After qualifying on the second row at Zhuhai, just two-tenths short of the pole-winning time, the drivers of the N°2 Audi had high hopes of producing a strong run in China. However, a number of tangles with other cars scuppered their chances of ending the year on a high note.

“Audi can look back at its success at Le Mans, which is the race everybody wants to win,” notes Scotland’s Allan McNish. “The circumstances were quite special because the team suffered two big accidents and we won by just 13.854 seconds, so it was something of an emotional rollercoaster. At the other races, we weren’t far off Peugeot’s pace and we were more competitive than we had been in 2009. Our race speed was good at Petit Le Mans, and we were quick in qualifying at Silverstone. But victory eluded us, which made it a pretty frustrating season. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that our car only made its debut last spring.”

“We were down on luck at certain races, but I’m not using that as an excuse” adds his team-mate Tom Kristensen who hasn’t won an endurance race since Sebring in 2009. “We weren’t far off the Peugeots. It’s true that we made some mistakes, but so did our rivals, like Franck at Silverstone. Thankfully, our season was saved by our win at Le Mans where we won by just 13.954 seconds. That’s amazing: it’s like driving 5,000km across China from Zhuhai and beating another car to the Kazakh border by 13.954 seconds!”

The 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship promises to take some of the focus away from the Le Mans 24 Hours. “Endurance racing is on an upward curve at the moment, unlike certain other disciplines,” says McNish. “It went through a boom period towards the end of the 1990s, then there was a dip. Since 2007, it’s been heading in the right direction again, and that trend is likely to continue with the arrivals of Toyota and Porsche. There are growing rumours of other big brands joining relatively soon, too. The battles in the GT class are also extremely interesting.

“I like the 2012 calendar and the championship will visit some big markets for the car manufacturers, including Brazil, Japan and China, whether we end up returning to Zhuhai or going to Shanghai. The returns of Toyota and Porsche are big news, as well. Neither of these two brands has been involved in a high-profile project recently. Everyone asks me about the cohabitation between Porsche and Audi, both of which belong to the same group. I always say that when you compete at something against someone in your own family, your uncle or a cousin, say, you always want to win, don’t you? Not so long ago, we saw a fight between Porsche and Audi in the ALMS. The more competition there is, the more of an impact it makes when you win…”

24 hours of le Mans 2011, Allan McNish, Audi R18 TDi, FIA World Endurance Championship 2012, ILMC 2011, Tom Kristensen