Audi conquers front row of the grid
Audi achieves best preperation for the only guest appearance of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in Germany: On Sunday the two Audi R8s will start from first and second positions in the 1000 kilometre race at the Nurburgring. Rinaldo Capello, who shares the cockpit with Allan McNish, set the fastest time. Second fastest was Frank Biela driving together with Emanuele Pirro.
The top position changed every so often during the 20 minutes of qualifying which was interrupted for about 15 minutes when a car went off the track. Not only the duel with Panoz and BMW but also within the Audi team itself was exciting: At times during qualifying there were only four thousandths of a second between the Audi numbers 77 and 78.
Quotes after qualifying
Rinaldo Capello (#77): „I think I could have gone even faster before the break because after that the tyres lost grip. But despite this I had a completely clear track. I have a very good feeling for the race because even with a lot of traffic we were really fast.“
Frank Biela (#78): „It´s a lot of fun driving on the Nurburgring with a sportscar. The R8 is the fastest car I´ve ever driven here. I´m quite confident with my time, the car feels very good.“
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Sport: „Of course we are very confident with this result. Our cars are extremely close together. Rinaldo Capello decided the qualifying positions right at the end with a tremendous lap. We are well prepared for the race.”
Reinhold Joest, Team Director Audi Sport North America: „With this result we proved that our cars are not only running fast at Le Mans which gives us a lot of self confidence. Of course 1000 kilometres is a long distance when a lot can happen.“
Results
1. Capello/McNish (Audi R8) 1m27.938s
2. Biela/Pirro (Audi R8) 1m28.540s
3. Brabham/Magnussen (Panoz) 1m29.103s
4. Lehto/Müller (BMW) 1m29.222s
5. Auberlen/Gounon (BMW) 1m29.907s
6. Katoh/O´Connell (Panoz) 1m30.206s
7. Johansson/Smith (Reynard) 1m30.307s
8. Simon/Blieninger (R & S) 1m31.856s
9. Boullion/Gene (Reynard-VW) 1m32.023s
10. Gache/Cottaz (Courage) 1m32.398s