Road to Le Mans: Audi's season so far

[Jack Hunsley]

With the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is as far as I'm concerned the greatest race on earth, just a few short weeks away, we'll be taking a look at each category in the run up to the big day. First up; Audi.

Early Season Impressions

To be quite honest it should be of little surprise to see an Audi at the top of the championship. Two back to back wins for the #7 entry of Lotterer, Fassler and Treluyer at Silverstone and Spa, two circuits which arguably favoured the slicker Porsches more, is certainly an very ominous reality check for any Toyota or Porsche fans.

Whilst there can be no denying that Porsche holds the edge over the one lap, Audi's race pace, more specifically their ability to maintain their pace whilst double stinting their tyres, has allowed them to outmaneuver and out perform their fellow Germans.

The Car

The work over the winter has certainly done Audi the world of good, even if they were far being left in the doldrums at the close of last season. There can be no denying that Audi has the most downforce of any of the LMP1 entries, and - if you believe Alex Wurz - more than any current racing car on the planet, and whilst this caused problems at Silverstone in getting passed the Porsches the Le Mans package raced at Spa seems to bring the best of both worlds.

Add on top of that the now notorious Audi nigh on bulletproof reliabilty, if we put to one side for the moment Bonanomi's mysterious exploding door, the car seems to be almost unstoppable.

The Prediction

Whilst a lot of things can go wrong over 24 Hours of continuous racing, given Audi's speed this season and history at Le Mans, you'd have to be on brave bunny to bet against Audi adding to their 13 Le Mans victories, and even braver to suggest they won't break a record or two in the process. Which car will lead the charge however is another story.

But, if Audi can't outqualify Porsche, the first few hours might be a bit tricker than they'd ideally want...

Do you agree that Audi are the favourites for this years Le Mans 24 Hours? Or do you see a future spanner in the works? Let us know below!

 

[Torcano]

Audi's domination is not annoying because they are racing alongside a pack of cars that are all extremely competent. Makes for a lot of tense and exciting racing.

Just as Dr.Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Motorsport said this last year and cements my love the series as a whole - "We have built a very strong team... we improved things from year to year, we collect experience from year to year, and we push each other to become better from year to year, and I think this should be an advantage compared to teams with less experience. But, people with less experience maybe try new approaches that we would not do, and maybe their approaches could end up as the better ones. Yes, it is an advantage to have a lot of experience and try to use all of the experience, but maybe because of the experience, you stay away from some decisions that, in a very certain situation, could be positive. Even if you have decided out of other experiences, that it is too risky."

Freedom of design always wins, keeps the sport and teams within it in a constant cycle of adapting, changing and evolving... so you never clearly know what to expect from the race.

 

[H34d5h07]

I'm not a Audi fan, and certainly not a fan of the hybrids. But if I had to pick one, I say Porsche all the way! Not totally a Porsche fan boy *cough cough*

 

[Yannick Van Broeck]

I'm going to predict a Porsche win at Le Mans this year, they just look bloody fast in a straight line compared to Audi.

 

[Joel]

Anybody got a link to a good stream for when this race is on its way?

Audi has a chance. Le Mans has always been a good track for them. Going to be very interesting.

 

[Andrew Harper]

I am a Mazda race fan through and through but even though I'm proud that the little Japanese car company is the only Far East overall race winner I hope Toyota do it this time.

Yes the car doesn't quite have the pace of the others but after all the years of trying it would be great for a bit of luck to shine on them and get that win they deserve.

Most importantly though I hope we have a really good race between the different classes. The racing all year has been superb. Whoever wins will thoroughly deserve it

With regards to a stream. Eurosport showed all of it last year. Or if you like purchase the Le Mans app. You can then watch a live stream of the entire race and pick onboard cameras as well.

 

[Brownninja97]

im a massive porsche fanboy so you can guess who i want to win, in all seriousness i just want audi to lose

 

[Arne Dopudja]

Rooting for Porsche but I think everyone will put up a good fight and i don't care who wins. They are all extremely respectable.

 

[Yuri]

Porches will be too fast on the straight, if they can stay out of problems, which they couldn't do so far I think they have the best shot. IF hey stay out of trouble

 

[Deleted member 149851]

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[ubertev]

Absolutely love Audi and their efforts these past couple of years. The competition is great and each car is unique and brings different things to the table. I'm interested in seeing what Nissan can pull out of the hat. All in all if Porsche speed doesn't take the win then Audi's reliability surely will. It will be a battle of strategy.

 

[Michael Watts]

Porsches are just fancy Volkswagons, they'll break and Audi will continue their dominance of the sport

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

Porsches are just fancy Volkswagons, they'll break and Audi will continue their dominance of the sport

You know that most production Audis are actually fancy Volkswagens as they use the same platform