It’s fair to say I’ve not had the most relaxing of summers, what with my various Audi Sport obligations and the three Formula E pre-season tests with Dragon Racing. However, I was really looking forward to getting back to competitive action at the Nürburgring last weekend, especially after the opening three rounds of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship had been so exciting. The weather in Germany was fantastic and the 62,000 spectators who turned out made for a wonderful spectacle. In fact, the grandstands were as full at the end of the race as they had been at the start.
 
Before that, during our summer break, Lucas (di Grassi), Olly (Jarvis) and I spent three days together. We had a good time, allowing us to strengthen the harmony that exists within the #8 crew. It proved very positive, actually, and various people within Audi even mentioned it to us.
 
At the Nürburgring, for the first time this season, we didn’t encounter any major issues. Everyone did their jobs perfectly. While a few imperfections, which we’ll address, perhaps cost us second place overall, we must recognise that Porsche was very strong. That’s especially true of the #17 car that ran faultlessly. I took a lot of pleasure from fighting with Timo (Bernhard, #17) during my first stint. I had good pace but the power generated by his Porsche’s hybrid system made it extremely difficult to overtake. I was never really able to pull alongside, which was also due to a lack of grip. However, I was right there on his exhausts for a long time, flat out, and it was really exciting. At the end of the race our team-mates aboard the #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro let us past to see what we could do about the #18 Porsche, but we gave it back once we realised it wouldn’t be possible to overtake.
 
Finishing second between the two Porsches would have benefited Audi in the Constructors’ Championship. It’s also true that we really wanted to win in front of the German fans and Audi employees. But, personally, I don’t feel disappointed or have any regrets. While on paper we only finished fourth, the weekend felt much better than that for the #8 crew and I really hope to continue this upward trend in Austin later this month (September 19).
 
We’ll be doing everything we can to put things right as we still have an ace or two up our sleeve. Circuit of The Americas suits the Audi well, which has won the last two races there. It’s also a track that I personally really like, so it’s the perfect location at which to rebound. The layout’s fast corners should show off our R18 e-tron quattro’s best assets and allow us to extract the maximum. Once again I’m expecting it to be very close but we are clearly going there with the objective of winning!
 
All the best,
 
Loïc