'Shut up' Audi, says Toyota

You think only V8 Supercars have parity controversies? Think again, because Toyota has told Audi to “shut up” and build a better race car rather than lobby for a change to the rules of the World Endurance Championship’s blue ribbon LMP1 category.

The message was delivered by Toyota Racing's business development manager Rob Leupen (pictured on right) days after the Le Mans 24-hour sports car classic, which the Japanese company entered as favourite but Audi emerged from with a one-two finish.

The rules of the WEC dictate different energy consumption averages for each of the factory-developed prototypes in the LMP1-H category because they employ different internal combustion engines and electricity generating systems.

Audi is agitating because the championship organisers, the FIA and Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), changed the ratings shortly before the opening round of the championship at Silverstone and “over-compensated” the Toyota TS 040 and newcomer Porsche’s 919 petrol-electric hybrids.

Toyota won the first two six-hour rounds of the WEC, qualified on pole at Le Mans and was leading the race by 90 seconds in the 14th hour when a wiring loom overheated and caused an electrical failure.

The FIA and ACO have the right to review and change the energy averages after Le Mans for the rest of the season.

The Audi R18 e-tron quattro is powered by a 4.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 and generates electricity via the front axle only. The other cars have two hybrid systems. As a result the Audi generates only two megajoules of electricity per lap while the Toyota and Porsche generate six.

Intriguingly, Audi Sport did experiment with an ERS (energy recovery system) that uses the turbocharger to generate electricity, but the second hybrid system was abandoned because of added weight that negated the added performance.

As a result, Audi Sport boss Dr Wolfgang Ullrich claimed the R18 is producing around 840 horsepower from its powertrain while the Toyota and Porsche make a maximum 1000 horsepower (Toyota has confirmed this figure). He also estimated the Audi was 1.2 seconds slower per lap at Le Mans.

“At present what we feel what the rule book gives us in combination with the diesel engine and the hybrid car you can’t 100 per cent come on the same level (as Toyota and Porsche),” Ullrich told motoring.com.au at Le Mans last weekend.

“How big the difference is is difficult to say but we believe there is a small difference.

“Because of the choice of the diesel engine, which is always in combination with the gearbox and all that stuff heavier than the petrol engine, you have less weight for the hybrid system which means you end up with a smaller one.

“It’s difficult to then find an equilibrium where you end up with a very identical chance.”

But Leupen told Australian media touring the Toyota Motorsport Germany facility – where Toyota’s LMP1 campaign is based -- that was a false argument.

“From our point of view there is no balancing required, there is no review required,” he said. “They (Audi) should not get a change because they went out with a hybrid system that is not developed, that is off the shelf and is only two megajoules.

“In the regulations it is very clear that the bigger hybrid system should have an advantage so they (Audi) should look at the bigger hybrid system and not be complaining that they haven’t got enough power or whatever.

“I think both of those two (Porsche and Toyota) would not be happy to give benefit to a diesel company … this year they didn’t put any development on their hybrid system so we would say ‘Gentlemen shut up’.”

A technical working group and a sporting relations working group – both of which all three manufacturers have input into – are in the process of working through the data from the first three rounds of the championship.

Changes, if any, should be announced in the weeks leading up to the US round of the WEC at Circuit of the Americas in Texas in July.