The Pompano Beach,
FL-based team are under no illusions that its rivals will be doubly
determined to bring Dave Maraj’s American “privateer” Audi team back
down to earth in the Infineon Grand Prix of Sonoma after its flying
start to the 2003 campaign.
Despite finishing
second at Sebring, the 2002-spec Champion Audi led 290 of the race’s
367-laps (79% of the race distance). In Atlanta, the ratio was higher -
122 of 128-laps (95%). And with its Atlanta race victors JJ Lehto and
Johnny Herbert placed joint first and fourth respectively in the
Driver’s Championship and Team ADT Champion Racing tied for first in the
Teams’ and IMSA Cup standings, Audi’s “customer” team is focused on
maintaining its momentum.
Herbert made his
ALMS début at the Infineon Raceway (Sears Point) in 2001 - his second
race for Champion Racing - finishing fourth (with Andy Wallace) and
second last year from pole-position (with Tom Kristensen). Lehto,
meanwhile, won outright at Sears in 1999, finished third in 2000 and
first in GT the following year.
Johnny Herbert:
ALMS stats: 18
starts, 2 wins, 12 top-3s, 16 top-5s, 18 top-10s.
“I’m not expecting
Sears to be a breeze – we all need to work especially hard to continue
our good run. I like Sears and in the past couple of years have been
fortunate to post good results but with JJ, feel I have an excellent
opportunity of scoring my maiden Sears win. In the one race that I’ve
had with JJ, I already feel very comfortable and have a positive feeling
for the remainder of the ALMS season.”
JJ
Lehto:
ALMS stats: 32
starts, 11 wins (7 overall, 4 GT class), 26 top-3s, 30 top-5s, 32
top-10s.
“This race will be
very tough. After our Atlanta win, the Joest Audi team especially will
be very determined to beat us and so we must be totally focused. The
entire team must be sharp - we must show no mercy. I scored an LMP900
victory at Sears in 1999 and will be pushing hard for another – we must
consistently score big points for the championship. Ideally it would be
good to leave Sears the clear series leader.”
Brad Kettler
- Champion Racing Technical Director:
“Team ADT Champion
Racing is looking forward to Sears. We learned a great deal last year
when Tom [Kristensen] drove with us. Last year’s set-up was good for
changing track conditions, which is always good for Sears Point. The
team is working harder than ever, we know that Joest will be at their
best as always. Johnny, JJ and the team are all focused and ready.”
Infineon Raceway (Sears Point) Timetable -
ALMS
Friday: 1220-1305 / 1305-1405
(both Test sessions)
Saturday: 0930-1100 / 1345-1445
(both Practice sessions). 1535-1555 Qualifying.
Sunday: 0800-830 Warm-up.
1200-1445 Race
2003 America
Le Mans Series – Driver’s Standings (after 2 races)
1 JJ Lehto (Champion
Audi) / Frank Biela (Joest Audi) / Marco
Werner (Joest Audi), 42
4 Johnny Herbert (Champion Audi), 39
5 Philipp Peter (Joest Audi), 26
6 Olivier Beretta / Max Papis (Panoz), 24
2003 America Le Mans Series – Teams’ Standings (after 2 races)
1 Team ADT Champion Racing
/ Infineon Team Joest, 42
3 JML, 24
2003 America Le Mans Series – IMSA Cup Standings (after 2
races)
1 Team ADT Champion Racing / Infineon Team Joest, 36
3 JML, 23
Team ADT
Champion Racing 2003 ALMS Formguide (Audi R8)
Rd 1: Sebring
(15 March) 12 Hours
Pirro/Lehto/Johansson - Qualified: 2nd (1:49.355). Race: 2nd
Rd 2: Atlanta
(29 June) 2hr 45mins
Herbert/Lehto –
Qualified: 3rd (1:13.826). Race: 1st
