INTERNATIONAL MOTORSPORT
Audi bows out with desert win
Roger Houghton witnessed the end of an era in endurance racing in Bahrain
The 2016 World Endurance Championship (WEC) ended in an emotional mixture of bitter and sweet with the running of the ninth round in the series at the Bahrain International Circuit. Sadly, for such a momentous occasion it was a race watched by few spectators as seems to be par for the course at these motor racing circuits built in Middle East desert settings. However, what was again most impressive was the continuing, amazing reliability of the six highly complex hybrid LMP1 racing cars from Audi, Porsche and Toyota. All the cars ran without any technical problems for the entire six hours, although one Porsche was forced to pit to repair slight collision damage. The "bitter" of the weekend was the fact that this race marked the end of Audi’s victory-studded 18-year spell as a dominant player in global endurance racing. The event also marked the retirement from professional driving of the personable former Formula 1 star Mark Webber, a forthright character in the motorsport world. De...
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