Audi Driver rotations at Le Mans

It was interesting to see at Le Mans this year, both the Audi R18 e-tron quattros, which finished first and second in the 24 hour race, juggling their driver sequence.

It was unusual last year that Marcel Fässler was excluded from the driver rotation by a team decision. However, this year, both the number 1 Fässler / Tréluyer / Lotterer and the number 2 McNish / Kristensen / Capello cars changed the rotation through the race.

The driver sequences were:
Number 1:
- Lotterer (3 stints)
- Tréluyer (4 stints plus 3 laps)
- Fässler (3 stints)
- Lotterer (3 stints)
- Tréluyer (2 stints)
- Fässler (3 stints)
- Lotterer (5 stints)
- Fässler (4 stints)
- Tréluyer (3 stints)
- Lotterer (3 stints)

In total, Lotterer completed 156 laps, driving time 9h 26m 23s; Tréluyer completed 111 laps (6h 53m 24s) and Fässler 111 laps (7h 00m 31s).

Number 2:
- McNish (3 stints)
- Kristensen (4 stints)
- Capello (3 stints)
- McNish (3 stints)
- Kristensen (3 stints)
- McNish (3 stints)
- Capello (3 stints)
- Kristensen (3 stints)
- Capello (2 stints)
- McNish (4 stints) - including crash at Porsche curves
- Kristensen (2 stints)

The total driving times were: McNish - 148 laps, 9h 10m 58s; Kristensen - 136 laps, 7h 59m 14s and Capello - 93 laps, 6h 05m 05s.

In the number 1, Benoît Tréluyer was suffering from a bad cold, apparently caught when he was out in the rain on Friday night, which neatly explains the reason why he was given a slightly longer rest overnight.

In the number 2 car though, I wonder whether Dindo was given the 'happy hour' to let him celebrate his birthday in style, in what will probably be his last Le Mans? If they hadn't changed it, perhaps McNish would not have been the one in the car when it came across the slower car in the Porsche curves... and maybe, just maybe, the result might have been different.