Miami
ALMS, 5th October 2002
Race
5th place finish
Audi
Sport UK Press Release, 6th October: Johnny
Herbert drove his Audi home in to fifth position in the penultimate
round of the American Le Mans Series.
The
38-year-old Briton started the 165-minute sportscar race staged
on the downtown Miami street circuit from the second row of
the 36-car grid. Herbert handed over to co-driver Stefan Johansson
in the lead after 80 minutes but an air hose became tangled
around their Audi’s rear wing as he left his team’s pit resulting
in a stop-go penalty.
“We
gambled with a later pit-stop than our rivals and everything
looked good until getting the penalty,” remarked Herbert who
drops to fifth place in the Driver’s standings.
The
pole-starting “factory” Audi of Frank Biela/Emanuele Pirro claimed
their second consecutive ALMS victory with a 14-seconds triumph
over Max Angelelli/J J Lehto (Cadillac) after the second “works”
Audi was given a stop-go penalty eight minutes from the finish
when placed second. The final race in the 10-round series is
in Atlanta next Saturday.
Johnny
added: “Audi has now won the Manufacturers’ title but the
only way I can still claim the Driver’s ‘crown’ is if both
‘works’ Audis retire in the last race.”
Race
results:
1.
Biela/Pirro (Infineon Audi R8) 122 laps
2. Angelelli/Lehto (Cadillac) + 14.021s
3. Capello/Kristensen (Infineon Audi R8) + 14.536s
4. Magnussen/Brabham (Panoz) + 48.620s
5. Herbert/Johansson (Audi R8) - 1 lap
6. Goossens/Ave (Riley&Scott-Elan) - 1 lap
7. Bernard/Collard (Cadillac) - 2 laps
8. Knight/Hürtgen/Block (MG Lola) - 3 laps
9. Fellows/O’Connell (Chevrolet) - 3 laps
10. Pilgrim/Collins (Chevrolet) - 4 laps
Qualifying
3rd on the grid
Top
6 qualifying positions:
1.
Frank Biela, Germany, and Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Audi R8 (LMP
900), 1:03.873, 78.174.
2. Rinaldo Capello, Italy, and Tom Kristensen, Denmark; Audi
R8 (LMP 900), 1:03.882, 78.163.
3. Johnny Herbert, England, and Stefan Johansson, Sweden;
Audi R8 (LMP 900), 1:04.632, 77.256.
4. Marc Goossens, Belgium, and Tony Ave, Hurley, Wis.; Riley
& Scott MKIIIC-Elan (LMP 900), 1:05.722, 75.975.
5. Eric Bernard, France, and Emmanuel Collard, France; Cadillac
Northstar LMP 02 (LMP 900), 1:07.021, 74.502.
6. Bryan Herta, Valencia, Calif., and Bill Auberlen, Hermosa
Beach, Calif.; Panoz LMP-1 (LMP 900), 1:07.603, 73.861.
Preview
Make or break time for title bid
Audi
Sport UK Press Release, 30th September: Johnny Herbert starts
the penultimate round of the American Le Mans Series in Miami
on Saturday (5th October) knowing he must win to remain in the
title race.
Brentwood-born
Herbert teams-up with fellow former Grand Prix ace Stefan Johansson
in Champion Racing’s ADT Audi R8 around a newly constructed,
tight and twisting 1.57-mile street circuit. A 1,000-mile race
in Atlanta seven days later brings the ALMS season to a spectacular
close and with Herbert 18-points behind series leader Tom Kristensen,
Johnny is only too aware that a maximum score in Miami is essential.
“Miami
will be very interesting for a number of reasons,” confirmed
Herbert. “The track lay out is new and so all of the drivers
and teams will start on a level playing field.
“The
championship is so close with just 21-points covering the
top-five drivers but with 25-points available to the Miami
winner and 30-points to the Atlanta race winner, things are
very tight.
“But
Miami is my last realistic opportunity to win this season
because the 'factory' Audis are likely to be too strong over
1,000 miles around Atlanta - and the bad news for me is that
all of my title rivals drive those cars!"
Herbert’s
Champion Racing Audi R8 is a 2001-spec car while the two works
R8s of Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello plus reigning ALMS champion
Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela, feature the very latest engine
and aerodynamic modifications. Having driven the factory Audi
to victory in the Sebring 12 Hours, the opening round of this
year’s 10-race ALMS championship, and to second place at Le
Mans - behind the Biela/Kristensen/Pirro R8 - Johnny knows that
Atlanta will be very tough.
Herbert
added: “Miami will be a very slow circuit - in stark contrast
to Atlanta which is very fast and flowing - a lot like the
old Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. The ‘factory’ Audis will
be very quick and economical with their fuel so it’ll be extremely
hard for us to challenge them.”
Schedule
in Miami:
Friday,
4 October
1300-1400
Free practice
1700-2000 Free practice
2105-2125 Qualifying
Saturday,
5 October
1355-1420 Warm-up
2100-2345 Race (2:45 hours)
Every
effort is made to ensure factual accuracy but no
responsibility is accepted for the information on these pages.
News and photos
from Audi Sport © and from
AmericanLeMans
used by kind permission.
This page last updated Monday, 20-May-2002 08:00:27 BST
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