[WEC Race] 2016 FIA WEC 6 Hours of Fuji - Race Thread

[Akrapovic]

3-4 seconds is generous, but even if you said the Audi took 2 seconds longer to fuel, then that's 12 seconds per stint, and Audi still screwed it up. This race was lost by Audi in the stops. They had enough of a performance advantage to overcome the slower fuel flow, but not their own mistakes.

[chernaudi]

As I said in the Audi thread, maybe Audi needs to be more directly involved in the vetting of tire changers, because it seems that the Joest guys have lost their edge over the last year. Longer refueling time doesn't help, but neither does having bungled tire changes that exaserbate the damage rather than minimize it.

Of course the the same token, if Audi were competitive in terms of pit times, they'd have won the race probably by about 30 seconds. Of course, I'd also say if you can double stint tires, why not? That saves you about half the time per stop right there, and is a big reason why the #6 Toyota's pit times were 15 seconds faster than anyone else in the end.

[TF110]

Toyota's last stop was around the 1 minute mark. They came out 12-13 seconds ahead of the Audi. If Audi double stinted the tires they may have been ahead by that amount of time. But I think they're car uses tires up more than the Toyota's. At the rear at least was a problem the drivers noted.

[chernaudi]

Problem is that they were still faster than everyone else on near-equal tires, and when they double stinted one side of tires.

We also have to remember that Audi double stinted tires a couple of times at COTA. No one else did.

This is all a moot point now, though. Since Shanghai and Bahrain have an allotment of 8.5 sets of tires for qualifying and the race, there's not a ton of incentive to double stint, so I expect everyone to change all four on almost every stop, and both tracks are about the hardest on tires on the current schedule.

[gert]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

As I said in the Audi thread, maybe Audi needs to be more directly involved in the vetting of tire changers, because it seems that the Joest guys have lost their edge over the last year. Longer refueling time doesn't help, but neither does having bungled tire changes that exaserbate the damage rather than minimize it.

Maybe they should hire the WRT pit crew

[chernaudi]

Maybe they should have WRT take over the LMP1 operation? Joest himself has to be pushing 80 and many of the guys on the leadership of the team are getting close to retirement age. Wolfgang Ullrich himself was supposed to retire from Audi Sport last year due to Volkswagen Group policy of those who turn 65 retiring after January 1st of the year after their 65th birthday.

However, Dr. Ullrich is still employed by Audi until January 1st, 2018...

[Starfish Primer]

Is Stefano Domenicali still working for Audi?

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Starfish Primer

Is Stefano Domenicali still working for Audi?

He's been moved sideways and is currently CEO of Lamborghini.

[TF110]

Just going over some of the lmp1 qualifying laps from this race vs 2015's race on a best lap from the team (not individual car)...

Audi in 2015 did a 1:22.909 vs 1:23.286 this year. So they lost .377 of a second.

Porsche in 2015 did a 1:22.639 vs a 1:23.525 this year. So they lost .886 of a second.

Toyota in 2015 did a 1:24.760 vs a 1:23.239 this year. So they gained 1.521 seconds.

I wonder if next year will see gains again for the lmp1's.

[Articus]

Originally Posted by TF110

Just going over some of the lmp1 qualifying laps from this race vs 2015's race on a best lap from the team (not individual car)...

Audi in 2015 did a 1:22.909 vs 1:23.286 this year. So they lost .377 of a second.

Porsche in 2015 did a 1:22.639 vs a 1:23.525 this year. So they lost .886 of a second.

Toyota in 2015 did a 1:24.760 vs a 1:23.239 this year. So they gained 1.521 seconds.

I wonder if next year will see gains again for the lmp1's.

What the point of looking at the gains without considering the fuel cuts?

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Articus

What the point of looking at the gains without considering the fuel cuts?

No one gained except Toyota. The fuel cut is already a known factor, I didn't feel the need to mention it, again. Considering the power (fuel) cut, they didn't lose much time, especially Audi. Actually during the race, Audi was faster. AFAIK, next year the fuel flow will remain the same and it'll only be dropped in 2018.

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by gert

Indeed, there's not much ESM about that car.
It's just OAK fielding a car for Gelael and friends. Which was convenient for all of OAK, Gelael and ESM since ESM is on its way out anyway.

I've never really fully understood ESM, I kind of like them as a team but it seems to me that throughout their history, they seem to not stick with anything for what I would call long term.

Change, change, change. It's not a bad thing to change of course, but it kinda smacks of a lack of a clear, concise, direction when you're swapping cars/models, tyres, engines and so on, everyone season or couple of seasons.

Maybe their corporate strategy calls for them to chase wherever they think their market is even if that means moving on in relatively quick time.

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by gert

Why don't they bring in Danny Watts? Has he been booted by Strakka?

Has Danny said anything about what he might be doing next season. I hope he races something competitive somewhere.