Audi Sport Team Joest's mechanics yesterday had a sleepless night at Le Mans, 48 hours earlier than planned. The team worked overnight to rebuild the No.1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro following Loïc Duval’s accident at 17h05 yesterday, and the German marque’s experience in planning and preparation for the world’s most famous endurance race has undoubtedly contributed to the fact that the ‘new’ car will be ready for the second qualifying sessions later today.
Instead of Loïc Duval, who stayed in hospital overnight under observation, Marc Gené will be starting the weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans for Audi alongside Tom Kristensen and Lucas di Grassi. The Spaniard has been part of the Audi Le Mans squad since 2011, completed several track tests with the current Audi R18 e-tron quattro and was originally entered for the race in the No.38 LMP2 JOTA Sport Zytek.
The drivers of the No.1 car still have to do their mandatory laps at night today (Thursday) in order to qualify for the race. The same is true for many other drivers, as the first qualifying session was stopped early after accidents.
Marc Gené commented: “I’ve had four days of testing, two two-day tests at Paul Ricard and then Aragon, so I’ve got used to the functionality of the car, and I’m confident about the track because I’ve done the tests here in the LMP2. I’ll be a bit on the back foot, but I don’t think Audi could have a better reserve driver than me.
“Apart from my night laps, I will leave the qualifying to Lucas and Tom. We will have to sacrifice a bit of the qualifying sessions this evening to give me some seat time, but I think we will be in good shape for the race.”
Fiona Miller
Photo: CIRCUIT DE SPA FRANCORCHAMPS (SPA, BELGIUM), WEC 6 HOURS OF SPA 2012. Audi Sport Team Joest's Marc Gené will drive the No.1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro in the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans.
