Preparation for the new Audi R18 e-tron quattro’s ‘global journey’
38 tons of material for FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC)
Transportation by truck in Europe and air to overseas venues
Ingolstadt,
February 11, 2014 – The new Audi R18 e-tron quattro will be running in eight
World Championship rounds in Europe, Asia, North and South
America in the 2014 season. The logisticians of Audi Sport Team
Joest manage a sizeable cargo volume that will be transported around the globe.
“A World Championship such as the WEC is not only a great sporting and
technological challenge but has to be prepared with high precision in terms of
logistics as well,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “In Audi
Sport Team Joest we’re relying on a squad that has been at home on the world’s race
tracks for decades and that knows what counts – with respect to major tasks as
well as details.”
While the team has been testing since January, the actual racing season, in
terms of logistics, starts with the easier part. After the season opener at Silverstone
in the UK on April 20, the
Spa 6 Hours in Belgium
will follow two weeks later. Four weeks after Spa, on the first weekend in
June, the team will require the material on the test day at Le Mans, where the 24-hour race will be held
14 days later. Within Europe, the entire
hardware as well as the race cars of Audi Sport and Audi Sport Team Joest will
be transported by road.
Audi is preparing three hybrid sports cars for the races at Spa and Le Mans. The squad will
be contesting the other WEC rounds with two R18 e-tron quattro cars. 14 weeks
after Le Mans, the first of five overseas races
follows at Austin in the USA. The FIA
World Endurance Championship has set up a logistical infrastructure for all
teams and will be moving about 200 tons of components to the events by cargo
aircraft. In addition, some material, time permitting, will be transported to
individual races by sea freight. Starting in Europe, a distance of about 49,000
kilometers will be covered to travel to the stops at Austin/USA (Sep 20),
Fuji/Japan (Oct 12), Shanghai/China (Nov 02), Bahrain
(Nov 15), São Paulo/Brazil (Nov 30) and back to Germany. “The material doesn’t
return to Germany
between these stops,” says Chris Reinke, Head of LMP at Audi Sport. “This means
we’ve got to consider the mileage limit of the individual components plus
possible accident damage in our planning. There are some particularly stressed
components, which are subject to defined replacement cycles, as well as single
components that are used several times.”
In addition to the race cars and the spare parts for the vehicles, tools – from
wrenches through to lifting platforms and other garage infrastructure – travel
by air. The team members stow around 36 tons of materials in 176 flight cases –
these are rugged containers that are typically equipped with casters. This
means that, together with the race cars, about 38 tons of equipment are packed
on 19 aircraft pallets.
In addition to the transportation of the material, the company plans the
deployment of its logistics experts with pinpoint precision. A set-up and
dismantling team travels to the 6-hour races a day earlier to receive the
shipment and to set up the garage, and stays a day longer to dismantle the
equipment after the race. Consequently, an event may last between ten or twelve
days for some team members, depending on the location. And for the
logisticians, a new year always begins in December. Immediately following their
return from the last round of the 2013 season in Bahrain, they started to prepare
for the new season.
