By Tarek Ramchani
The beautiful and challenging Spa-Francorchamps circuit played host to a thrilling FIA World Endurance Championship round two today. Audi won the 6-hour event after titanic battles with Porsche.
It was not an easy race for Audi Sport Team Joest and their three works Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars. The German team faced a great challenge from Toyota and mainly from the Porsche Team with strong 919 Hybrid cars. Race fans on site and all over the world enjoyed great battles for the outright lead between the #7 Audi and the #18 Porsche.
After a hard and fought race, André Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler were the winning drivers behind the wheel of the #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro. The three-time Le Mans winners have taken their second straight vicotry in FIA WEC following the win at Silverstone last time out.
Second place went to the #18 Porsche with drivers Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb. Their team-mates at Porsche Team Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley were third.
The #9 Audi took an honorable fourth place overall. Marco Bonanomi, René Rast and Filipe Albuquerque had a solide race preparing the upcoming Le Mans 24 Hours.
Best of the Toyotas is the #2 TS040 Hybrid in fifth place with drivers Alexander Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway. Sixth place went to the #19 Porsche driven by Nico Hülkenberg, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber.
Unlucky race for the #8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro. Loïc Duval, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis ended in seventh place overall after facing technical issues on their car. In the closing stages, Oliver Jarvis went off the track. The car finished in seventh place overall.
More to come.
Photo credit: Audi Media
