Audi makes it onto front row of the grid
Audi made a good start in this year‘s American Le Mans Series. Rinaldo Capello set the second fastest time during the first qualifying session on Wednesday afternoon for the Sebring 12 Hour race. „I could have gone faster but there was too much traffic on the track“, said the Italian works driver of the Audi R8.
Bad luck on the other hand for Tom Kristensen. The Dane tried to push the car very hard during the opening laps while the track was still clear. „I was going for pole, especially after I was fastest during free practice. Then suddenly the left front tyre locked-up. Then I hit the tyre barrier.“ There is no major damage on car no. 78, so it can easily be repaired for the second qualifying session on Thursday.
Quotes
Rinaldo Capello (Car #77): „The session was quite good. But I found it difficult to find a clear lap because of traffic. I’m sure I could have gone much faster, especially on the last two laps. I was already four or five tenths of a second faster when I had to slow down because of slower cars.“
Tom Kristensen (Car #78): „I wanted to do some quick laps very early. At first it worked out fine, because I had a clear lap in front of me. But then a car was coming out of the pits, slowed down and disturbed my rhythm. The front left tyre locked, the car went off and I hit the tyre barrier.“
Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Sport: „Rinaldo did a very good job. But he always had to struggle with slower cars on the circuit, which cost him a lot of time. Tom tried to push the car very hard right at the beginning, because the track was still clear. Tomorrow there will be a new game when second qualifying starts.“