Motorsport: Only Marcel Fässler could laugh
At the fourth round of the World Endurance Championship at the Nürburgring, only Marcel Fässler of the three Swiss factory drivers made it onto the podium with Audi. Le Mans winner Neel Jani suffered a slight setback and Sébastien Buemi experienced another disappointment. The weekend at the Nürburgring had started promisingly from a Swiss perspective with Marcel Fässler's surprising pole position. In the race over 6 hours [...]
The weekend at the Nürburgring had started promisingly from a Swiss perspective with Marcel Fässler's surprising pole position. In the race over 6 hours, the man from Schwyz was ahead until he handed over his Audi R18 to André Lotterer, setting the fastest race laps. Due to problems with the aerodynamics, which could only be solved by changing the front, Fässler/Lotterer could not quite keep up the pace of the front runners after that. Unlike Porsche, Audi was also unlucky with a caution period. In the end, the duo finished third behind their teammates. "What's important for us is that we've made technical progress and can fight for victory again," says Fässler, drawing a positive conclusion with a view to the upcoming overseas races.
The Porsche with Neel Jani definitely had a chance of winning, but two hits with a GT car cost time. The second time, the rear of the 919 Hybrid had to be repaired. "I had a nice battle with both Audis but we lacked the speed on the straights to be able to seriously attack them," said the Le Mans winner explaining fourth place. Apparently, Audi had found the better compromise between top speed and downforce in the aero package. The triumph of Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley shows that this alone does not count. Both Audi R18 cars finished 54 seconds behind them - at that point, there was probably already an internal team order thanks to which the second-placed trio Lucas di Grassi/Loïc Duval/Oliver Jarvis made up six points instead of just three to the WRC leaders Neel Jani/Romain Dumas/Marc Lieb.
Toyota experiences another race to forget
The choice of tire compound for the race made before qualifying in accordance with the regulations proved to be less than ideal for the two Toyota TS050 Hybrids, as did the aerodynamics geared to high downforce. As a result, the team soon lost touch with the competition and thereafter only looked to bring both cars to the finish. Fifth place is the best result of the season so far for Sébastien Buemi!
In the LMP1 privateer teams, the Rebellion trio Mathéo Tuscher, Alexandre Imperatori and Dominik Kraihamer (A), who retired at Le Mans, took their third win of the season. In the LMP2 class, the Ligier-Nissan managed by Benoît Morand from Freiburg finished a great second among eleven cars.
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Photos: Archive
