Testing News and Photos

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.

Saturday sees two one-hour practice sessions for all ALMS classes combined, followed by a twenty-minute qualifying session in the afternoon, which will set the grid for Sunday's Road America 500-mile race, which is expected to take
approximately 4 1/2 hours.