Audi Driver Line up?

[colt513]

Are Lotterer, Treluyer, and Fassler really the best replacements for Werner, Luhr, and Premat?

Werner is pretty much a world class driver, having won the 24 hours 3 times already.

I think Premat proved himself when he won the 2008 LMS with Rocky, not to mention coming on the podium this weekend in the DTM.

Luhr won the ALMS in 2008 as well, so he is pretty good.

Am I missing something here or does Audi just seem to be changing drivers for no reason (also replacing Biela and Pirro with Bernhard and Dumas).

Im not trying to say any driver listed above is not good, I just dont see what was wrong with the old driver line up.

Thanks!

[chernaudi]

Werner is getting up there in age, and neither his nor Luhr's driving styles suited the original R15 very well, and both drivers lost confidence in the car. Primat's GP2/single seater driving style didn't suit the R15 much either-ramping the curbs jammed the power steering and caused his offs at Le Mans.

Fassler drove for Audi before in the R10 and did well, and Lotterer drove one of the Kolles R10s last year at Le Mans and the LMS and did very well given those circumstances. Treluyer has considerable prototype experience(including in a Peugeot 908), and all 3 drivers have proven to be fast and effective, especially at Spa given that their cars had little downforce and the changing conditions. All 3 drivers also have multi-class racing experience(Fassler in the old FIA GT series and the LMS/ALMS, and Andre and Ben have prototype and Super GT experience). Also, the Audi R15 is rumored to be like a mid-engined Super GT GT500 car to drive(GT500s are basically LMP1s with much smaller engines mounted up front-all the down to the carbon monocoques like what a DTM car has).

And in testing, all three have proven to rival even Allan McNish in terms of speed.

I doubted Dumas and Bernhard, as those two seemed to have the most problems with the R15 last year, but both did well with the more conventional R15 M2010 at Spa.

Audi obvioulsy is also looking to the future, because McNish, Capello and Kristensen are also getting up there in age(though that doesn't seem to have slowed them down). They're as good as ever now, but they can't race forever.

Also, Biela and Pirro can't even fit properly in the R15-Wolfgang Appel(chassis designer) said that both are too tall and Frank's too stocky to fit in the R15 right without replacing the seat.

[Acid09]

I lost my last shred of respect for Audi when they gave Werner the boot, undoubtly one of the best sports car drivers from Germany ever.

He's been very quick and mega in qualifying and the rain, the original R15 was a piece of junk so I fail to see how that says something about him as a driver. And his age can't be the reason, Capello is two years older!

If anybody doubts his abilities, just look at his stunning pole lap for the Ring 24h last weekend.

Crossing fingers for him and Highcroft this year, would be pretty sweet if they would manage to win LMP2 while Audi loses to Peugeot again.

[Lola T70]

Did you ever have respect for Audi

I am sure there are many reasons we don't know why any teams makes their driver decisions, just like Peugeot dumping Klein which was odd to me.

[Steve Tarrant]

All this seems to assume Audi got rid of the drivers, but maybe the drivers themselves felt that to be lead driver or to increase their own chances, they needed to move away from Audi.

Drivers are fickle things, needing all the right elements to "feel at home".

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by Lola T70

I am sure there are many reasons we don't know why any teams makes their driver decisions, just like Peugeot dumping Klein which was odd to me.

That was Klien's own decision. He thought he had a chance to get a F1 seat and did not want to commit to Peugeot.

[Lola T70]

I don't think Klein was to part of the line up even if he wanted to.

If Peugeot wanted him so much he could have done a contract with a release clause of he got an F1 seat.

[Acid09]

Originally Posted by Steve Tarrant

All this seems to assume Audi got rid of the drivers, but maybe the drivers themselves felt that to be lead driver or to increase their own chances, they needed to move away from Audi.

Drivers are fickle things, needing all the right elements to "feel at home".

Nope, there were several interviews with Marco where he talked about being sad not to be part of Audi's LMP programme anymore.

Instead, they now have him play babysitter to rich and inexperienced gentlemen drivers in Joest's Audi Race Experience thing as part of the VLN. Like that's a job for a three-time Le Mans winner who's still at the top of his game.

And those of you who doubt is his abilities, go read what Duncan Dayton and the other guys at Highcroft had to say about his testing times at Sebring. Even though the HPD needs to be driven different than the Diesel LMP, he was immediately competitive compared to Brabs and Pagenaud. So much for him not having what it takes anymore.

[Lola T70]

the top of Marco's game was probably about 2003-2005 but since the R10 came alive he was pretty much second to his team mates.

The new driver's seemed quite good at Spa, apart from the warming up lap incident. Let's see at Le Mans, but last few years Audi only had 1 car fighting with Peugeot and they needed to be stronger in force than that.

[Acid09]

Originally Posted by Lola T70

The new driver's seemed quite good at Spa, apart from the warming up lap incident. Let's see at Le Mans, but last few years Audi only had 1 car fighting with Peugeot and they needed to be stronger in force than that.

I saw no change to that in Spa, only the McNish car was able to challenge the Peugeots at least a bit.

[Lola T70]

If you look at qualifying the others were ahead of them, maybe circumstances caused that but it seemed to be a start. That is why I think we will see at Le Mans.

[chernaudi]

From what I saw, the #9 R15(with the two guys who hated that car last year) ran in the top 3-4 most of the race until the red light incident on pit road that shafted them and several others.

Also, the guys in the #8 Audi did well once the car got fixed after Lotterer's spin, but being 8 laps behind basically meant they were never a factor. Not to mention that Fassler and Lotterer drove R10s in the past and did well(Fassler and Pirro won LMP1 at Detroit in '08 before being penalized for an underweight car and Lotterer got the best out of the Kolles R10s last year).

I feel that Marco's best years were during the R8 and R10 era. I don't know if it was the car or Marco, but he seemed to be lost with the R15 according to info that Speed TV's Marshall Pruett was able to obtain. And Lucas was just as bad off. I know that those two couldn't have forgotten how to drive(the won the ALMS LMP1 drivers' championship), but it seemed that the rear-heavy R10 that you had to thrash to get the best out of suited them better than the original 50/50 balanced, areo-channel R15. Who knows if they could do better in the 2010 R15, but Audi is obviously on the look for younger drivers like Peugeot was after '07.

[Ur Q 83]

Where I think what a few people forget ( not naming any names Acid ) that a lot goes into selecting driver teams. What’s the point of having the fastest driver in the world when the other two drivers can’t drive his set up, or wrong body shape to fit into the car ?. Werner’s problem wasn’t so much as age or the fact he didn’t really get his head around the R15 but he didn’t match up or fit in with any of the other crews.

[Mal]

I think it is great - clearly Audi is looking to the future by bringing in a group of young drivers to try and eventually take the mantle from the dream team. This means they envisage being in it for the long haul. If they only intended hanging around for a year or two more then it would have made sense to stick with the old guard

[Acid09]

I think it's more a case of panic as Audi isn't used to not be competitive against Peugeot, that is the main reason for the changes if you ask me.

[Aysedasi]

I have to say the one thing Audi have never been noted for is panicking......

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

I have to say the one thing Audi have never been noted for is panicking......

Maybe we've actually seen them panic a large number of times and simply panic in an efficient and controlled way.

[Lola T70]

I think the only time we say Audi panic was during Le Mans last year when they were so slow in the race and even then it seemed pretty controlled to me.

[Mal]

Originally Posted by Acid09

I think it's more a case of panic as Audi isn't used to not be competitive against Peugeot, that is the main reason for the changes if you ask me.

No - it has been quite clear for a while that the Dream team driver line up is significantly quicker than the other crews - they have regularly been the only one able to take the fight to Peugeot. Audi needs to address this for the future. No panic just sensible management imo.

[chernaudi]

The last time that a non-dream team crew took it to Peugeot and gave them more than they could handle was PLM in '08 where Marco and Lucas lead about half the race, and even out ran the Pug at stages.

But since the R15, it seems that Audi has needed/wanted some new blood. Besides, Allan, Dindo and Tom can't race forever, no matter how much we or Audi would like for that to happen.

[Lola T70]

was that not the race when the other car crashed on the way to the grid and still won?

[Victor_RO]

Yes it was. So you still have to say that the much faster Audi drivers on that day were Allan and Dindo with a sprinkle of Emanuele.

[chernaudi]

Pit strategy had a lot to do with that win-I believe that Audi short pitted Allan for a fuel only stop early in the race to get that car back on the lead lap against the Peugeot. Allan also had better tires late in the race on the soft night tires that neither the other Audi or the Pug had.

Granted, Allan and Dindo and Pirro had to execute on their end, which they obviously did, but Marco and Lucas also had the Peugeot guys cornered much of the race.

[manthey]

interviews with audi drivers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiBJ0...os=lj2GbwZD5eg

[chernaudi]

If that video was made by RTL(or whatever that German TV network is called), they'll be a english version along soon.