Images: Richard Washbrook/Paolo Depalmas FIA/WEC
After a three-month break following the blue-riband event at Le Mans, all the drivers in the LMP1 category were primed and ready to go back into battle at the Circuit of The Americas, as the changeable weather threw its hand into the mix for the fourth race of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Toyota Hybrid Racing’s #8 TS040 may have been on pole position, but it was the #2 Audi Sport R18 e-tron Quattro that took the glory in Texas after a sudden downpour caused a major shift in the eventual result just after an hour.
The winning team of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer continued their success streak, having won at Le Mans this past July, finishing 53.016 seconds ahead of the sister #1 car of Tom Kristensen, Loïc Duval and Lucas Di Grassi after an eventful six hours.
Sébastien Buemi led the field from the off, streaking away into the distance with some very impressive lap times that saw the #8 car take the initial lead. This was even though the Swiss ex-F1 driver suffered a spin in the early goings.
Then came a surprise isolated thunderstorm, which drenched the cars on the Turn 11 hairpin right before the long straight towards the multi-apex complex at Turn 12.
Though parts of the circuit were still dry, the gravel trap at Turn 12 was turned into an expensive parking lot as one car after another was caught up in the flash flood. Many cars went off line as millions of dollars worth of technology were thrown off the circuit, including the #8 and #7 Toyotas and the #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley. This then brought out the red flag for an extended period, lasting 55 minutes in total.
It was a battle between both Audis and the #14 Porsche that were still in contention for the lead, but the strategy employed by the #2 Audi to double stint the tyres in the first opening minutes, which included no mistakes from any of the drivers and faultless Ingolstadt pitstops, eventually helped to give them victory.
This made it the second 1-2 finish for Team Joest, after what has initially been a difficult season for the project under the guidance of Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, with the #8 Toyota of Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Buemi being able to recover to the final spot on the podium.