Sebring
12 hours, 16th March 2002
Race
 Audi
Sport Press Release, 17th March: Audi
have won the 12 Hours of Sebring, one of the most demanding
motorsport events, for a third time in a row in front of a record
crowd of more than 150,000 spectators.
Because
of the bumpy Sebring track, the American endurance classic is
known to be a tough test, the 50th running of the event being
even more difficult compared to the recent years: Intense heat
of up to 34 degrees celsius even melted the track's tarmac at
the opening round of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), requiring
repairs at the beginning of the final third of the race.
The
high temperatures and humidity did not affect the winning Infineon
Audi R8. After last year's "rain battle" at Le Mans
the most successful sportscar of today mastered also the "heat
battle" in Florida. Audi is only the fourth manufacturer
that was able to achieve three Sebring victories in a row.
While
Rinaldo Capello repeated his victory from last year, Johnny
Herbert and Christian Pescatori managed to win the endurance
classic at their first attempt. Johnny said:
"We
put in a lot of hard work for this win. Having achieved it,
it's fantastic. The Audi R8 is still the car to beat. In the
end I was basically trying to conserve the fuel and the brakes.
I set a comfortable pace which was enjoyable as well."
Only
one incident threatened the win of the Italian-British trio:
A collision in heavy traffic in the hectic early stages damaged
the left rear suspension of the R8. The repair relegated the
car temporarily to third. Capello commented:
"It
was a great race and as hard as always. It was incredibly
hot. We did three stints in a row right from the beginning
which was really difficult in these conditions. Of course
we were luckier today compared to the number one car."
Pescatori
added: "I am so proud that we were able to win this race.
Last year Michele celebrated his last victory here. Dindo
and I wanted to win this race for him. I am really happy that
we achieved this. The race was very hard, especially in the
beginning when there were so many cars. It was really difficult
to overtake."
Also
their team mates Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro,
the 2000 Sebring winners, were involved in a collision which
caused a number of unscheduled pit-stops. Changing the steering,
finally took all chance of victory away from the number one
Infineon Audi R8. From 9th position, Biela/Kristensen/Pirro
recovered to fifth place.
Audi's
customer team Champion made it tense during the entire race.
Stefan Johansson, Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace always stayed
in touch with the eventual winners with their 2001-spec R8.
Because this Audi was also running like clockwork, the gap was
never bigger than one lap to the "works" team. Despite
a spin in the final corner, the Champion team finished second
behind the Audi Sport North America team making it an Audi 1-2.
Qualifying
Herbert
starts on the front row
Audi
UK Sport Press Release, 15th March: Johnny Herbert's
Audi starts the Sebring 12 Hours endurance sportscar race on
Saturday (16 Mar) from the front row of the 56-car grid. The
three-time Formula One Grand Prix winner shares a 220mph Audi
R8 sportscar with Italian's Rinaldo Capello and Christian Pescatori.
"Being
closer to the pole-starting Audi's time would have been nice
but qualifying times don't really mean much in a race lasting
12 hours," confirmed the Essex-born ace making his début for
the "factory" Audi team that is striving for a third successive
Le Mans 24 Hour victory in June.
Capello
set a 1min 48.744secs, an average speed of over 122mph around
the 3.7-mile circuit under a searing hot Florida sun during
qualifying today (Thursday) and was a little puzzled:
"The
first part of my lap was good. Then there was some oil, but
the others had the same problem. Because of that the gap to
Frank is a little mysterious to me. I will have a close look
on the data recording."
Christian
Pescatori, Johnny's other team-mate for the race added:
"I
am happy with the second place on the grid, because the important
thing is to be on the front row. We worked a lot for the race
during practice, so we should have a very good car for Saturday."
The
"sister" Infineon Audi R8 of double Le Mans winners Frank Biela/Tom
Kristensen/Emanuele Pirro start the 1,400-mile marathon from
pole-position having set a lap-record breaking 1:48.029.
Briton
Andy Wallace, driving a similar but privately-entered 2001-spec
Audi, ultimately clocked the fifth fastest time (1:50.797) -
the Oxford driver having held provisional pole-position during
the early part of the 25-minute session.
"We're
lacking outright pace compared to the 'works' Audis," confirmed
Wallace (42) who shares his Audi with ex-Grand Prix drivers
Stefan Johansson and Jan Lammers. "But I believe I'm in good
shape to record my third Sebring race win."
Starting
grid at Sebring:
1.
Biela/Kristensen/Pirro (Infineon Audi R8) 1m 48.029s
2. Capello/Herbert/Pescatori (Infineon Audi R8) 1m 48.744s
3. Knight/Hawkins/Kane (MG Lola) 1m 50.543s
4. Magnussen/Brabham/van de Poele (Panoz) 1m 50.617s
5. Wallace/Lammers/Johansson (Audi R8) 1m 50.797s
6. Herta/Donohue/Auberlen (Panoz) 1m 51.076s
7. Bernard/Collard/Lehto (Cadillac) 1m 51.160s
8. Taylor/Angelelli/Tinseau (Cadillac) 1m 51.434s
9. Mathews/Smith/Goossens (R&S-Elan) 1m 51.834s
10. Lienhard/Theys/Baldi (Dallara-Judd) 1m 52.186s
Testing
Audis
fastest again on Tuesday
Test
times from Autosport:
1
Biela/Kristensen/Pirro, Audi, 1m49.1s
2 Capello/Herbert/Pescatori, Audi, 1m50.3s
3 Wallace/Lammers/Johansson, Audi, 1m52.0s
4 Bernard/Collard/Lehto, Cadillac, 1m52.5s
5 Lienhard/Theys/Baldi, Dallara, 1m53.1s
6 Mathews/Smith/Gossens, Riley & Scott, 1m53.7s
7 Herta/Donohue/Auberlen, Panoz, 1m54.2s
8 Taylor/Angelelli/Tinseau, Cadillac, 1m54.9s
9 Weaver/Leitzinger/Forbes-Robinson, Riley & Scott, 1m55.0s
10 Jackson/Jeannette/Block, Panoz, 1m58.3s
Audis
top Monday's test times
Test
times from www.americanlemans.com:
1.
Biela/Pirro/Kristensen, Audi R8, 1:48.957 (122.250 mph).
2. Capello/Herbert/Pescatori, Audi R8, 1:50.661 (120.368).
3. Wallace/Lammers/Johansson, Audi R8, 1:50.805 (120.211).
4. Matthews/Smith/Goossens, Riley & Scott MkIIIC, 1:51.566 (119.391).
5. Bernard/Collard/Lehto, Cadillac LMP 02, 1:52.437 (118.466).
6. Taylor/Angelelli/Tinseau, Cadillac LMP 02, 1:52.489 (118.412).
7. Herta/Donohue/Auberlen, Panoz LMP-1, 1:52.999 (117.877).
8. Lienhard/Theys/Baldi, Dallara-Judd, 1:53.617 (117.236).
9. Lupberger/Bell/Kolby, Ascari-Judd, 1:56.290 (114.541).
10. Neuhaus/Macaluso/Brickell, Lola B2K10-Judd, 1:57.199 (113.653).
Preview
Herbert
looking to claim hat trick of wins for Audi
E-mail
from Johnny, 10th March:
Dear all,
As a new season approaches, I write to you on my flight to
Orlando from JFK.
The start to the ALMS season starts next saturday 16th March
in Sebring with the classic 12 hour race that Audi should win
for a record 3rd time in succession. It will be my first visit
to the Sebring circuit and look forward the challenge ahead.
As well as the ALMS I hope that soon I will be able to tell
you more regarding the Indy 500 seat that I have been working
on and hope that the disappointment of not securing a drive
for the IRL season will turn into a drive at Indy.
Lets hope so!
Will write again as the week goes by as testing starts on Monday
and through the week.
Johnny
Audi
UK Sport Press Release, 8th March: British
ace teams-up with all-conquering factory Audi squad:
Britain's Johnny Herbert makes his début for the "factory"
Audi team in the Sebring 12 Hour sportscar race next Saturday
(16 March) bidding to claim the German manufacturer's third
consecutive victory in the 50th running of the historic American
race.
Brentwood-born Herbert (37) has never raced on the 3.7-mile
circuit, a former US Air Force base, but is aiming to get his
racing season off to a flying start at the wheel of the latest
2002-specification Audi R8 featuring detailed modifications
compared to last year's car.
"The
Audi team has dominated endurance sportscar racing for the
past two years and I aim to keep that record going," confirmed
Herbert. "Audi made its sportscar début at Sebring in 1999,
finishing third and fifth, and in 2000 and 2001 won both the
Sebring 12 Hour and Le Mans 24 Hour races."
Herbert teams-up with Italian duo Rinaldo Capello and Christian
Pescatori in the annual Sebring race, the opening round of the
American Le Mans Series - the same line-up that will race in
the Le Mans 24 Hours (15-16 June). Capello, who partnered Britain's
Allan McNish to the 2000 ALMS title, won the Sebring race last
year - recording almost 1,400 miles at an average speed of 113mph
- while Pescatori will be having only his second race for Audi.
"I'm
looking forward to the Sebring race and of course Le Mans
in the summer," continued Johnny. "In the past two years,
Audi has won 20 races from a possible 24 with its R8 sportscar.
It's a phenomenal record considering the high mileage achieved
in these races."
The second "works" Audi R8, powered by a V8 twin-turbocharged
engine featuring the latest petrol direct injection (FSI), will
be driven by 2000 and 2001 Le Mans race winners Frank Biela
(D), Tom Kristensen (Den) and defending ALMS champion Emanuele
Pirro (It). This combination scored Audi's maiden sportscar
victory at Sebring in 2000.
Furthermore the Florida-based "customer" Audi team, Champion
Racing, will have Andy Wallace, from Oxford, plus former Grand
Prix drivers Stefan Johansson (Sw) and Jan Lammers (NL) bidding
for glory in a 2001-specification Audi R8. All three are former
Le Mans race winners while Wallace, who finished third for the
Champion Audi team at Sebring last year, won this race in 1992
and 1993 with Johansson triumphing at Sebring in 1984 and 1997.
"I
have always liked Sebring," commented Wallace (42). "The track
is very bumpy and the 12 hours feels more like 24 but it has
tradition and an amazing following with the fans - probably
second only to Le Mans. It has several very quick corners
and some very tricky slow ones. It's tough on the car, so
I'm very happy to be driving an Audi R8, which is a proven
and race-winning machine."
A capacity 60 cars will contest the Sebring race including
entries from Ascari, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ferrari, Mazda,
MG, Panoz, Porsche and Saleen. Qualifying is staged on Thursday
(7.30-7.55pm British time) with the race starting at 2.30pm
(British time) on Saturday.
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.
|
