LM P1
Audi achieves second Le Mans hat-trick
Capello/Kristensen/McNish win thriller
Audi R10 TDI remains unbeaten at 24 Hour classic
Eighth Audi victory out of ten starts at the Sarthe
PEUGEOT 908 HDi FAPs MONOPOLISE THE TOP THREE PLACES ON SATURDAY’S GRID
For the second year in a row, a stunning lap from Stephane Sarrazin has put Team Peugeot Total on pole position for the start of the Le Mans 24 Hours. The Frenchman was the fastest driver on the track during qualifying thanks to a time of 3m 18.513s on Wednesday in the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP he shares with Pedro Lamy and Alexander Wurz. The N8 car will consequently lead the field away when the endurance classic begins at 3pm on Saturday afternoon, ahead of the N9 and N7 sister cars of Franck Montagny/Ricardo Zonta/Christian Klien and Marc Gene/Nicolas Minassian/Jacques Villeneuve. The French machines completed qualifying more than three seconds quicker than their best-placed rival as the top teams spent the majority of the week’s two practice sessions concentrating on fine-tuning the race set-ups of their respective machines.
Audi Sport Team Joest concentrated fully on race preparations during the first qualifying session for this weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours (start on Saturday at 3 p.m.). The three Audi R10 TDI prototypes are fourth, fifth and sixth on the provisional starting grid.
As it was raining during the official test day at Le Mans and similar weather is also predicted for Thursday’s second qualifying session, last year’s winners decided not to go out for the fastest lap times with a special qualifying set-up. Instead, the Audi team worked intensively on the set-up and the aerodynamics and tested various tire specifications for the race. In addition, all nine Audi drivers completed their mandatory laps in darkness.
Sunshine, rain and hail on official test day
Nine Audi factory drivers complete almost 2,600 kilometres
Audi R10 TDI runs with next-generation bio fuel for the first time
Ingolstadt/Le Mans – All set for the “race of the year”: covering a total of almost 2,600 kilometres on the only official test day, the Audi drivers prepared themselves for the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans to be staged on 14 and 15 June. The Audi R10 TDI vehicles completed the eight-hour test without the slightest technical problem.
Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard gave Porsche and Penske Racing their second straight victory at Miller Motorsports Park with a 1-2 finish for the two Porsche RS Spyders. Dumas took the checkered flag in front of Patrick Long in the Larry H. Miller Utah Grand Prix presented by the Grand and Little America Hotels.
That’s the $64,000 question as American Le Mans Series teams ready themselves for the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by the Grand and Little America Hotels. For the first time, the field will compete on the 3.048-mile, 15-turn perimeter circuit at Miller Motorsports Park for the fourth round of the 2008 season. And indeed, some in the paddock believe this will be the fastest venue in Series history.
It’s hard to remember a time when an Audi victory in the American Le Mans Series was considered a surprise. But that’s just what happened on Saturday though as Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr scored an unlikely victory in the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach as the two Audi R10 TDIs finished 1-2.
Werner crossed the finish line 1.964 seconds ahead of Emanuele Pirro in the sister Audi as the German manufacturer finished 1-2 overall in an American Le Mans Series race for the first time since St. Petersburg in 2007, also a street circuit.
Audi’s Lucas Luhr passed Romain Dumas on a restart with three minutes left Saturday to give the manufacturer a victory in the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg presented by XM Satellite Radio, its first overall victory of 2008. Luhr teamed with Marco Werner in Audi Sport North America’s No. 2 Audi R10 TDI as the German marque won on the streets of St. Petersburg for the second straight season.
Butch Leitzinger’s spin and crash in one of the Dyson Racing Porsche RS Spyders with 12 minutes left brought out the yellow flag with Penske Racing’s Dumas in the lead. The crash also collected the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Jörg Bergmeister. Dumas, who claimed LMP2 honors with Timo Bernhard in a Penske Porsche RS Spyder, took the lead from Luhr with 19 minutes to go under green.
Marco Werner’s affinity for street circuits shone again Friday. The Audi factory driver captured the overall pole position for Saturday’s Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg presented by XM Satellite Radio with a record run, besting Penske Racing’s Romain Dumas as Audi looked to regain its winning ways in the American Le Mans Series.
Werner’s best lap was a 1:02.825 (103.144 mph) around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn circuit on the bayfront of St. Petersburg. His time also beat Dumas’ overall pole-winning time from 2007 by 0.214 seconds in the diesel-powered Audi R10 TDI he will share with Lucas Luhr.
And it could have been even better. Werner was on pace to improve his time on the next lap before running too hard into Turn 8 and spinning the car. The R10 did stop before impacting the tire barrier so there was no damage.
Audi Takes LMP1 Class Win; O’Connell,Corvette Easily Win GT1
Flying Lizards Break Through with 1-2 GT2 Finish
If the grueling Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida is an indicator, the 2008 ALMS campaign will be another record book season for Penske Racing Porsce RS Spyders. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Emmanuel Collard drove to an historic overall win at the 56th running of the American endurance classic.
Proving the computer simulations that show the LMP2 class to have a distinct advantage over their LMP1 counterparts, the lighter prototypes stole the thunder from the higher horsepower , heavier machines — the first overall win at Sebring by an LMP2 car that was further punctuated by four P2 lead-lap finishers, a race record. Dumas took the checkered flag by 12.979 seconds over Adrian Fernandez in the Lowe’s Fernandez Racing Acura ARX-01b he shared with Luis Diaz. The P2 class swept the overall podium with Dyson Racing’s Porsche RS Spyder of Butch Leitzinger, Marino Franchitti and Andy Lally placing third.
© 2008 Backstretch Motorsports. All rights reserved.
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