Audi Press Release
- Benoît Tréluyer claims pole position
- Allan McNish only one hundredths of a second behind
- Unsettled weather causes tricky conditions
Ingolstadt/Silverstone, August 25, 2012 – Perfect qualifying result in England: Despite the difficult weather conditions Audi secured the fastest time in qualifying for the fourth time this season in the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC. Audi remains unbeaten in qualifying in the first half of the season after Benoît Tréluyer took pole position in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro at Silverstone. Both Audi R18 sports cars start from the front row on Sunday (August 26, 12:00).
The spectators were treated to a thrilling 20 minute long qualifying session as the tire choice was not easy on the damp track at the start. Audi started qualifying with both R18 sports cars on intermediate tires. Initially Allan McNish held sway in the conventionally powered Audi R18 ultra with start number ‘2’. Afterwards, on the drying track the lap times improved by seconds. When both Audi drivers swapped from intermediate tires to slicks at the halfway stage, Toyota took first place. Three minutes before the end of the session Allan McNish moved to the front. Benoît Tréluyer, who is driving for the first time at Silverstone, countered with a lap time of 1m 43.663s. The Le Mans winner in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro with start number ‘1’ bettered the time of his team mate by two tenths of a second. Allan McNish then went on to improve again. The Scotsman was beaten in qualifying for his home race by the incredibly small margin of one hundredths of a second.
Following the exciting battle between the concepts the Audi hybrid car defended its unbeaten run: at the second race of the season at Spa as well as at the 24 Hours of Le Mans the Audi R18 e-tron quattro remained unbeaten in all three qualifying sessions. It was the first fastest time of the season for Benoît Tréluyer.
Qualifying at Silverstone rounded off a perfect qualifying Saturday for Audi. Roughly two hours before, the brand clinched the first five grid positions at the DTM race at Zandvoort.
Qualifying result
1. Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 43.663s
2. Kristensen/McNish (Audi R18 ultra) 1m 43.673s
3. Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima (Toyota) 1m 44.411s
4. Leventis/Watts/Kane (HPD-Honda) 1m 46.160s
5. Prost/Jani (Lola-Toyota) 1m 46.207s
6. Belicchi/Primat (Lola-Toyota) 1m 46.234s
7. Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck (HPD-Honda) 1m 46.758s
8. Ordonez/Brundle/Brundle (Zytek-Nissan) 1m 49.964s
9. Potolicchio/Dalziel/Sarrazin (HPD-Honda) 1m 49.997s
10. Martin/Charouz/Graves (Oreca-Nissan) 1m 50.129s
