Audi's 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours performance "horrible" - di Grassi
Audi driver Lucas di Grassi described the manufacturer's 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours as "horrible" after it finished a distant third and fourth behind Porsche and Toyota
Despite contesting the lead with both of its R18 e-tron quattros in the early stages of the race as the track went from wet to dry following a safety car start, Audi never threatened its rivals in the fight for victory.
Its leading car finished the race 12 laps adrift of the winning Porsche, and only inherited a podium finish when the #5 Toyota was disqualified for not completing its final lap fast enough after it broke down while leading the race in the closing moments.
"For us it was a horrible race," said di Grassi, who shared the third place car with Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis.
"To finish on the podium is a nice reward, but this race [performance] is not Audi, with how many times we went into the garage, how many repairs we had to do, and how much time we spent stopped.
"We have to improve a lot. We have to beat the others on the track."
Audi's main setbacks in the race were requiring a turbo change on the #7 car early on, plus a brake disc problem on the #8 car that caused damage and resulted in a 39-minute stoppage for the suspension to be changed.
The #7 car was then called in for a 10-minute stop to have a precautionary brake change of its own - one of several visits to the garage for both cars.
"We have a lot of homework to do after this race," said di Grassi.
"Toyota improved from last year and Porsche showed their pace.
"We had the pace only a few times in the race, and we had too many repairs.
"This podium shows that we fight, no matter what the difficulties we had, but we have to come back stronger."
His co-driver Loic Duval added: "The list is long to tell you what didn't work for us here.
"We lacked pace, and we didn't think we would. We had too many technical problems.
"We are not here just to be on the podium, we are here for the win, so it is hard to fight like this."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments