On top of chart busting lap times, this year, the drivers of the new Audi R18 e-tron quattro in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) have to deliver an additional quality. As before, the drivers have to master the races - but in a highly efficient manner in order to evade penalties.
 
While the Audi Sport engineers were challenged to pay attention to maximum efficiency with every component, the operation requires a sensitive touch as well.

As explained by Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Motorsport, the WEC drivers have to meet an exact consumption target in every lap despite continuing to challenge the field for the best position on track.
 
For example - only a limited amount of energy per lap may be fed into the car's powertrain through the hybrid system - two, four, six or eight megajoules per lap at Le Mans, depending on the class. If the limits are exceeded, a stop and go time penalty lasting as long as 60 seconds would be imposed.

The Audi Sport squad has been successfully testing this. If a driver is slowed by a vehicle heading into a turn, it may be advantageous to initially follow this car to save fuel and overtake when exiting the corner. However despite the regulatory changes, Audi factory driver, Lucas di Grassi, who was involved in the tests of the new car at an early stage, believes lap times and speed would be similar to previous years.

"It's basically about saving a lot of energy in some sections - for instance by lifting earlier - without driving a lot slower on a whole lap. Our sport will continue to be great fun. It's just that we'll be using a lot less energy in it than ever before," concluded the Brazilian.