Vice world championship title for Audi drivers

In one of the season’s most thrilling WEC races, the brand with the four rings dominated the action in the early stage. Initially, Lucas di Grassi (BR) in the number ‘8’ Audi R18 e-tron quattro led the race, trailed in second place by the sister car. In these positions, Audi was heading for the title, as the Porsche of its championship rival had lost ground. However, when Loïc Duval (F) in the number ‘8’ Audi lost eight laps due to a brake disc defect, the tide turned. Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer battled up to the end of the race and saw the checkered flag in second place, while Timo Bernhard/Brendon Hartley/Mark Webber only needed fifth place for Porsche to win the title. Lucas di Grassi/Loïc Duval/Oliver Jarvis achieved sixth place.

“Sincere congratulations to Porsche on their victory and to their driver trio on winning the title,” said Dieter Gass, Deputy Head of Audi Motorsport. “We delivered a thrilling season to the fans in endurance racing, in which Audi was leading the championship until the fifth race and battling for the title up to the last lap in the finale. The team’s performance this season was impressive but, unfortunately, in the end it wasn’t quite enough for the title.” 

Still, Audi’s track record remains positive. Following the first four years of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the brand with the four rings continues to be the most successful manufacturer. 15 of the 32 race wins went to the Audi R18. No other manufacturer has such a high win rate in the LMP1 class. In addition, Audi has won two of the four driver world championships since 2012, as well as two of four manufacturers’ titles. An Audi driver trio is holding a record as well. Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer, in addition to a world championship title, have celebrated ten overall victories to date – in other words they have won 31.3 percent of all races, more than any other driver has. In the 2015 season, they clinched a podium place in all the rounds, a feat that has not been achieved by any other driver team.

“We owe a debt of gratitude for this to the whole squad,” said Chris Reinke, Head of LMP at Audi Sport. “Audi Sport, all the drivers and the team have done a good job of representing Audi’s colors, never giving up and recording consistently good performances. The work this season that was often hard has paid off, even though in the end we were lacking a few points. Audi was strong up to the end for the fourth consecutive year. Our congratulations go to Porsche on their title win.”  

Race results

1 Dumas/Jani/Lieb (Porsche) 199 laps

2 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) +1m 25.310s

3 Conway/Sarrazin/Wurz (Toyota) –3 laps

4 Buemi/Davidson/Nakajima (Toyota) –3 laps

5 Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (Porsche) –9 laps

6 Di Grassi/Duval/Jarvis (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) –11 laps

7 Bird/Canal/Rusinov (Ligier-Nissan) –16 laps

8 Bradley/Howson/Tandy (Oreca-Nissan) –16 laps

9 Derani/Gonzalez/Yacaman (Ligier-Nissan) –17 laps

10 Chatin/Dillmann/Panciatici (Alpine-Nissan) –17 laps