The #7 Audi leaves Austin having retained the championship lead, as they continue their run of podiums with a second place at the 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas. However; they go into the final three races with only a 10 point lead over their rivals.
The points leaders finish the weekend knowing their lead has been cut in the championship with the #17 Porsche taking the win by over a minute from the crew of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer.
Few problems for the #7 will allow them to build on their pace as they prepare for the next round in Fuji on October 11th, a circuit where the team only managed sixth place last year.
It was a double podium with the #8 Audi managing to achieve its first top three finish in what has been a tricky year for the team. The team of Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis had qualified ahead of their fellow Audi counterparts.
Unfortunately, they were unable to capitalise on the good starting position as the car received a one minute stop-go penalty on lap 99 after a mechanic dropped a tyre during one of the earlier pit stops.
The Austin track saw some of the hottest temperatures of the year, with the circuit getting up to 42 degrees in the earlier part of the race.
“Both of our driver squads showed flawless performances in what have been the hottest conditions so far this year,” said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich.
“In spite of spending more than an hour and a half in the cockpit per stint, each driver delivered a consistently strong race before turning the car over to his team mate. At Austin, we were the only manufacturer to finish the race with both cars without any technical issues, but in the end had to admit defeat to Porsche in the battle for victory.”
Chris Reinke, Head of LMP at Audi Sport, praised the performance by the entire squad. “We lost valuable practice time on Thursday due to technical issues. Consequently, in preparing for the race, we weren’t able to check off some of the items on our list such as the important endurance runs of the tires. But no-one was unsettled by this. We showed a concentrated performance and delivered a solid race in challenging conditions.”
