Road
America ALMS, 7th July 2002
Race
A storming finish to a podium place!
Audi
Sport UK, 7th July: Johnny Herbert stormed to third place
in the latest round of the American Le Mans Series at Elkhart
Lake in Wisconsin today (SUN) as Audi swept to a comprehensive
1-2-3 “whitewash”.
The
leading “factory” Audi R8s of Rinaldo Capello/Tom Kristensen
and Frank Biela/Emanuele Pirro were reeled in by the flying
Herbert who attempted to make up time in the final hour after
Swedish co-driver Stefan Johansson’s earlier misfortune.
“Stefan’s
foot slipped off the brake pedal on to the accelerator causing
him to spin off,” confirmed Herbert who set a searing pace
in the closing stages.
At
the chequered flag in the four-hour, 500-mile Road America race,
the Brentwood-born ex-Grand Prix winner was just 94-seconds
behind the Capello Audi, which had started from pole-position,
with Biela 32secs behind the winner.
Johnny
added: “With luck we could have had second place but third
keeps me in contention for the championship.”
Herbert
resumes his challenge for the ALMS title in the fifth round
of the 10-race American Le Mans Series in an inaugural Washington
street circuit race on 21 July.
Qualifying
Kristensen on pole, Champion Audi 6th
Audi
Sport Press, 6th July: 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 becomes 35.
Quotes
after qualifying
Johnny
Herbert (ADT Champion Audi R8 #38):
“Qualifying
was not very satisfying. We will be up for the challenge for
tomorrow’s race fight. We have a little understeer and that
is scrubbing speed especially around the Carousel. We will
work on that for the warm-up tomorrow.”
Stefan
Johansson (ADT Champion Audi R8 #38):
“I got caught up with a LMP675 car on my fast lap. I went
off and gently touched the wall at the exit of Turn 5. The
team did the repairs rapidly but when I went out again the
extra 10 percent in the tires which gives you a fast qualifying
lap were gone. For the race we have to work to reduce our
understeer.”
Starting
grid at Road America
1.
Capello/Kristensen (Infineon Audi R8) 1m 52.166s
2. Biela/Pirro (Infineon Audi R8) 1m 53.999s
3. Magnussen/Brabham (Panoz) 1m 54.486s
4. Herta/Auberlen (Panoz) 1m 54.866s
5. Field/Dayton/Durand (MG Lola) 1m 54.909s
6. Herbert/Johansson (Audi R8) 1m 55.284s
7. Field/Field (Lola-Judd) 1m 59.579s
8. de Radigues/Graham (Panoz-Mugen) 1m 59.886s
9. Duno/Maxwell (Panoz-Mugen) 2m 00.414s
10. Knight/Hawkins/Block (MG Lola) 2m 03.439s
Practice
Kristensen on pole, Champion Audi 6th
Champion
Racing, 5th July: Elkhart Lake, Wis - The ADT/Champion
Audi R8 team arrived at Road America on Wednesday, July 3rd,
and immediately set to work setting up camp and preparing the
car for the standard ALMS Friday test day.
With
no track time for the ALMS cars on Thursday, the 4th of July,
the R8 crew spent the day doing a thorough teardown and rebuild
of the R8, which was damaged during last weekend's race at Mid-Ohio.
The 4-mile Road America circuit is the fastest track the ALMS
cars will race at during the season, except for Le Mans itself,
and much of the setup for the famous Wisconsin road course is
based on Le Mans settings. Because of the very high speeds here,
meticulous preparation is essential, particularly the aerodynamics
of the car.
The
Independence Day holiday also meant that many more race fans
than usual were present at Road America on Thursday, and they
got a great look at all of the ALMS cars in various stages of
race preparation.
Friday's test sessions included an initial hour of track time
shared with the GT and GTS classes, followed by a half hour
where only the LMP900 and LMP675 prototypes were on track. Both
Johnny Herbert and Stefan Johansson did stints in the ADT/Champion
Audi during the afternoon sessions, setting the fourth fastest
time in LMP900.
Friday
practice times:
1.
Emanuele Pirro/Frank Biela, Audi R8 (LMP 900), 1:55.113.
2. Jan Magnussen/David Brabham, Panoz LMP-1 (LMP 900), 1:55.533.
3. Rinaldo Capello/Tom Kristensen, Audi R8 (LMP 900), 1:55.948.
4. Johnny Herbert/Stefan Johansson, Audi R8 (LMP 900), 1:57.236.
5. Bryan Herta/Bill Auberlen, Panoz LMP-1 (LMP 900), 1:57.798.
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used by kind permission.
This page last updated Monday, 20-May-2002 08:00:27 BST
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