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Audi secured a one-two finish in its final FIA World Endurance Championship race in Bahrain, as the #2 Porsche crew of Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb did enough to seal the drivers’ title with a sixth-place finish.
On an emotional day for the Audi Sport Team Joest squad, its pair of R18 e-tron quattros were clearly the class of the field, with the #8 car of Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis bringing home the marque its 17th and final WEC win.
The company are bowing out of the sport after 18 years, with company executives deciding to shift their motorsport focus to the electronic Formula E.
The polesitting #8 was passed in the second hour by the sister #7 car of Andre Lotterer, but a slow change over to Benoit Treluyer at the third stops handed back the advantage to the #8 trio.
At the halfway point of the race, a Full Course Yellow period caused the two Audis to go on diverging strategies, as the #8 car pitted while the #7 car stayed out - but Duval retook the advantage when he passed Treluyer early in the fifth hour, and was able to keep ahead despite losing pace on worn tyres towards the end of his stint.
In the end, di Grassi brought home the #8car with an advantage of 16 seconds over Marcel Fassler in the #7 machine, thepair completing a historic one-two for Audi.
Duval said: “This is the perfect way toc lose the door and it means a lot to be the last guys to win a race for Audi Sport.”
Di Grassi added: “It was very close with the other car as always, but I think we had the edge in the middle of the race and we called it right with the strategy.”
Third place went to the #1 Porsche of Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, 1m17s down on the winning Audi.
The best of the 919 Hybrids settled into third place during the second hour, warding off a challenge from the #5 Toyota, but never had the pace to threaten the Audis.
Toyota ended the year in disappointing fashion, with both of its cars a lap down. The #5 car of former Bahraini-resident Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima camehome ahead of the #6 car of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Stephane Sarrazin,who realistically needed a win to take home the title.
Instead, it was the #2 Porsche of Jani, Lieb and Dumas that scooped the championship with a sixth-place finish, three laps down.
Contact with the #78 Porsche after 50minutes led to a left-rear puncture for Jani that immediately took the #2 carout of contention for the win, with a change of rear bodywork also necessitated. But after that the points leaders were able to complete the rest of the distance untroubled, needing only to finish with the #6 Toyota not in awinning position.
Rebellion Racing finished seventh overall in its final outing in the privateer LMP1 division, four laps ahead of the ByKolles CLM.
