Photo Credit: FIA-ACO
Only hours after taking the checkered flag on Sunday afternoon as the winners of the Six Hours of Silverstone, the opening round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship, Audi Sport Team Joest’s No. 7 R18 E-Tron Quattro coupe has been excluded from the provisional results posted by the sanctioning body for a technical violation found during the post race inspection process.
According to reports, the officials found that the car’s front skid block was under the minimum length of 20 millimeters. The wooden block is attached to the underside of the LMP1 and LMP2 prototypes to ensure that all entries maintain a certain amount of ground clearance to control the amount of down force produced.
As a result of the decision, the No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Neel Jani, Romain Dumas, and Marc Lieb have been declared as the provisional overall winners of the Six Hours of Silverstone, with Toyota Gazoo Racing’s No. 6 TS050 Hybrid being promoted to second place. The pair of LMP1 non-hybrid Rebellion Racing R-One-AER coupes also both move into the top four of the final results. In addition, the LMP2 winners RGR Sport-Morand will be credited with a top five overall finish, taking advantage of the exclusion and the high attrition suffered by the LMP1 hybrids on Sunday.
Audi is planning to appeal the decision, however a date for the hearing has not been set.
Stay tuned to OnPitRoad.com for more information on this developing story.
