'Mr Le Mans' - Tom Kristensen - will be aiming for another title this coming weekend: the FIA World Endurance Drivers' Championship. With his team mates Loïc Duval and Allan McNish in the No.2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro, the Dane here talks about what it takes to run a fast lap at the Shanghai International Circuit, the venue for the 7th round of the FIA WEC, the 6 Hours of Shanghai.
"The turns at Shanghai differ quite a bit from each other. Two bends drastically change their radii – the first turn becomes increasingly tight while the snail shell corner in front of the long straight in the third section of the circuit widens. We’ve got to downshift all the way into first gear several times on each lap.
"By contrast, the second part of the track has very fluid sequences with corners we take at speeds above 200 km/h. And last but not least, there are two long straights which are part of this young GP circuit. At the end of these straights, we downshift from sixth into the lowest gear.
"Obviously, all this requires a lot of compromises in the set-up. Due to its changing rhythm this track is a great challenge for us drivers.”
Quote from Audi Sport
