Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, July 06, 2002
Audi driver Tom Kristensen starts from pole position on his birthday. In an
exciting qualifying session, Audi has captured the top two places on the
starting grid for the 500-mile race at Road America (US state of Wisconsin).
Due to oil on the track, Saturday´s qualifying session was interrupted exactly
when Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro left the pits with their Infineon
Audi R8 sports cars, making it a race against time for Team Audi Sport
North America. Just eight minutes left for the Audi works drivers – and thus
just two flying laps on the four-mile long, very fast and demanding Road
America track.
Despite the time pressure and high outside temperatures, Tom Kristensen
recorded the fastest time of the whole weekend in 1m 52.166s (= 128.381
mph) taking pole position. Emanuele Pirro, unfortunately, ran into traffic on
both attempts. Despite that, the reigning ALMS champion was able to move
into the front row of the grid shortly before the end of the session.
A slower car also deprived Audi´s customer team Champion Racing a
better position on the grid: Stefan Johansson spun off the track with the
2001-spec R8 while trying to avoid another car slightly touching the wall.
After a short repair, Johansson was able to continue qualifying securing 6th
position on the grid.
Running over the distance of 500 miles, the „Road America 500“ is a real
endurance race. The start is on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. local time. Emanuele
Pirro (#1) and Tom Kristensen (#2) are scheduled as start drivers in the two
Infineon Audi R8 sports cars. Tom Kristensen celebrates on race day, July
7, his birthday. The ALMS points leader turns 35.
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