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Nürburgring Test Notebook

Laurent Mercier’s notebook from FIA WEC Nürburgring test…

Photo: Audi

Photo: Audi

***Audi Sport Team Joest led the way in the two-day test, with Loic Duval and Lucas Di Grassi turning laps in the No. 9 Audi R18 e-tron quattro today. It was Duval who posted the quickest time of the test, a 1:37.458.

***About 1,000 kms were logged by the single Audi over the two days, compared to 1,275 kms for the Porsche 919 Hybrid, which ran in a bare carbon fiber test livery. Porsche will test its high-downforce configuration in a test next month.

***Strakka Racing ran its first considerable laps with its new Gibson 015S Nissan, which will replace the Dome S103 beginning with next month’s race. Jonny Kane topped the time charts in LMP2, turning a best lap of 1:45.123, which was more than one-second clear of the competition in class.

***Simon Trummer and Pierre Kaffer were joined by GP2 driver Rene Binder in the ByKolles Racing CLM P1/01 AER, while FIA F3 pilot Matt Rao turned laps in the Team SARD Morand Morgan-Nissan alongside full-season drivers Oliver Webb and Pierre Ragues.

***Both of the Tequila Patron ESM Ligier JS P2 Hondas were still in Rolling Stone livery at the test but will revert to the black and green Patron colors for the race. All six of its drivers were in attendance which saw the pair of LMP2 entries rack up considerable mileage.

***The main grandstand was open for fans to get a free glimpse of the action, while a Toyota TS040 Hybrid show car was on display in the main Nürburgring fan complex. The Japanese manufacturer organized the two-day test.

***One interesting addition to the test was a Michelotto-run Ferrari F458 Italia GT car in carbon. A number of drivers turned laps in the Dunlop-shod car, which was the only non full-season FIA WEC entrant in attendance.

John Dagys contributed to this report

Laurent Mercier (@LaurentMercier2) is the Editor-in-Chief of Endurance-Info.com, the leading French-language source for the latest sports car racing news from around the world.

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