As a result, Grassi/Duval/Jarvis crossed the finish line after six hours with a 16-second advantage, achieving their second victory this season following the 6 Hours of Spa in May. In addition, they recaptured position two in the standings. Their teammates Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer completed the one-two, earning Audi its best result of the season. With that, Audi looks back on a sports car era with an impeccable track record. Since 1999, the LMP race cars with the four rings have won 107 of 187 races in America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. In the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) since 2012, Audi has stood for bests as well. On 16 occasions, the brand’s sports cars were on pole position, winning 17 of 41 races. 23 fastest race laps complete this tally. No other manufacturer has been more successful in even just one of these categories. In addition, Audi clinched two drivers’ and two manufacturers’ world championship titles.
“Our intention had been to achieve the maximum today in Bahrain, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Stefan Dreyer, Head of LMP at Audi Sport. “A huge thank you goes to this top team, to Audi Sport Team Joest, to our drivers, and to all the people who made this possible behind the scenes in Neuburg, Neckarsulm and Ingolstadt. As emotional and touching this farewell may seem it is matched by the joy we feel about this top sporting performance with our one-two result and the two vice-championship titles. Sincere congratulations to everyone.”
Race results
1 Di Grassi/Duval/Jarvis (Audi R18) 201 laps
2 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18) +16.419s
3 Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (Porsche) +1m 17.001s
4 Buemi/Davidson/Nakajima (Toyota) –1 lap
5 Conway/Kobayashi/Sarrazin (Toyota) –1 lap
6 Dumas/Jani/Lieb (Porsche) –3 laps
7 Imperatori/Kraihamer/Tuscher (Rebellion) –10 laps
8 Kaffer/Trummer/Webb (CLM P1/01) –14 laps
9 Brundle/Rast/Rusinov (Oreca-Nissan) –17 laps
10 Albuquerque/Gonzalez/Senna (Ligier-Nissan) –17 laps
– End –