Audi take surprise 1-2 finish at rain hit Austin WEC

Audi registered its second straight 1-2 finish in the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with the #2 R18 e-tron beating its sister #1 car by nearly a minute in a rain hit six hour race at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.

Software issues restricted the Audis to fourth and sixth on the grid but the team had little idea as to what lied ahead in the twilight race on Saturday. After initially battling between themselves for position, the two Audis swept past fellow German rivals Porsche to take third and fourth place with the #2 car then driver by Andre Lotterer taking the third spot behind the two Toyotas.

Just after the 90 minute mark, heavy rain drenched the 5.5 km circuit, with several cars including both the Audis and the Porsches aquaplaning and sent to the run off areas. The conditions became so poor that the six hour WEC race had to be red flagged for nearly 1/6th of its total duration.

When the race resumed under the safety car, the order at the first was controversially shaken up with the two Audis and #14 Porsche leading the field as the only cars on the lead lap.

The #14 Porsche driven by Neel Jani then put on some stonking laps to take the lead of the race as the track slowly started to dry out. However, a late final stop and a subsequent problem put the car down in fourth place.

With WEC rivals Toyota and Porsche far down the road, Audi went on to take the first two spots on the podium and a 27 points lead in the LMP1 manufacturers standings.

It was a disappointing day for Toyota after both their drivers lost out due to race restart rules, having comfortably led the race from the start. The #8 Toyota of championship leaders Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Nicolas Lapierre finished in only third place, having once enjoyed a 35 second advantage over the rest of the field. The trio, however, stays on top in the WEC drivers standings, albeit with a reduced advantage of 10 points.

The sister Toyota finished down in 6th place as the last of the factory prototypes behind the #20 Porsche of Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Tom Bernhard.

In LMP1-L category, the #12 Rebellion Racing of Nick Heidfeld, Nicolas Prost and Mathias Beche had the top honors while the LMP2 victory went to #47 KCMG. Aston Martin tasted champagne in both the GTE categories.

LMP1-H (HYBRID) Results

1. Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer (Audi) 157 laps

2. Kristensen/Duval/di Grassi (Audi) 157 laps

3. Davidson/Lapierre/Buemi (Toyota) 157 laps

4. Dumas/Jani/Lieb (Porsche) 156 laps

5. Webber/Hartley/Bernhard (Porsche) 155 laps

6. Wurz/Sarrazin/Conway (Toyota) 155 laps