WEC – Audi remains satisfied with its performance at Fuji

Toyota ne cachait pas sa joie hier d?être venu à bout des deux Audi R18 e-tron quattro sur ses terres à Fuji Speedway. Le duel était intense entre la Toyota TS030 de Kazuki Nakajima, Alexander Wurz and Nicolas lapierre and the R18 n°1 of Benoît Tréluyer, Marcel Fässler and André Lotterer until the last French winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans does not hit theAston Martin V8 Vantage taking it for a spin. An early stop to change the front hood and a stop & go inflicted after the collision caused the No. 1 to lose too much time for Audi to be able to catch up with Toyota regularly, even if Kazuki Nakajima only won. ?11 seconds ahead of André Lotterer as he took the checkered flag.

“Our day wasn't so bad, even if our goal was to win ahead of Toyota”, declared Benoît Tréluyer at the end of the 6 Hours of Fuji, who with his teammates still has 16,5 points over Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish, the drivers of the No. 18 R2, who took third place. . “We attacked from the start and some risks were taken. Unfortunately, I had a collision with a competitor in traffic. It's disappointing to lose by just 11 seconds, but we still increased our lead at the top of the Championship. »

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich also draws positive elements from the situation, aware that his Japanese rival has quickly placed himself at the level of the Ingolstadt manufacturer. “We had a very good race”, assured the Audi sporting director. “If we finish just 11 seconds late despite a repair and stop & go inflicted on the No. 1, that proves our level of performance. We fought for the car and we were able to win it, but unfortunately it didn't work. Toyota was very competitive here, winning at home. I congratulate them. »

Discover the analysis of the 6 Hours of Fuji carried out by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.