Lime Rock - July 7, 2007
Capello/McNish win LM P1 category at Lime Rock
Reigning champions Dindo Capello (Italy) and Allan McNish (Scotland)
scored extended their lead in the American Le Mans Series at Lime Rock
(US state of Connecituct) scoring their fifth consecutive class win and
thus retaining the 100 percent LM P1 category winning record of the Audi
R10 TDI in its 15th race. Their team mates Emanuele Pirro (Italy) and
Marco Werner (Germany) finished fourth in the LM P1 class despite an
unfortunate accident.
Contact costs chance for overall victory
The race on the shortest track of the season was incident packed as
expected. Taking advantage of the enormous torque of his V12 TDI
engine, Allan McNish moved from seventh position on the grid to third at
the start. After 30 minutes, the Scotsman was running second just behind
the pole sitting LM P2 Porsche when he was blocked twice in a row by the
same backmarker at the end of the start-finish straight. On the first
occasion, the Audi driver spun dropping from second to fifth position. The
second time, contact caused damage to the front of the Audi R10 TDI. The
spins and front bodywork change cost McNish and Capello a total of three
laps and any chance to fight for overall glory. From tenth position, the
reigning champions fought their way back to fifth place making up two
laps with the help of good strategy.
Pirro/Werner score points despite accident
The race of the #2 Audi R10 TDI seemed to have come to a premature
end just before the end of the first hour due to a specatcular accident
when Marco Werner spun off the last corner at high speed due to a
puncture impacting the guard rail heavily backwards. That the #2 R10 TDI
was able to get back on the track 55 minutes later with applause of the
specators was thanks to the strength of the car and the quick work of the
mechanics from Team Audi Sport North America. Emanuele Pirro and
Marco Werner were able to just complete the minimum distance of 70
percent to be classified finishing fourth in the LM P1 class and scoring
ten precious points.
Quotes after the race
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport)
"We had quite a good pace today but we had to go to the limit – and this is
very risky on a race track where overtaking is extremely difficult.
Unfortunately both of our cars were delayed by contacts and accidents.
The accident of Marco (Werner) was caused by a cut tyre – most likely
caused by running over debris. This caused him impacting backwards
very heavily. It was a great achievement of the team to repair the car thus
allowing them to score points.”
Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"Looking at the race positively, we at least somehow claimed maximum
points again but for me, it was one of the most disappointing races in the
American Le Mans Series I’ve ever had. Allan (McNish) and I had more
incidents in today’s race than we’ve experienced in three full seasons of
racing. The car unusually was very difficult to drive but we both decided
that we should nevertheless push hard throughout the race despite these
problems. We have managed to extend our championship lead but on
this occasion, mainly due to the bad luck of our ‘sister’ car.”
Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"I made a good start to take third and inherited second place when Chris
Dyson was penalized for a jump start. We knew that it would be a difficult
race and traffic would be an important factor. I encountered the same
backmarker twice, at exactly the same point of the circuit. The first time I
spun after locking up the rears without damage but the second time,
when I again dived down the inside, he moved over and we made contact
damaging the nose of the Audi which effectively put us out of contention
for overall honours.”
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #2)
"Of course there is some disappointment because we wanted to do
better. But the most important thing is that Marco (Werner) is okay after
his big crash. It proved one more time that our Audi R10 TDI is very
strong. This track is not very safe and he crashed in the quickest corner.
After that the mechanics did an unbelievable job putting the car together
to make us cover enough distance to score points and still have some
hope for the championship. This was the nice part of the day. My race
wasn’t easy because the car was not perfect after the crash.”
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #2)
"This was not our day. Due to the accident we lost more ground to our
‘sister’ car which took another class victory. Now it’s becoming tight for us
in the championship. I hope we’ll finally have more luck in the next races.
When I suddenly lost the car entering the corner, I had absolutely no
explanation for this. Nowe we know it was a puncture.”
Dave Maraj (Team Director Audi Sport North America)
"This was a tough day for the team. The mechanics have done a very
good job to get the #2 car out again after the accident. We made a few
mistakes today. You have to pay for when you make mistakes. Let’s hope
we do better in the next races.”
The results at Lime Rock
1 Briscoe/Maassen (Porsche) 174 laps in 2h 45m 16.615s
2 Bernhard/Dumas (Porsche) + 7.481s
3 Brabham (Acura/Honda) + 16.095s
4 Dyson/Smith (Porsche) - 1 lap
5 Capello/McNish (Audi R10 TDI) - 1 lap (1st in LM P1)
6 Wallace/Leitzinger (Porsche) - 2 laps
7 Herta/Franchitti (Acura/Honda) - 4 laps
8 Beretta/Gavin (Chevrolet) - 9 laps
9 O’Connell/Magnussen (Chevrolet) - 9 laps
10 van der Steurer/Pecorari (Radical) - 12 laps
...
23 Pirro/Werner (Audi R10 TDI) - 51 laps (4th in LM P1)
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