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Old 17 Apr 2014, 14:15 (Ref:3393907)   #6088
chernaudi
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chernaudi has a real shot at the championship!chernaudi has a real shot at the championship!chernaudi has a real shot at the championship!chernaudi has a real shot at the championship!chernaudi has a real shot at the championship!chernaudi has a real shot at the championship!
We also know that Audi may have the edge over their opposition in terms of areo. They've done most of their testing (that we know of) in some kind of sprint race configuration. Audi by far have the most miles of problem-free testing, and the most miles of testing by far of a sprint race configuration.

Their sector times at the PR test, especially if they were running to the newest energy allocation basis, were impressive in spite of all that drag. And they still have the power and torque of the diesel engine, and in race conditions, that matters quite a lot, as the DP vs LMP2 deal in TUSCC has shown. Also, it's easier to recover the 2MJ equivalent around Silverstone than 6MJ equivalent--traffic and track conditions can really screw that up for Porsche and Toyota. And there will be times that the hybrid systems on all cars will be of limited use.

Also, the diesel engine is more efficient than a gasoline engine running on E20, and the B10 diesel oil has more energy per unit than E20.

In spite of my seemingly gloom and doom predictions, based on the PR test (and yes, it was only a test), I don't think that Audi are down and out for here or LM just yet. If they can be faster than Toyota and Porsche and hit their energy targets, they'll be in fairly good shape come Sunday.
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