Audi performance "horrible"posted in LEMANS19 | 06 | 2016
AUDI PODIUM WINNER Lucas di Grassi described the 13-time winner’s 2016 Le Mans 24-Hours as "horrible”, minutes after finishing 12 laps behind the winning Porsche.
The second #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro finished fourth, a further five laps back; and the #8 Audi was only promoted to the podium after the #5 Toyota was disqualified for not completing its final lap fast enough.
"For us it was a horrible race," the Brazilian, who shared the third-placed car with Swiss Loic Duval and Brit Ollie Jarvis.
"To finish on the podium is a nice reward, but this race performance is not Audi, with how many times we went into the garage, how many repairs we had to do, and how much time we spent stopped.
"We have to improve a lot. We have to beat the others on the track."
Early-on in the race, the #7 Audi lost 20 minutes having a turbo changed; then the #8 car suffered damage because of a brake disc problem. That resulted in a 39-minute repair for the suspension to be changed.
Related: Toyota distraught, but delight for Hoy
This was followed by the #7 Audi pitting again to have a precautionary brake change of its own. In addition, both cars endured other unscheduled pitstops.
It was all very un-Audi, and uncharacteristic of the German team which prides itself on efficiency and reliability.
"We have a lot of homework to do after this race," di Grassi continued. "Toyota improved from last year and Porsche showed their pace. We had the pace only a few times in the race, and we had too many repairs.
"This podium shows we fight, no matter what the difficulties we had, but we have to come back stronger."
The German manufacturer — whose new car is the most technologically advanced in the sport, and which is the first of a pioneering new breed of hybrid sportscars — uncharacteristically struggled for reliability.
“It’s certainly not gone as smoothly as we had hoped,” three-times winner, Dumfries racer Allan McNIsh, and who is now a pivotal figure at Audi, admitted. “But we’ll learn from this, and come back bigger and stronger.”
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Jim McGill