Benoît Tréluyer enjoyed a strong return to the FIA World Endurance Championship by claiming third at last weekend’s 6 Hours of Nürburgring alongside his usual Audi Sport crew-mates, André Lotterer and Marcel Fässler (August 28-30). In front of a record 62,000-strong home crowd the #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro trio asserted their leadership in this year’s Drivers’ standings.
When it became clear that victory at the classic grand prix venue was out of reach, the three-time Le Mans winners set about harvesting the biggest points haul possible in the Eifel region. Although their plan came together perfectly, Dr Ullrich’s men had held higher ambitions for the WEC’s maiden visit to Germany.
“We knew Porsche would be very fast indeed, but still hoped to fare better than we eventually did,” rues Benoît . “Clearly we didn’t manage to extract the full potential of the car and didn’t perform as we’d expected to after the two-day test held at the same track four weeks ago!
“It had been a bit colder in late July and I think that last weekend’s searing heat hampered our progress. We weren’t able to set up and fine-tune the car as we should have. We’ll pore over the data in order to understand why we couldn’t make the tyres or aero work to our liking. All these factors are so intertwined that it only takes one to turn everything upside down!
“Except for my hard and fair battle with Neel Jani’s #18 Porsche, it wasn’t the most thrilling afternoon for us. It quickly became clear that the goal was to pick up as many points as possible. Third was probably the best we could achieve and this is where we finished, although we weren’t able to spice things up like we’d done so far this year. That said, there’s no reason for alarm and we are confident of mounting a victory challenge next time out in Austin.”
The #7 triumvirate eventually came home in third place, thus clinching a valuable podium in their pursuit of a second WEC Drivers’ title.
Benoît and his friends climbed onto the rostrum for an emotional ceremony that saw them receive the cheers from a record crowd of 62,000 fans. Except for the Le Mans 24 Hours, when was the last time a World Endurance Championship round drew such a massive turnout?
“Unbelievable”, “staggering”, “amazing” – Benoît doesn’t have enough words to describe the event. “I was very pleasantly surprised by the overall atmosphere. I think it boils down to the Nürburgring itself, a track that I hadn’t experienced before but immediately became enamoured with. At a venue so steeped in history, something always happens. You can feel it as soon as you walk through the circuit gates.
“From that perspective it was a mega weekend; what a pleasure to meet so many happy WEC fans! The series’ reputation and image have undeniably changed and people are really looking forward to watching the races. There’s tremendous fighting on track and a lot of camaraderie within the paddock, and fans love it! There’s always something going on, be it in the LMP1 or LMP2 categories, and across both GT classes. Endurance racing is a pretty breath-taking affair…”
The trend is sure to continue on September 17-19 when the WEC travels to Austin, Texas, for the 6 Hours of COTA. Benoît, André, and Marcel will already have one eye on conquering the Wild West, just as they did at the US Grand Prix venue last year.