Audi fans felt their hearts decelerate at this year’s Le Mans 24-Hour race when the #7 Toyota trumped the #1 Audi by 223 seconds. The Toyota TS030 hybrid and the Audi R 18 e-tron Quattro were battling for the title during the grueling endurance race, but Audi simply could not overcome a collision penalty. Remember this Le Mans Ferrari crash?

Just 223 seconds separated the hybrid race cars, Audi and Toyota, but that can mean worlds in endurance racing!

The cars and drivers:

Toyota TS030 hybrid
Driven by: Nicolas Lapierre, Alex Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima

Audi R 18 e-tron Quattro
Driven by: André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer (all of which are double victors in this big race)

The competition had to endure 24 straight hours of racing in hopes of snagging the coveted first-place position and title.

Audi was not able to overcome time lost in a collision penalty with Kazuki Nakajima. The time spent in the pits destroyed their strategy of making one less stop than Toyota during the 24-hour race.

In the end, Nakajima brought the Toyota hybrid racer over the finish line in front of 32,000 anxious fans, marking the first FIA World Championship win by a Japanese driver since 1992. The victory also marked the second win by Toyota Racing in their first season.

Toyota #7

Audi #1 car

Post by Imagine Lifestyles Luxury Rentals