St. Petersburg - March 31, 2007
American Le Mans Series in Long Beach and Houston
The American Le Mans Series is moving along at a rapid pace: With Long
Beach (California) and Houston (Texas) coming up, as many as two city
races are on the agenda within just one week – putting the Audi R10 TDI,
which has remained unbeaten so far, to the test yet again.
By claiming a one-two victory in St. Petersburg (Florida) Audi proved that
the revolutionary diesel-powered sportscar is also capable of winning on
a street course. The circuits in Long Beach and Houston, however, have
different characteristics than the track in St. Petersburg. This means that
the Audi Sport North America team is facing two other big challenges.
Audi R10 TDI goes to California undefeated
The drivers and technical crews have to master a particularly tough task
in Long Beach: Before the qualifying, the teams have merely 45 minutes
of practice to familiarise themselves with the circuit that is new to all Audi
drivers. The race lasts only 1:40 hours, making it the shortest in the
history of the American Le Mans Series until today.
One week later, the world’s fastest sportscars will be competing on the
city circuit in Houston, which Dindo Capello and Allan McNish know from
last year’s victory in their Audi R8. For Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner,
though, Houston is new territory. The circuit is the slowest one on the
2007 American Le Mans Series schedule with an extremely bumpy
surface.
2,700 miles across the United States
After the 1-2 victory in St. Petersburg, there was no time for the Audi squad
to catch their breath: While the drivers flew back to Europe for testing in
France for the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 16/17 June, Dave Maraj’s Team
Audi Sport North America had only three days to prepare the two R10 TDI
sports prototypes for the next race. As early as on Thursday the trucks left
the team’s base in Pompano Beach in Florida to travel the 2,700-mile
distance across the United States to the West Coast.
Long Beach is host to the American Le Mans Series for the first time. For
Audi Sport, though, this round marks the return to a special venue: In April
1988, Audi contested its début race with the 200 quattro TransAm – after
changing from rallying to circuit racing – on the street course near Los
Angeles. At that time, Audi caused a big sensation with its quattro drive,
while today it is TDI Power that is making the headlines in the United
States.
Quotes before Long Beach and Houston
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport)
"The Audi R10 TDI has now been undefeated in ten races, and for more
than a year – that’s a unique track record. We’re aware of the fact that this
string of exploits will end at some point, particularly since the competition
in the American Le Mans Series keeps getting stronger. But we’re going
to give our best again in the upcoming two city races in Long Beach and
Houston, and show the capabilities of the R10 with Audi TDI Power to the
spectators in California and Texas.”
Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"I can’t say much about Long Beach because I’ve never been there. It’ll be
a very short race over just 100 minutes. I was told that there’s a very tight
hairpin. This should be pretty difficult for our – due to the regulations –
heavy R10 TDI, although we showed in St. Petersburg that we can win
even when the theory is against us. This was also the case with the R8
last year in Houston. This track is a lot bumpier than the one in St.
Petersburg. The key in Houston will be to find a good set-up for handling
the bumps.”
Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"The St. Petersburg victory certainly gave us a bit more confidence looking
ahead at the next two races. However, it is cautious optimism, simply
because I think the competition did not get everything
one-hundred-percent right in St. Petersburg, while we did. Looking at
Long Beach, this is a fantastic venue, very historic and probably with a
good balance of tight corners and straights. Houston is significantly
different, very tight, twisty, with no long straights where our Audi R10 TDI
can stretch its legs. The competition from Porsche and Acura/Honda will
be very strong. However, after the victory in St. Petersburg, we’re looking
forward to this challenge.”
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #2)
"Long Beach is another street event and thus another less than perfect
one for the Audi R10 TDI. We proved in St. Petersburg that even if the
odds aren’t in our favour on a street circuit we can turn them around. So I
look at Long Beach with some optimism, but we shouldn’t forget that our
car is built for high speed and fast corners and not for street races. So far,
though, we’re looking good and will try to double the East Coast results
on the West Coast.”
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #2)
"Long Beach and Houston are new territory for me – I don’t know either of
these circuits. The Audi R8 competed in Houston before, but the R10 TDI
is in for two new tracks. Nevertheless, we’re going to this race with a
slightly better feeling than to St. Petersburg because, there, things went
better for us than expected. The Audi R10 TDI proved that it’s a reliable
car on street circuits as well. If we don’t make any mistakes – which is
easier said than done on a city circuit – we’ll be able to achieve a good
result.”
Dave Maraj (Team Director Audi Sport North America)
"I don’t want the St. Petersburg victory to make our team overly confident.
We have to work as hard as we did to win in St. Petersburg. Going into the
next street races, I’ll make sure that we invest the same level of work and
attitude we did in St. Petersburg.”
The schedule in Long Beach
Friday, 13 April
09:00 – 09:45 hrs Practice
16:30 – 16:55 hrs Qualifying (LM P1 / LM P2)
Saturday, 14 April
08:00 – 08:20 hrs Warm-up
16:00 – 17:40 hrs Race
The schedule in Houston
Friday, 20 April
11:35 – 12:35 hrs Practice 1
17:00 – 18:00 hrs Practice 2
18:40 – 19:00 hrs Qualifying (LM P1 / LM P2)
Saturday, 21 April
11:30 – 12:00 hrs Warm-up
17:30 – 20:15 hrs Race
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