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Ratel admits equalisation rules are unfair to Audi

Blancpain Endurance Series boss Stephane Ratel has admitted that the equalisation rules hindered Audi in last weekend's Spa 24 Hours round and has promised changes for the remainder of the season

Ratel said that the so-called Balance of Performance that rendered the Audi R8 LMS uncompetitive at Spa and left the German manufacturer's Pro Cup class teams, WRT and Phoenix, with no chance of victory was wrong.

Ratel told AUTOSPORT: "We need an adjustment, for me that is clear. We all saw that the Audi was not performing as it should.

"I acknowledge that we got it wrong. We need to see where we got it wrong and adjust it for the next races."

The best Audi, the WRT car driven by Andre Lotterer, Frank Stippler and Christopher Mies, finished a distant third at Spa, six laps down on the winning Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG despite suffering no delays other than one puncture and a solo spin.

Ratel added that it was imperative that the BoP was correct for the final Blancpain round at the Nurburgring next month and the three remaining rounds of the sister FIA GT Series, which resumes at the Slovakia Ring on August 17/18, to maintain confidence in the two championships ahead of next year.

Audi has argued for changes to the BoP, claiming that it has been penalised for successes resulting from strong driver line-ups and team organisation.

Audi Sport boss Wolfgang Ullrich said ahead of the race Spa: "We are being penalised for doing a good job. The balance should be between the cars, and the teams and drivers should not be part of the equation."

WRT team boss Vincent Vosse pointed out that his team has been consistently the fastest team in the pits in both Blancpain and FIA GTs.

"We gained seconds at each pitstop at Spa and we won the first race at Zandvoort [in FIA GTs] because we were nine seconds quicker than the winning Mercedes in the pits," he explained.

The likely technical adjustment for the Audi before the Slovakia Ring is an increase in the diameter of the engine air-restrictor to give the car more power.

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