“Really great racing.” “A thriller.” “Arguably the greatest show in WEC history.” “Awesome duel.” Following the spectacular opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in which the new Audi R18 e-tron quattro took victory last Sunday, the media were euphoric.
In the presence of FIA President Jean Todt, the FIA World Endurance Championship delivered first class entertainment at the beginning of the 2015 season. “I don’t think it’s possible to deliver more thrilling motorsport than this,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “The duels we saw were motorsport at its best.”
Pictures of crew members in the Audi, Porsche and Toyota pits shaking their heads in disbelief, followed by heated discussions or beaming faces, could be seen more often than usual during the live TV broadcast from Silverstone. “It was an amazing race – both in the cockpit and watching my two team-mates on track” said André Lotterer, one of the protagonists of the race. “That was great advertising for the WEC.”
The duel between Marcel Fässler in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro and Neel Jani in the Porsche, that was spectacular but fair throughout the race, was a particularly hot topic. The regulations promote different technological concepts. As a result, Fässler and Jani kept overtaking each other – in some cases several times per lap. “We had the fastest car at Silverstone but not in every track section,” says André Lotterer. “Our R18 hugs the track in corners.”
“The Porsche with the largest hybrid system had an advantage on the straights. But our Audi R18 e-tron quattro outperformed our competitors in the demanding twistier sections,” Jörg Zander, Head of Engineering at Audi Sport, agrees in his analysis of the race.
For Chris Reinke, Head of LMP at Audi Sport, the opening round provided a foretaste of what the WEC will offer to fans in 2015. “We’ve got three manufacturers on the grid, bound and determined to win. All three worked hard last winter. This has resulted in a very close field that’s going to make extreme demands on us throughout the season.”
For Audi, this marked the 104th victory in 160 events in prototype racing, but only the first in a total of eight races in the 2015 season. The most important one is coming up for Audi on June 13/14: the Le Mans 24 Hours that Audi fans can now particularly look forward to after the fascinating season opener.