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Le Mans / ALMS
LE MANS: Toyota Challenges, Audi Wins WEC Silverstone
Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler, Benoit Treluyer overcome surprise challenge from Toyota, take lead FIA WEC Drivers' World Championship...
Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler took their No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro to the victory in the Six Hours of Silverstone. (Photo: John Dagys)
Audi clinched the FIA World Endurance manufacturers' championship with a win in Sunday's Six Hours of Silverstone. But that was only half of the story, as the German manufacturer had to earn its fourth victory of the year, with increased pressure from newcomers Toyota.
Andre Lotterer took his No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro across the line 55.675 seconds ahead of Alex Wurz's Toyota TS030 Hybrid, which led for periods of the six-hour contest but lost out in the fuel mileage race.
The gasoline-powered No. 7 Toyota of Wurz and co-drivers Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima made eight pit stops compared to the diesel-hybrid Audi's seven. Coupled with a safety car period with 90 minutes to go, that split Wurz from the two Audis and cost the Austrian roughly 40 seconds, the Japanese manufacturer still showed impressive pace.
The win for Lotterer and co-drivers Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer propelled the two-time Le Mans champions into the lead of the Drivers' World Championship, 4.5 points ahead of teammates Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen, who came home third today.
“Our strategy was to go as quick as possible all the time," Treluyer said. "We saw very good pace on the Toyota and of course that’s good for the Championship. Of course we were pushing hard and we weren’t sure we could catch up at the end but it was okay.”
Fassler added: “It’s very satisfying to seal the Manufacturers’ Championship for Audi. Four races left and things can change again but for sure we’ve now had another step towards the goal we want to achieve at the end of the year."
McNish and Kristensen's No. 2 Audi R18 ultra dropped back in the second hour with an unscheduled stop for a slowly deflating tire, along with other slight mishaps.
“Now, if you have any problem, it’s difficult to win never mind if you have two or three," McNish said. "With the air jack problem at the start, a puncture and the pace car coming out it negated anything we had. It was difficult after three hours to really do any more."
It wasn't clear sailing for the winning Audi, either, as Treluyer was handed a stop & go penalty for avoidable contact with a GTE-Am Ferrari, also in the second hour. However, the Frenchman managed to recover to take their second consecutive victory of the season.
For Toyota, it marked the team's first-ever podium finish in only its second FIA WEC start, despite an apparent fuel mileage advantage for the diesel powerplants.
“After the first pit stop it was looking difficult because... we were stopping 2 or 3 laps before them and also our refueling time was just a disaster for us as we lost six seconds every time," Lapierre said.
"On track we were very competitive and had the same kind of pace. It was very good and we are really getting better. The car has improved since Le Mans and now we just need to sort out the strategy and refueling problem to fight better with them."
The No. 13 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Toyota of Andrea Belicchi and Harold Primat was the best of the privateer LMP1s in fourth, with Belicchi holding off the No. 21 Strakka Racing HPD ARX-03a of Danny Watts at by just 0.627 seconds at the line for the position and valuable points in the Privateer Trophy title race.
LMP2 saw the the closest race to the checkered flag, with Jan Charouz peddling his ADR-Delta Oreca 03 Nissan to a narrow 5.653-second victory over Stephane Sarrazin, who put in a flying final double-stint aboard the Starworks Motorsport HPD ARX-03b.
The ex-Peugeot ace led the opening 90 minutes but a mid-race safety car period put the ADR-Delta entry one lap up on the highly competitive 15-car field.
A final yellow helped equalize the top-four, which saw Sarrazin reduce the gap from more than one-minute to less than six seconds at the line, aided by a final fuel-only stop for the Starworks car.
It marked the first class win for Charouz and co-drivers John Martin and Tor Graves, along with the British ADR-Delta squad in sports car competition.
“We had a bit of hiccup with the final pit stop which lost us a few seconds," Charouz explained. "I think we were unlucky with the traffic towards the end which allowed Sarrazin to catch us a little... The car wasn’t maybe at its best but we brought it home and won and it’s great."
With their runner-up finish, Starworks' Sarrazin, Enzo Potolicchio and Ryan Dalziel maintain the lead in the LMP2 Teams' Championship heading into next month's Six Hours of Sao Paulo.
The No. 26 Signatech Oreca 03 Nissan of Pierre Ragues, Romain Rusinov and Nelson Panciatici completed the class podium in third, following an impressive late-race drive by the French open-wheel convert.
PHOTOS: FIA WEC Six Hours of Silverstone Gallery
Andre Lotterer took his No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro across the line 55.675 seconds ahead of Alex Wurz's Toyota TS030 Hybrid, which led for periods of the six-hour contest but lost out in the fuel mileage race.
The gasoline-powered No. 7 Toyota of Wurz and co-drivers Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima made eight pit stops compared to the diesel-hybrid Audi's seven. Coupled with a safety car period with 90 minutes to go, that split Wurz from the two Audis and cost the Austrian roughly 40 seconds, the Japanese manufacturer still showed impressive pace.
The win for Lotterer and co-drivers Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer propelled the two-time Le Mans champions into the lead of the Drivers' World Championship, 4.5 points ahead of teammates Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen, who came home third today.
“Our strategy was to go as quick as possible all the time," Treluyer said. "We saw very good pace on the Toyota and of course that’s good for the Championship. Of course we were pushing hard and we weren’t sure we could catch up at the end but it was okay.”
Fassler added: “It’s very satisfying to seal the Manufacturers’ Championship for Audi. Four races left and things can change again but for sure we’ve now had another step towards the goal we want to achieve at the end of the year."
McNish and Kristensen's No. 2 Audi R18 ultra dropped back in the second hour with an unscheduled stop for a slowly deflating tire, along with other slight mishaps.
“Now, if you have any problem, it’s difficult to win never mind if you have two or three," McNish said. "With the air jack problem at the start, a puncture and the pace car coming out it negated anything we had. It was difficult after three hours to really do any more."
It wasn't clear sailing for the winning Audi, either, as Treluyer was handed a stop & go penalty for avoidable contact with a GTE-Am Ferrari, also in the second hour. However, the Frenchman managed to recover to take their second consecutive victory of the season.
For Toyota, it marked the team's first-ever podium finish in only its second FIA WEC start, despite an apparent fuel mileage advantage for the diesel powerplants.
“After the first pit stop it was looking difficult because... we were stopping 2 or 3 laps before them and also our refueling time was just a disaster for us as we lost six seconds every time," Lapierre said.
"On track we were very competitive and had the same kind of pace. It was very good and we are really getting better. The car has improved since Le Mans and now we just need to sort out the strategy and refueling problem to fight better with them."
The No. 13 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Toyota of Andrea Belicchi and Harold Primat was the best of the privateer LMP1s in fourth, with Belicchi holding off the No. 21 Strakka Racing HPD ARX-03a of Danny Watts at by just 0.627 seconds at the line for the position and valuable points in the Privateer Trophy title race.
LMP2 saw the the closest race to the checkered flag, with Jan Charouz peddling his ADR-Delta Oreca 03 Nissan to a narrow 5.653-second victory over Stephane Sarrazin, who put in a flying final double-stint aboard the Starworks Motorsport HPD ARX-03b.
The ex-Peugeot ace led the opening 90 minutes but a mid-race safety car period put the ADR-Delta entry one lap up on the highly competitive 15-car field.
A final yellow helped equalize the top-four, which saw Sarrazin reduce the gap from more than one-minute to less than six seconds at the line, aided by a final fuel-only stop for the Starworks car.
It marked the first class win for Charouz and co-drivers John Martin and Tor Graves, along with the British ADR-Delta squad in sports car competition.
“We had a bit of hiccup with the final pit stop which lost us a few seconds," Charouz explained. "I think we were unlucky with the traffic towards the end which allowed Sarrazin to catch us a little... The car wasn’t maybe at its best but we brought it home and won and it’s great."
With their runner-up finish, Starworks' Sarrazin, Enzo Potolicchio and Ryan Dalziel maintain the lead in the LMP2 Teams' Championship heading into next month's Six Hours of Sao Paulo.
The No. 26 Signatech Oreca 03 Nissan of Pierre Ragues, Romain Rusinov and Nelson Panciatici completed the class podium in third, following an impressive late-race drive by the French open-wheel convert.
PHOTOS: FIA WEC Six Hours of Silverstone Gallery
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