth, Warren Hughes and Brendan Hartley, another ELMS guest entrant.
The No. 35 OAK Racing Morgan Judd of Bas Leinders and David Heinemeier Hansson came home fourth in class after also leading for a portion of the race.
Sebring winners Starworks Motorsport suffered cruel misfortune after an early race spin into the gravel trap by Enzo Potolicchio led to an oil scavenge pump belt failure for its HPD ARX-03b.
The car rejoined after losing 20 laps but became the quickest LMP2 entry on track, with Ryan Dalziel setting the classes’ fastest race lap en route to a 14th place finish, eighth in FIA WEC classification.
PHOTOS: FIA WEC Six Hours Of Spa
Monterey
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