Audi: Second row in LeMans

Fourtitude's George Achorn made a trip to LeMans and is reporting about this year's LeMans car race.
Audi's R8 sports cars are third, fifth and eighth on the grid.

Despite the handicaps imposed by the regulations, the Audi R8 makes a good impression in its sixth and last start at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Audi factory driver Allan McNish (Team ADT Champion Racing) set the third-fastest time shortly after 10 p.m. in Thursday’s final qualifying session. Thus, the best-placed R8 will start the race on Saturday from the second row of the grid. Formula 1 test driver Franck Montagny secured Audi PlayStation Team ORECA the fifth spot on the grid at their first Le Mans entry with an Audi. The second "American” R8 will start the race from the fourth row.

Rain showers on Wednesday meant that the starting positions for the 73rd edition of the French Endurance classic were decided in the final qualifying session on Thursday evening. Although all three Audi R8 sports cars were already fitted with the engines for the race, Allan McNish lost just 3.080 seconds to pole position on the 13.650 kilometres – much less than expected. During the pre-test session a fortnight ago, the fastest sports cars of the new generation, which the regulations allow a significant power-advantage, had been almost six seconds faster.

Because they did not see any chance to secure a place on the front-row of the grid due to the handicaps, the Audi teams during qualifying completely concentrated on the setup for the race which will start on Saturday at 4 p.m. After an impressive crowd attended the qualifying, organisers expect a record-crowd over the weekend. The Audi teams must prepare themselves for a similar heat battle as in 2002: For Saturday and Sunday, temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius are predicted for the Sarthe area. Eurosport TV covers almost ten hours live coverage from Le Mans.

Source: Fourtitude

Labels: Audi