Audi secures third place at the 24-hour Le Mans race

Audi, for the past five years, has been producing spectacular results in the famous endurance at Le Mans and this time too,  it secured podium results but missed taking the 14th victory it was aiming for. Audi ended up with positions three, four and seven.

This time it was last year’s winners André Lotterer (D), Marcel Fässler (CH) and Benoît Tréluyer (F). In their Audi R18 e-tron Quattro, they took third place behind Nico Hulkenberg and Mark Webber’s Porsche  cars. In addition, with a lap time of 3m 17.475s, Lotterer achieved a new track record.  

“That was motorsport at the very highest level. The spectators witnessed a tremendous endurance race in which the two Group sisters, Audi and Porsche, fought the expected fierce and thrilling duel for victory,” said Prof. Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. “We can only congratulate our colleagues from Stuttgart on this success because we know exactly how difficult it is to win this race,”  he said extending his wishes to the winners.

Victory in the 83rd running of the iconic endurance race was decided between Audi and Porsche. The lead kept changing between both manufacturers before the decider on Sunday morning. 

All three Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars were fast but unfortunately André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer, had to face some trouble with their car with  an early puncture and then a large section of the engine hood came adrift on Sunday shortly before 7.00 and caused further damage to the car. The repair was accomplished in 6.56 minutes, but the two lost laps could no longer be recovered.

Lucas di Grassi (BR), Loïc Duval (F) and Oliver Jarvis (GB) lost their chance for victory due to an equally bizarre accident. Loïc Duval, in the ‘Indianapolis’ track section shortly before the end of the third hour, heavily hit the guard rails when he was getting out of the way of several slower vehicles and was touched on the rear by a GTE car. That the R18 was able to continue the race after a mere four-minute repair caused amazement and recognition among the observers. In the end, di Grassi/Duval/Jarvis took fourth place.

The Audi R18 e-tron Quattro of Filipe Albuquerque (P), Marco Bonanomi (I) and Le Mans LMP1 rookie René Rast (D) that always remained in striking distance at the top and took the lead several times, seemed to have the best chance for victory. But due to issues with the hybrid system the Audi trio dropped behind the two best Porsche cars on Sunday morning. As a result of the hybrid issues the front left drive shaft had to be changed three hours before the end of the race. The repair took 17 minutes and sealed seventh place in the overall classification.