At the Audi Sport Finale at the Audi Forum Neckarsulm the German manufacturer unveiled the changes to its driver line up for the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Heures du Mans.
The only place that has become vacant due to the retirement of Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen will be filled – and, as usual at Audi - with a driver from the brand’s own young-driver promotion programme: Oliver Jarvis (GB) will move up from the third Le Mans car into the WEC regular driver squad and contest the full WEC season in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro.
Jarvis, who celebrates his 31st birthday next month, takes the Audi Sport Team Joest seat of recently retired nine-time Le Mans winner Kristensen for the entire 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship.
The Cambridge driver has scored two third place finishes at Le Mans after making his debut in the twice-around-the-clock marathon in 2012 but has not previously contested a full WEC season. “It’s an early Christmas present and at the same time a fulfilment of a dream,” commented Jarvis at the announcement in Germany.
“I’ve got some big shoes to fill in replacing Tom, a nine-time winner at Le Mans and last year’s world sportscar champion, but I look forward to rising to the challenge. I joined Audi in 2008 and raced in DTM but it was always my dream to compete at Le Mans which I fulfilled in 2012. But to now contest the full WEC championship and fight for a world title is just amazing and something I strived to achieve.”
In the WEC, Audi continues to rely on Audi Sport Team Joest as in the past. The most successful Le Mans team of all time will be fielding two further-developed Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars in all eight races. An additional R18 will be entered in the 6-hour race at Spa and in the Le Mans 24 Hours, with GT driver René Rast (D) completing the line-up for these events.
2015 WEC driver teams
