Photo : Jean Philippe BOYER (ACO/Nikon) 

 

One can never say it enough: the 24 Hours of Le Mans is an event apart, where the final result often shakes up forecasts and values believed to be established, and the 2014 edition proved it once again.

In one race, Audi (114 points) erased its deficit with Toyota (115 points). With double points in La Sarthe, the one-two of Fässler-Lotterer-Tréluyer and Gené-di Grassi-Kristensen brought Audi 86 points. With only one car at the finish, the Japanese manufacturer only scored 30, with the third place of Buemi-Davidson-Lapierre. Winner of the first two rounds of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the trio held on to the lead in the drivers' provisional standings, with 20 points ahead of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer. With a win worth 25 points, anything is possible with five races left.

But Porsche's emergence could be a fly in the ointment. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the new 919 Hybrid kept its spot in the leader pack for 22 hours. Against the Toyota TS040 Hybrid and the Audi R18 e-tron quattro, all hope for victory is alive for the five six-hour races left. After Toyota's domination at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps and Audi's 13th win in La Sarthe, one would need to be psychic to know what the final result of the 2014 World Championship will hold…

Fourth round of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the 6 Hours of the Circuit of the Americas will take place at Austin (Texas, United States) on Saturday, September 20th.

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo:  LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SATURDAY JUNE 14 2014, START. The five last rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) could very well create the opportunity for a chase between Toyota, Porsche and Audi.