Le Mans, June 10th, 2008
In Le Mans city centre on Tuesday, thousands of spectators followed
Technical Scrutineering of the three Audi R10 TDI prototypes with
which Audi Sport Team Joest will compete in next weekend’s Le Mans
24 Hours. This means the Audi squad is ready for one of the greatest
challenges in motorsport.
The three Audi diesel sports cars were engulfed by the fans and the nine
Audi drivers were more than busy in writing autographs in bright
sunshine. Especially sort after, as usual, was the signature of Le Mans
record winner Tom Kristensen who will pilot the #2 Audi R10 TDI together
with Dindo Capello and Allan McNish.
Local hero Alexandre Prémat revealed a new helmet design at the
Technical Scrutineering: The Frenchman's helmet displays the layout of
the Le Mans track including the names of the corners. Prémat starts at Le
Mans together with Lucas Luhr and Mike Rockenfeller in the #3 Audi R10
TDI.
Last year's winners Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner will
race with starting number 1 as the defending champions. Emanuele Pirro
was presented with numerous frogs from his loyal fans as a gift which is
supposed to bring him luck. The Italian collects frog characters.
"The fact that the Technical Scrutineering is taking place at Le Mans as
early as Tuesday is one of the peculiarities of the race,” says Frank Biela
who has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans together with Emanuele Pirro and
Marco Werner two consecutive times at the wheel of the Audi R10 TDI. "Le
Mans is the most important race of the year. In no other race are you
spending such a long period in the paddock and have so much time to
think about everything. The pressure builds up slowly and gets bigger
every day. At the start on Saturday it is bigger than in any other race.”
First Qualifying at Le Mans takes place on Wednesday evening from 7 to
9 p.m. and 10 to 12 p.m. The race starts on Saturday at 3 p.m.
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