St. Petersburg - March 30, 2007
Diesel-powered sports car also fast on street circuit
The two Audi R10 TDI sports cars will start Saturday’s second round of
the American Le Mans Series in St. Petersburg (US state of Florida) as
fastest LM P1 prototypes from the second and the fourth rows of the grid.
In the first ever appearance of the revolutionary diesel-powered sports car
on a street circuit, defending champion Allan McNish headed the field in
the last free practice session on Friday. He also set the pace with the
650-hp R10 TDI at the beginning of qualifying before being relegated to
third position by the fastest two LM P2 sports cars.
Allan McNish quickest in LM P1 class despite accident
When he tried to get the provisional pole position back, the Audi factory
driver touched a wall. The Audi R10 TDI was only slightly damaged at the
rear.
Marco Werner seventh in “sister” Audi
Marco Werner was a little more conservative at the wheel of the "sister”
Audi: With a gap of almost a second to pole position, the German
qualified seventh.
The race in St. Petersburg starts on Saturday at 5:05 p.m. local time
(11:05 p.m. in Germany) and lasts 2:45 hours.
Quotes after qualifying
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport)
"The qualifying results proved our computer calculations: On this track
and with the current regulations, the LM P2 cars are just in a better
position. Despite this and with a lot of effort, Allan (McNish) tried to get on
to the front row. If you take maximum risk, it can happen that you spin.
Fortunately there is not much damage to the car.”
Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"It’s going to be the toughest race to date for the Audi R10 TDI. Allan
showed in qualifying that we have good speed and now we must try to
reproduce that pace in the race for 2 hours and 45 minutes. I believe that
this will be difficult for us to achieve compared to the lighter and more
agile LM P2 cars. Turns 5 to 8 especially hurt our heavier car. But the
times we have achieved are better than we anticipated, especially after
walking the circuit yesterday.”
Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"I pushed to the absolute maximum and unfortunately pushed a little too
hard resulting in me hitting the wall exiting Turn 9 after trying to carry too
much speed through. Porsche had taken away my provisional pole
position and I wanted it back. A good qualifying position was vital to get
here and now the other battle occurs in the race. I don’t know how it’s
going to work out for us with many different strategies being applied but
we’ve found a good set-up for our car.”
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #2)
"The St. Petersburg event is really good and the race track very well built.
Although our R10 TDI is a car which likes fast straight lines more than
tight corners it’s nice to share this event with the IndyCar Series. Marco
did a good lap in qualifying. We have a different tyre choice than the other
car. Practice time was short, so we still have to improve the set-up a little
bit. But I think the condition of our car is better than our position shows in
qualifying. The race is long, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #2)
"Things did not go too bad today. We improved from session to session –
even by a full second from the last practice to qualifying. The lap was
good, the time also. But the starting position obviously is not perfect.
Going into the race from seventh position means you are in the middle of
the pack. It would have been nicer to start further towards the front. But
more was not possible today for me. You have seen also with Allan that
we are driving right on the edge.”
Dave Maraj (Team Director Audi Sport North America)
"Qualifying was better than I’d expected and our two Audis are closer to
the Porsches than I’d predicted with the #1 Audi just three-tenth’s off
pole-position. As to what kind of speed the LM P2 class Porsches can run
in the race compared to us we’ll just have to wait and see.”
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