The WEC Six Hours of Shanghai was Toyota’s best chance to win a round the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship, after having been beaten by Audi five times straight. The track suited Toyota’s hybrid system, the climate suited Toyota’s set-up, and for the first time all season, the petrol-powered Toyota TS-030 hybrids were faster than the diesel-fueled Audi R18 e-tron quattros.
Toyota started from the pole, opened a big gap early, and controlled the race for the first five-and-a-half hours.
Unfortunately for Toyota Shanghai was a six-hour race.
With 34 minutes left in the race, the #7 Toyota driven by Alex Wurz pulled out of the pits almost two seconds ahead of the #1 Audi of Benôit Tréluyer. By the end of the next lap Wurz still had a lead of almost a second. But in pushing so hard to stay ahead, Wurz cooked his rear tires.
Wurz knew that the Audi had fresh rubber, and would be quicker for a few laps until the tires wore down. Instead of sticking to a steady pace, even if it meant Tréluyer by and then retaking the lead later, Wurz tried to keep ahead of the Audi. Here Toyota’s two-wheel-drive hybrid system was a hindrance—when Wurz hit the gas exiting corners, he dumped an extra 300 horsepower onto the rear tires, which were already struggling to cope with the 500-horsepower engine.
Meanwhile Audi, which had struggled for grip all day, found that its cars worked perfectly in the cooler evening temperatures, and its four-wheel-drive hybrid system, which had been a hindrance at the start of the race when the track was slippery, now gave the cars all the grip they needed—particularly in traffic, where that extra dose of torque can make all the difference in getting around a slower car.
After chasing the Toyota for two laps, Tréluyer caught Wurz on lap 173. The pair approached the slower P2-class #45 Oak Racing Morgan-Nissan and Wurz hesitated for an instant, deciding which side to pass on. Tréluyer pounced; he hammered the gas, calling up the full power of the Audi diesel V6 and the two electric motors driving the front wheels, and spurted past on the inside.
By the end of lap 174 it was the #1 Audi which had a two-second advantage; two laps later it was five seconds—then seven, nine, thirteen. On lap 190 Benôit Tréluyer in the #1 Audi crossed the finish line more than 125 seconds ahead of his rival, giving Audi its sixth win of the season in a race which had looked lost forty minutes earlier.
World Championship for McNish, Kristensen, Duval
Tréluyer and co-drivers André Lotterer and Marcel Fässler earned an unexpected win, but that wasn’t the high point of the race for Audi.
The second Audi, with Allan McNish at the wheel, finished a lap behind the Toyota. The drivers of the #2 Audi had raced conservatively all day, staying clear of the conflicts at the front of the field, and rolled home to take a podium and enough points to win the WEC Driver’s Championship.
For veterans Allan McNish, and Tom Kristensen, already victors at every major endurance race around the world, this was the one honor they had yet to earn, a World Championship. For newcomer Löic Duval, what a tremendous way to start a career.
For Audi, the race was validation that preparation and determination could pay off no matter how bleak the immediate prospects. Slower from the start, a lap down after an incorrect tire choice and an untimely puncture, the team showed the strengths which make it the best in endurance racing.
Audi Triumphs in the End
André Lotterer pushed hard after his unplanned early pit stop, equaling the pace of the leading Toyota at times. Benôit Treluyer drove an amazing stint in the middle of the race, setting numerous fast laps and closing the gap to the leading cars even though it seemed certain the car would finish off the podium.
While the Toyotas traded the lead, the #1 Audi overtook its team car and pushed hard to catch the Toyotas. When the #7 Toyota suffered a puncture with two hours to go, the #1 Audi was close enough to move into second place. When the #8 Toyota’s right front suspension failed with 90 minutes left in the race, the #1 Audi took the lead, but only for a lap before it had to pit.
With one hour to go, Fässler in the #1 Audi trailed Nicolas Lapierre in the #7 Toyota by thirty seconds, but Audi had an advantage: the Audi could finish with one more fuel stop, but the Toyota would either have to slow down to stretch its fuel, or make a second very short stop—a “splash and dash”—to get to the finish.
Lapierre brought the Toyota in with 54 minutes left in the race; Alexander Wurz took over. The Audi stayed out another 15 minutes, then Fässler handed off to Tréluyer as the Toyota sailed by into the lead.
Then Toyota made an ingenious strategic move: rather than waiting until late in the race to pit, hoping to have enough of a gap to get in and out without losing the lead, the team called Wurz in two laps later.
If Toyota had waited, the team would have run the risk that a yellow flag might have bunched up the field, erasing the necessary advantage. By pitting early and adding just enough fuel to finish, the team got Wurz back out just ahead of the Audi, with no need to conserve fuel. The race would be settled by a 30-minute shootout, and Toyota had been the faster car all weekend. Toyota had put itself in the best possible position to take its first win of the season.
Toyota made a brilliant strategy call, but it wasn’t enough. The Toyota, heavy on full tanks and with eight more laps on its tires, couldn’t match the Audi on fresh rubber and with an inspired Benôit Tréluyer behind the wheel.
2013 has been a tremendous year for Audi. The team won the Constructors’ Championship and the Driver’s Championship, and six of the first seven races (and Toyota was awarded the win at Fuji based on qualifying, as a typhoon prevented any green-flag racing.)
There is only one race left on the schedule, the Six Hours of Bahrain on November 30. Toyota has a decent chance at Bahrain, as its cars perform well in the heat—better than the Audis, judging by Toyota’s early dominance at Shanghai. Bahrain stretches into the evening, but the temperature won’t drop that way it did at Shanghai, which means Toyota could have an advantage if the race is close at the finish.
Tickets for the FIA_WEC Six hours of Bahrain can be ordered online through the FIA/WEC website.
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