Fuelled to win at Le Mans?

Ok, so we know fuel is important when it comes to motorsports but could it be the deciding factor in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans?

When Shell and Audi first cosied up a few years ago, they developed a winning partnership. That was with good old-fashioned petroleum but things changed even more dramatically when the D word was mentioned and Audi arrived at Le Mans in 2006 with their diesel R10 TDI cars.

Since that victory things have developed even further and the Shell V-Power diesel, combined with the Instant Response Technology that's designed to improve engine responsiveness, has given the team an edge over its competitors in terms of better turbo power and lower fuel consumption; essentially the cars are now more efficient.

So how has this translated itself on the circuit? Well, Richard Karlstetter, Shell's Global Technology Manager for Racing Fuels, had understandably been keeping a close eye on the diesel cars in the first few hours of the race and found something that could prove crucial to the race results.