WEC Austin: Audi celebrates 100th LMP overall victory
On its premiere at Austin, the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) delivered suspense to the 33,000 spectators through to the end. The ZF partners Audi and Toyota fought a battle for overall victory on the Circuit of the Americas. After six hours of racing, Loïc Duval (F), Tom Kristensen (DK) and Allan McNish (GB) in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro won with a 23.617-second advantage. Audi made prudent tactical moves and on making the scheduled changes to new tires leveraged the talent of its drivers and the strengths of its hybrid sports car to achieve optimum lap times.
Toyota with Anthony Davidson/Sébastien Buemi/Stéphane Sarrazin (GB/CH/F) at the wheel clinched second place in front of the Audi driven by Marcel Fässler (CH), André Lotterer (D) and Benoît Tréluyer (F). For Audi, this marked the 100th overall victory of an LMP sports car. The winners of Austin enlarged their lead in the standings to 33 points. The R18 e-tron quattro uses a high-tech clutch from ZF. Toyota has had a technical partnership with ZF since this season.
Results, Austin (USA), round 5, WEC, Sep 20–Sep 22, 2013:
1. Kristensen/Duval/McNish, Audi, 6h 00m 31.331s, ZF
2. Buemi/Davidson/Sarrazin, Toyota, + 23.617s, ZF
3. Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer, Audi, - 1 lap, ZF
4. Prost/Heidfeld/Beche, Lola-Toyota, - 4 laps, ZF
5. Rusinov/Martin/Conway, Oreca 03-Nissan, - 9 laps
6. Perez-Companc/Minassian/Kaffer, Oreca 03-Nissan, - 10 laps
7. Charouz/Holzer/Kraihamer, Lotus T128, - 13 laps
8. Graves/Walker/Junco, Oreca 03-Nissan, - 14 laps
9. Zugel/Dyson/Kimber-Smith, Zytek-Nissan, - 15 laps
10. Pla/Heinemeier Hansson/Brundle, Morgan-Nissan, - 15 laps
Drivers’ World Championship Standings:
1. L. Duval/T. Kristensen/A. McNish, 138 points; 2. M. Fässler/A. Lotterer/B. Tréluyer, 105; 3. S. Buemi/A. Davidson/S. Sarrazin, 81; 4. N. Heidfeld/N. Prost, 48; 5. M. Gené/L. di Grassi/O. Jarvis, 45; 6. M. Beche, 44; 7. A. Lapierre/A. Wurz, 37; 8. P. Kaffer/N. Minassian/L. Perez Companc, 25; 9. B. Baguette/R. Gonzalez/M. Plowman, 24.5; 10. K. Nakajima, 24.
Constructors’ World Championship Standings:
1. Audi, 154 points; 2. Toyota, 85.
Formula 1: Alonso consolidates second place in World Championship with great recovery
A great gain despite a poor grid position – Fernando Alonso showed a brave performance at round 13 of the Formula 1 World Championship season at Singapore. The Spaniard, whose Ferrari is equipped with dampers from ZF Friedrichshafen AG, had only qualified for grid position seven. In the race, Alonso recovered one position after the other. On crossing the finish line, he added second place to his tally for the third time in succession. Thus, the two-time World Championship has consolidated his position as the runner-up in the Drivers’ World Championship.
Another podium place of a ZF partner team was secured by Kimi Räikkönen. The Lotus team of the third-placed Finn relies on clutches from ZF Friedrichshafen AG in its race cars.
Nico Hülkenberg is delighted about his sixth points-finish in the 2013 Formula 1 season. The Sauber-Ferrari of the young German is fitted with ZF dampers.
Results, GP Singapore (SGP), round 13, FIA Formula 1 World Championship, Sep 20–Sep 22, 2013:
1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault, 1h 59m13.132s
2. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, + 32.627s, ZF
3. Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus-Renault, + 43.920s, ZF
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, + 51.155s
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, + 53.159s
6. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, + 1m 03.877s, ZF
7. Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes, + 1m 23.354s
8. Sergio Pérez, McLaren-Mercedes, + 1m 23.820s
9. Nico Hülkenberg, Sauber-Ferrari, + 1m 24.261s, ZF
10. Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes, + 1m 24.668s
Drivers’ World Championship Standings:
1. S. Vettel, 247 points; 2. F. Alonso, 187; 3. L. Hamilton, 151; 4. K. Räikkönen, 149; 5. M. Webber, 130; 6. N. Rosberg, 116; 7. F. Massa, 87; 8. R. Grosjean, 57; 9. J. Button, 54; 10. P. di Resta, 36.
Constructors’ World Championship Standings:
1. Red Bull-Renault, 377 points; 2. Ferrari, 274; 3. Mercedes, 267; 4. Lotus-Renault, 206; 5. McLaren-Mercedes, 76; 6. Force India-Mercedes, 62; 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari, 31; 8. Sauber-Ferrari, 19; 9. Williams-Renault, 1.