Audi definitely has the capabilities of making unmatched endurance racers. And with the R18 e-tron Quattro leading the charge in today’s endurance scene, they have just recently secured a new milestone for Audi by clinching their 100th LMP win.
Setting this historic milestone on the Texan debut of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Austin, this event parallels with Audi’s first-ever victory in Sebring, America back in March 18, 2000. Again, it was Audi Sport Team Joest who took the win and being a part of the winning squad is none other than Mr. Le Mans himself, Tom Kristensen.
Joined by Loic Duval and Allan McNish, the trio celebrated their third win in this year’s WEC season on the demanding ‘Circuit of the Americas’ after winning the season opener race at Silverstone and the Le Mans 24 Hours. The No.2 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro crossed the finish line with a 23.617-second advantage from the second-place Toyota TS030.
“I’m proud of the whole squad that mastered all the challenges. Winning on the Circuit of the Americas was fantastic. The 100th LMP victory by Audi is a nice tribute to the entire team, also at home in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm”, said Kristensen.
“This was quite literally a very hot race today. It was only decided in the last 80 minutes. But we again managed to be in front. The 100th victory of an Audi LMP sports car is definitely something special. I’m happy for the whole team that has made all this possible”, said the Head of Audi Motorsport, Dr Wolfgang Ullrich.
Race results
1 Duval/Kristensen/McNish (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 187 laps
2 Buemi/Davidson/Sarrazin (Toyota) + 23.617s
3 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) – 1 lap
4 Beche/Heidfeld/Prost (Lola-Toyota) – 4 laps
5 Conway/Martin/Rusinov (Oreca-Nissan) – 9 laps
6 Kaffer/Perez Companc/Minassian (Oreca-Nissan) – 10 laps
7 Charouz/Holzer/Kraihamer (Lotus) – 13 laps
8 Graves/Junco/Walker (Oreca-Nissan) – 14 laps
9 Dyson/Kimber-Smith/Zugel (Zytek-Nissan) – 15 laps
10 Brundle/Heinemeier Hansson/Pla (Morgan-Nissan) – 15 laps
