MEDIA INFORMATION May 2, 2015
2015 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
Audi Sport wins at Spa with Michelin: a double stint-and-a-half on the same tyres!
The 2015 6 Hours of Spa (Saturday, May 2) saw victory go to the N°7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer. After monopolising the top three places in Friday’s qualifying, Porsche started the event as favourite.
As expected, the three Porsche 919 Hybrids got away to a strong start to lead the 2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps early on, chased by the Audi Sport and Toyota Racing prototypes which jostled for position in their wake. This situation looked set to last but it evolved as the teams started to run differing tyre strategies after all the LM P1 factory teams had begun the race on MICHELIN’s ‘soft high temperature’ compound.
Toyota Racing was the first team to double stint, on Lap 21, when Alexander Wurz pitted the N°2 Toyota TS 040 Hybrid and re-joined the race 1m4s afterwards with the same tyres on its car’s left wheels. The Austrian was followed into the pits on Lap 22 by Sébastien Buemi in the N°1 sister car which went back out without a change of rubber, saving around 20 seconds in the process to hold its place among the front-runners.
The first Audi Sport driver to double stint was Marco Bonanomi in the N°9 Audi R18 e-tron quattro when the car made its second stop on Lap 47. That provided the team with a chance to evaluate the potential of its Michelin tyres with a view double stinting its N°7 and N°8 cars which were running around 20 seconds behind the N°17 and N°18 Porsche 919 Hybrids at this stage.
The break came on Lap 94 when the N°7 Audi was 21 seconds behind the N°18 Porsche (the N°17 car had been delayed by a 15-second Stop&Go penalty). Audi’s André Lotterer waited for Marc Lieb’s Porsche (N°18) to complete its fourth stop – which lasted 1m22s – before pitting. The Audi re-joined after being mobilised for just 54 seconds since Lotterer didn’t take on new tyres, a decision which allowed him to appear in the lead after three hours of Porsche domination!
This move provided the foundations for Audi Sport’s victory as the German driver focused on holding off his compatriot Lieb in the Porsche. It became clear that, if the N°7 Audi could stay in front after its next stop, the car’s double-stint strategy would give it a strong chance of winning.
Porsche Team realised it needed to respond and make the most of the consistency of its Michelin tyres. On Lap 118, Marc Lieb pitted and re-joined after 49 seconds when the Stuttgart firm decided to double stint, even though the second of these stints was shortened to less than 20 laps.
Thanks to this tactic, the N°18 Porsche 919 Hybrid recovered the lead, but the N°7 Audi R18 e- tron quattro – now in the hands of Benoît Tréluyer – continued to chase.
It took the Frenchman 12 laps to bridge the 23-second gap to the leader and, on Lap 130, he managed to put Audi ahead once more.
MEDIA INFORMATION May 2, 2015
The importance of the upcoming pit stops was evident and, when the N°18 Porsche made its sixth stop, Lieb handed over to Neel Jani as the car was filled with fuel and fitted with fresh tyres. Tréluyer then halted his Audi on Lap 141 and went back out on the same rubber.
The N°7 Audi appeared to be in a good position to win the race, but Jani had no intention of capitulating and a series of quick lap times allowed him to retrieve first place!
Still the suspense wasn’t over as both drivers needed to stop one last time for a ‘splash’ of fuel.
On Lap 157, with half-an-hour remaining, Neel Jani’s last stop in his Porsche 919 Hybrid lasted 51 seconds while the N°7 Audi stayed out on the track. Its lead was 50 seconds when Jani re- joined. The Audi finally made its ultimate halt eight laps later, and the stop lasted just 42 seconds, allowing it to re-join in front.
The last 10 laps saw the Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer car defend its advantage and the Michelin- equipped N°7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro went on to win the 2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
The Michelin tyres on the N°7 Audi completed two stints plus 10 laps (half a stint): “What a fantastic job from Michelin! It’s not often you can enjoy such consistency from a single set of tyres for so long,” noted the highly-satisfied Benoît Tréluyer after the race. “Michelin made a fundamental contribution to our win today.”
“A big thank you to our partners for today’s fantastic race which was rich in drama and action,” said Michelin Motorsport Director Pascal Couasnon. “This year’s 6 Hours of Spa- Francorchamps provided a further illustration of how technologically-advanced tyres can provide spectators with a great show.”
In LM GTE Pro, the N°99 Aston Martin Vantage V8 of MacDowall/Rees/Stanaway took the victory after a thrilling scrap with AF Corse’s N°51 Ferrari 458 (Bruni/Vilander). The Italian car was prevented from a chance of winning by a one-minute Stop&Go penalty just a few laps from the finish (after a mechanic dropped a tyre in the pit lane during the car’s final scheduled stop). Porsche Team Manthey’s two 911 RSRs finished second and third.
Just like three weeks ago at Silverstone, Aston Martin won the LM GTE AM battle with the N°98 Vantage GTE of Dalla Lana/Lamy/Lauda. The N°83 Ferrari 458 (Aguas/Collard/Perrodo) and the N°72 Ferrari 458 (Basov/Bertolini/Shaytar) were the other two cars on the class’s podium.
The next round of the 2015 FIA WEC will be the Le Mans 24 Hours on June 13-14.