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Audi frustrated by changes to WEC fuel rules ahead of Silverstone

Audi has expressed frustration at changes to the LMP1 fuel allocations ahead of this weekend's World Endurance Championship opener at Silverstone

The German manufacturer's head of LMP1 Christopher Reinke said there was "quite some frustration on our side" with the changes to the fuel tables for the new energy-based LMP1 formula decided last week.

The R18 e-tron quattro has had its fuel allocation, per lap of Le Mans, reduced from 140.2 to 138 megajoules and the fuel capacity of the car reduced by half a litre to 54.3 litres.

Toyota and Porsche will now be allowed 139.5MJ per lap of the 8.47-mile Le Mans circuit rather than the original 137.5MJ in the regulations published in December.

The fuel capacity for the TS040 and the 919 has been raised from 66.9 to 68.3 litres.

"At this stage of the project, two weeks before the first race, two percent is quite a margin, a margin that does matter," Reinke explained.

"We could be disadvantaged in performance and on strategy.

"We disagree with this fine-tuning and it is not clear to us how it came out like this, but we respect the FIA and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest as being the rule-giving powers."

Reinke said that he expected the Toyota TS040 HYBRID and the Porsche 919 Hybrid to be able to go longer on a tank of fuel than the latest R18 as a result of the changes.

"The original idea of the Equivalence of Technology was to make the technologies equal: if one technology can do more laps, then it is not equal," he explained.

The fuel tables have now been set in stone for the first three WEC rounds, up to and including the Le Mans 24 Hours, after which the FIA and the ACO have the right to adjust the figures for a further 12-month period.

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