Benoît Tréluyer and his Audi Sport crew-mates Marcel Fässler and André Lotterer extracted every ounce of performance from their R18 e-tron quattro to secure fourth in Saturday’s 6 Hours of Bahrain (November 15), the seventh round of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship.
The Le Mans-winning trio’s efforts were not in vain as the Sakhir result enables Audi to stay in the hunt for the Manufacturers’ title. The Ingolstadt giant will take the championship fight to the wire, with everything to play for at Brazilian circuit Interlagos on November 30. It will not be an easy task, but the German outfit are used to winning against the odds.
“When a team is not racing at the front, you can really measure their true strength,” noted Tréluyer as he glanced up at the Sakhir podium. “Everybody works flat out, the atmosphere is great and there is no way we are giving up. We expected to be slightly more competitive in Bahrain, with higher temperatures allowing us to bring more performance to the tyres. While we were fast during the opening laps, we ran into issues as soon as we picked up rubber from the racing line when overtaking GT or LMP2 cars. We were losing speed through the corners and fuel consumption was rising, which meant we could not really push.”
Thankfully, the #2 Audi crew could rely on their track engineers Leena Gade and Justin Taylor who were not short of the clever solutions and strategies they have become renowned for.
“We took advantage of a full course yellow to switch tyres,” explained Benoît afterwards. “From then on we knew that, should we manage to save a little fuel, we’d be able to avoid a late splash and dash, which was quite a bold move! I had to save a lot of fuel during my opening lap so was not able to bring enough heat to the new tyres. I picked up quite a lot of rubber and subsequently experienced a tough first stint. We did not make the same mistake for my second spell aboard the R18, however. This time, I pushed right from the start and set good times over the first 10 laps. Unfortunately, I could not keep that kind of pace up because there was oil on-track, and then I started suffering with marbles again.”
Another peerless display of pit-stop efficiency from the #2 Audi mechanics enabled the 2012 WEC champions to rectify part of their on-track deficit, demonstrating a fast, assured and clinical performance from the crew.
“We are so proud of them all,” declared Tréluyer. “They simply refuse to give up, which consequently fuels our desire to keep fighting. The entire Audi Sport team is determined to bounce back. True, we feel a bit down, but we need to roll up our sleeves and carry on working hard. The Manufactures’ title remains up for grabs, while we have to defend our second place in the Drivers’ standings. Once again, we don’t expect to have it easy in Brazil, but we know we often find a way to emerge as contenders. For instance, the most optimistic race simulations had us finishing fifth in Bahrain. Of course, we took advantage of some of our rivals hitting trouble, but you still have to be there in order to seize any opportunity that arises. We may not be as fast as the frontrunners, but we have enjoyed great reliability and remain more than capable of fully optimising our package to get those last few tenths.”
Interlagos is not the ideal playing field for Audi, with two significant acceleration zones following slow corners, plus a pair of long straights. However, Dr. Ullrich and his team will not give up on their championship hopes.
“We will give everything until the very last corner of the very last lap,” concluded Benoît as he left the Kingdom of Bahrain. With his sights firmly set on the Brazilian Grand Prix venue, Tréluyer remains determined to help Audi hold on to the Manufacturers’ crown.