The result of the race meant Davidson, Lapierre and Buemi kept their lead in the Drivers' Championship to 96 points, but their advantage over Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer was reduced to eleven points. Di Grassi and Kristensen remained in the third position with 72 points. Beche, Heidfeld and Prost maintained fourth with 48 points and Dumas, Jani and Lieb rounded out the top five with 45 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Audi (with 157 points) took the lead from Toyota (139 points) while Porsche remained in third with 82 points with four races left in the season.
Background
Entrants
A total of twenty-nine cars were officially entered for the 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas, with the bulk of entries in Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2). The 2013 race winners, Audi Sport Team Joest, returned to defend their title. Three manufacturers were represented in LMP1, including a duo of cars entered by Audi Sport Team Joest, Toyota and Porsche.[1]Kazuki Nakajima was not available to drive the No. 7 Toyota TS040 Hybrid because of a Super Formula commitment and was replaced by IndyCar Series driver Mike Conway.[2] After spending the last three months recovering from a heavy crash during practice for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Loïc Duval returned to Audi Sport Team Joest after doctors granted him medical clearance.[3] The Kodewa-backed Lotus team moved up from the LMP2 category with their new CLM P1/01 but missed the first three races because the new car was not ready.[4] In the month before its debut, Lotus named Super GT competitor James Rossiter, experienced sports car driver Christophe Bouchut and Formula Three European Championship race winner Lucas Auer as the trio to pilot the No. 9 car.[5]Rebellion Racing was the other representative of the LMP1 privateer teams.[1]
The 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas was confirmed as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship's 2014 schedule in an FIA Endurance Commission meeting in Paris in January 2014.[18] It was the fourth of eight scheduled endurancesports car round of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship,[18] the second running of the event, and the season's sole North American race.[19] It was held on 20 September at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas following two days of practice and qualifying. An agreement was reached by circuit officials, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) to run the race on the Saturday.[18] WEC used the Circuit of the Americas' 3.427 mi (5.515 km) 20-turn Grand Prix layout.[19]
Going into the race the FIA Endurance Commission altered the balance of performance in LMP1 and LMGTE. The two Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars had their engine power altered by 0.3 per cent but had a one percent in fuel flow per hour along with a small increase of fuel capacity by 0.1 litres (0.022 imp gal; 0.026 US gal). The minimum weight of the LMP1 privateer cars was reduced to 800 kilograms (1,800 lb) from the Le Mans limit of 810 kilograms (1,790 lb) as the CLM P1/01 and Rebellion R-Ones received a four percent increase in maximum fuel flow rate and a fifteen percent break in fuel energy per lap to increase their performance. In the LMGTE category the commission added an additional 20 kilograms (44 lb) of ballast to the Aston Martins to lower their performance.[15]
Practice
There were three practice sessions—one 90-minute session each on Thursday afternoon and evening and a one hour session on Friday afternoon—preceding Saturday's race.[19] The first practice session took place in overcast and cool weather conditions.[21] The No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro driven by Fässler led with the fastest lap time of the day, at 1 minute and 51.136 seconds, one-tenth of a second quicker than teammate Kristensen in second whose best lap was recorded late in the session. Brendon Hartley's No. 20 Porsche 919 Hybrid was third-fastest after leading the session in its opening minutes and both Toyota TS040 Hybrids rounded out the top five in LMP1-H.[21] Davidson stopped his car near the exit of pit lane in the closing minutes of the session with a systems problem but continued after he restarted his vehicle.[21][22]Olivier Pla was first to lead LMP2 but Dalziel ended as the fastest driver with a lap of 1 minute and 58.111 seconds. Pla fell to second and Howson was third. Darren Turner's No. 97 Aston Martin was the quickest car late on in LMGTE Pro while Stanaway helped the British marque to be fastest in LMGTE Am.[22]
Loïc Duval(pictured in 2018) recorded the fastest overall lap time in practice
The second practice session was delayed for an hour because of an electrical thunderstorm that caused localised flooding around the circuit and it also prevented trackside marshals from taking up their posts due to local bylaws governing safety.[23][24] Once the rain had abated enough to allow for cars to circulate the track, the session commenced and several drivers reported aquaplaning over the multiple heavy puddles that had formed on the circuit. The first red flag came out after seventeen minutes when Rigon beached the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari off course between turns 17 and 18. The car was recovered back to the pit lane. After the restart, the rain let up and Davidson's No. 8 Toyota recorded the best lap of the session with a time of 2 minutes and 1.333 seconds. Kristensen placed the No. 1 Audi in second and Wurz's No. 7 Toyota was third. In LMP2, the No. 47 KCMG of Bradley was fastest with a time of 2 minutes and 17 seconds. Makowiecki topped the LMGTE Pro time sheets in Porsche Team Manthey's No. 92 and the No. 95 Aston Martin of Stanaway paced the LMGTE Am category.[24][25]
In the final practice session, Kristensen put the No. 1 Audi at the top of the time sheets and Duval improved on his co-driver's form with a lap of 1 minute and 49.480 seconds. The No. 2 Audi of Fässler was second fastest and Toyota's No. 8 car of Davidson was third.[26] The fastest Porsche was fourth courtesy of a lap from Neel Jani's No. 20 entry. Pla in the No. 26 was again the fastest driver in LMP2 with a lap of 1 minute and 56.601 seconds, eight-tenths of a second faster than Bradley's No. 47 KCMG vehicle. In LMGTE Pro, Aston Martin's No. 99 Vantage driven by Fernando Rees was quickest by four-hundredths of a second from the sister No. 97 entry of Stefan Mücke.[27] Aston Martin was also the fastest manufacturer in LMGTE Am with Pedro Lamy's No. 98 Vantage from Paolo Ruberti in second place, driving the No. 90 8 Star Motorsports Ferrari.[26]
Qualifying
Friday's late afternoon qualification session was divided into two groups lasting 25 minutes each.[19] Cars in LMGTE Pro and AM were sent out first and, after a five-minute interval, LMP1 and LMP2 vehicles drove on the track. All cars were required to be driven by two participants for one timed lap each, with the starting order determined by the competitors' fastest average times.[28][29] The fastest qualifier was awarded one point which went towards the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championships.[30]
Toyota chose to keep the No. 8 car in the garage before venturing onto the track with Davidson, who slid on a wet patch at turn 11 and aborted his first attempt. He subsequently set a lap time of 1 minute and 48.900 seconds and then recorded a 1-minute and 49.000 seconds effort.[30] Buemi later relieved Davidson and his lap of 1 minute and 49.156 seconds gave the No. 8 entry a two-lap average effort of 1 minute and 49.093 seconds.[31] This earned Buemi, Davidson and Lapierre their first pole position of 2014 and Toyota's third.[32] They were joined on the grid's front row by Jani and Romain Dumas's No. 14 Porsche whose two-lap average was 1.190 seconds slower because Jani's best lap was disallowed transgressing energy recovery system limits that dictated the maximum amount of fuel each car could use.[28] Hartley and Mark Webber qualified the No. 20 Porsche in third and Fässler and Lotterer put the No. 2 Audi in fourth from a second attempt by Fässler.[30] Toyota's No. 7 car driven by Conway and Stéphane Sarrazin took fifth and di Grassi and Duval's No. 1 Audi completed the top ten after one of di Grassi's laps was deleted for violating energy recovery system limits because of a computer glitch.[31] The LMP1-L class pole position was taken by Dominik Kraihamer and Fabio Leimer in the No. 12 Rebellion R-One with a two-lap average of 1 minute and 54.665 seconds,[31] and was joined by the sister No. 13 entry of Heidfeld which stopped with a broken fly-by-wire throttle and halted the session for 4½ minutes.[33] The No. 9 Lotus CLM P1/01 did not set a lap because of a gearbox selector failure although the team were granted dispensation to start the race but began one lap behind the rest of the field from the pit lane.[28][33]
In LMP2, Roman Rusinov and Pla drove the No. 26 G-Drive Oreca to its third class pole position of the season and the team's second consecutive at the Circuit of the Americas with an average effort of 1 minutes and 58.075 seconds.[28] Howson and Tsugio Matsuda joined them on the grid's front row in the No. 47 KCMG vehicle which was almost three-tenths of a second slower.[31] The No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD ARX-03b of Dalziel and Sharp began from third in the team's first World Endurance Championship race after Sharp appeared to struggle with the track conditions.[31][33]Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander, competing in AF Corse's No. 51 Ferrari, took the squad's fourth LMGTE Pro pole position in a row with a two-lap average effort of 2 minutes and 6.456 seconds,[34][30] in a rain-affected session that made portions of the track dump.[29] The two qualified 0.638 seconds in front of Mücke and Turner in the No. 97 Aston Martin. Makowiecki and Pilet's No. 92 Porsche Manthey car took third and their teammates Tandy and Bergmeister were fourth. Alex MacDowall and Rees' No. 99 Aston Martin completed the top five in class.[31] Vaxivière was chosen to go a long stint and Emmanuel Collard drove on a drier track,[34] enabling the duo to claim their first LMGTE Am pole position in the No. 75 ProSpeed Competition Porsche with a two-lap average time of 2 minutes and 8.271 seconds, less than a tenth of a second faster than Stanaway and Kristian Poulsen's No. 95 Aston Martin.[31]
Qualifying results
Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.[35]
Weather conditions at the start of the race were dry and clear.[36] The air temperature ranged between 27 and 32 °C (81 and 90 °F) and the track temperature was between 28 and 38 °C (82 and 100 °F).[37] It had a two-day attendance of 50,334 spectators.[36] Buemi maintained the overall lead going into the first corner. He extended the No. 8 Toyota's lead to 40 seconds before he lost 13 seconds because he half-spun. That allowed the sister No. 7 Toyota to reduce the gap to Buemi as the Audis got ahead of both Porsches.[38] With four hours and 41 minutes left, light rain was reported as falling in turn 11,[39] and it then turned to a monsoon that flooded the track.[40] Although drivers were circumspect en route to having wet-weather tyres installed in the pit lane,[40] five of the six LMP1-H cars and several other vehicles from the other three categories aquaplaned off the track.[39] That caused race officials to stop the race after an hour and 35 minutes,[41] and most cars were ordered to stop on the start/finish straight.[38] Race officials allowed open-cockpit vehicles to be covered, and teams were permitted to demist their cars windscreens for improved visibility.[39]
Racing resumed 77 minutes later in safety car conditions and in fading light as some teams chose to make tyre changes. The change in positions meant both Audis led from the No. 14 Porsche and both Toyotas were a lap behind.[38] The No. 2 Audi had been switched to the intermediate compound tyres after a strategy call from its race engineerLeena Gade,[42] and the sister car was on dry compound tyres.[40] Jani took the outright lead but a lack of engine power put his No. 14 Porsche behind Audi's No. 2 car of Fässler and later Lotterer.[38] After establishing large enough of an advantage, a final pit stop for fuel for Fässler allowed the No. 2 Audi to win the entry's second consecutive win of the season after the 24 Hours of Le Mans.[42] He was 53 seconds in front of di Grassi's No. 1 car in second and Buemi took the No. 8 Toyota to complete the outright podium in third.[39] LMP1-L was dominated by Rebellion's No. 12 car ran without trouble and took the class victory.[36] KCMG won a race-long battle between Extreme Speed Motorsports, SMP Racing and G-Drive and took its first class victory in the World Endurance Championship with the No. 47 Oreca.[36][40] Aston Martin took both GTE classes with the No. 97 car winning in Pro and 98 entry took the Am class honours.[43]
The result of the race meant Davidson, Lapierre and Buemi kept their lead in the Drivers' Championship to 96 points, but their advantage over Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer was reduced to eleven points. Di Grassi and Kristensen remained in the third position with 72 points. Beche, Heidfeld and Prost maintained fourth with 48 points and Dumas, Jani and Marc Lieb rounded out the top five with 45 points.[20] In the Manufacturers' Championship, Audi (with 157 points) took the lead from Toyota (139 points) while Porsche remained in third with 82 points with four races left in the season.[20]
World Endurance Drivers' Championship standings[20]
^Fritzsche, Mario (1 August 2014). "Austin: Conway erstmals im Toyota" (in German). motorsport-total.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
