While Benoit Treluyer and his crew-mates Marcel Fassler and Andre Lotterer eventually lost out to Porsche in the World Endurance Championship Drivers’ title, their eight consecutive podium finishes have certainly felt like a victory for the entire Audi Sport team, who have come out the 2015 FIA WEC campaign stronger.
After winning the opening two rounds at Silverstone and Spa, the triple Le Mans winners remained on the podium all season with four P3s and a couple of second-place finishes to become vice world champions for the third year in a row. Treluyer and his #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro crew-mates were fighting at front right up to the final lap of last weekend’s season finale, the 6 Hours of Bahrain (November 19-21).
“It was a pretty good weekend,” said the Frenchman, without a trace of disappointment in his voice. “Marcel and Andre did a top job in qualifying to put our car on the second row of the grid and the race was exactly what we expected. Apart from struggling a little to bring the front tyres back to optimum temperature after the Safety Car periods and full course yellows, the car performed extremely well.
“We were definitely in the mix for the win; Porsche didn’t seem as competitive as us in the early stages of the event but, as the temperature started to drop, this seemed to change slightly. We have a very different operating window, which obviously leads to great racing between us. Last weekend we battled even closer with Porsche on a circuit that did not suit us best given the ‘on-off’ sections, which require a lot of energy to get the car going again.
“To be honest, we did not expect to fare that well in Bahrain. We’ve improved at every race this year, which I think is something we can be very proud of. The team has done a stellar job and we fought hard all season. We had an ideal start to the 2015 campaign and, after experiencing a small dip at Le Mans and the Nurburgring, we came back to top form.”
Although Audi Sport and its 2012 championship-winning trio followed a risky strategy, the team can be extremely proud of their efforts as they were just pipped to victory by Porsche.
“Even if we had won in Sakhir, I think Porsche would have managed to bring the #17 car home in fourth place and secure the title anyway, so we don’t have any regrets,” adds Benoit. “We wanted to finish on a high and did. Now we can go into the winter break with the determination to come back stronger next year.”
Treluyer is happy to be competing in a world championship that seems to be going from strength to strength at the moment. He is proud as well to belong to the Audi family, where the warm atmosphere within the team only matches the level of competence and professionalism.
The Normandy-born racer already has his eye on 2016. “I’m going straight to Neuburg after Bahrain to debrief the weekend,” he enthused. “We’re already preparing for the 2016 championship charge. Whilst we’re not champions this year, we can be immensely proud of what we’ve accomplished this year. The team plans on increasing its efforts over the winter and we have very high expectations of the new car, which will be unveiled on Saturday 28 November. As always, there is still progress to be made but we must also congratulate the mechanics, engineers and all members of the squad for the amazing job they do on a daily basis. We want to reclaim both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles in 2016 and, as has been the case this year, we will keep pushing hard in order to reach this goal!”
That is not a wish, it is a promise.