Audi wins WEC season opener at Silverstone

Audi Sports car no 7 driven by Marcel Fässler/ André Lotterer/ Benoît Tréluyer has won the season opener of World Endurance Championship at 6 hours of Silverstone after a nail biting battle with Porsche Team’s car no 18 driven by the trio Romain Dumas/Neel Jani/Marc Lieb who finished 2^nd and car no 1 of Anthony Davidson/Sebastien Buemi/Kazuki Nakajima of Toyota Racing finished on the last step of the podium.

With Porsche Team’s car no 17 on pole and Mark Webber behind the wheel at the start, Webber got a good start off the line while the Audis and Toyotas and other Porsche LMP1 cars battled for track position from the very start of the race. Webber was able to pull away from the pack gradually with his amazing start on the first lap, but 44 laps into the race, car no 17 started to reveal its gremlins. Porsche was forced to pit the car due to gearbox issues, and soon retire from the race as they would not be able to repair the car in time. This left Audi Sport’s no 7 to take the lead and on to win the race.

The victory wasn’t all easy for Audi as the remaining no 18 Porsche took the fight straight to final stages of the race with neither car giving up. Track positions were traded like stocks; eventually the no. 7 Audi was victorious with a 4.610 second advantage. At the beginning, events in the race did not seem to augur well for the no. 7 Audi. As Benoît Tréluyer struggled to engage the correct gears, who had started fifth, lost a lot of ground and had to battle his way forwards again through half of the field on the first laps. After two and a half hours, André Lotterer took over driving duties from Marcel Fässler and 30 minutes later the lead in the race.

Finishing fourth was Toyota Racing’s car no. 2 driven by Conway/Sarrazin/Wurz. Lucas di Grassi, Loïc Duval and Oliver Jarvis took fifth place following two unscheduled pit stops for Audi Sport in the sister car.

LMP2

G-Drive racing’s no. 26 clinched victory for the LMP2 category driven by Sam Bird, Julien Canal and Roman Rusinov while sister car no 28 finished 2^nd both powered by Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 engines. Car no 30 of Extreme Speed Motorsport finished 3^rd powered by a Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6 engine.

LMGTE Pro

Gianmaria Bruni/Toni Vilander driving car no 51 for AF Corse team in the Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 finished first in class and 10^th overall, ahead of Richard Lietz/Michael Christensen for Porsche Team Manthey finshed 2^nd in the Porsche 911 RSR no 91 and AF Corse team’s car no 71 finished 3^rd in class driven by Davide Rigon/James Calado.

LMGTE Am

Aston Martin Racing finished 17^th overall and 1^st in class in the LMGTE Am category with car no 98 driven by Paul Dalla Lana/Pedro Lamy/Mathias Lauda. The remaining two podium finishes went to the car no.  83 and 72, Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 cars of AF Corse and SMP racing finishing 2^nd and 3^rd in class and 18^th and 19^th overall.

The next round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, of 6 hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium will take place on May 2^nd.