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.
1. Emanuele Pirro/Frank Biela, Audi R8 (LMP 900), 1:55.113.
2. Jan Magnussen/David Brabham, Panoz LMP-1 (LMP 900), 1:55.533.
3. Rinaldo Capello/Tom Kristensen, Audi R8 (LMP 900), 1:55.948.
4. Johnny Herbert/Stefan Johansson, Audi R8 (LMP 900), 1:57.236.
5. Bryan Herta/Bill Auberlen, Panoz LMP-1 (LMP 900), 1:57.798.
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Kiwi, Sigi, Ray and Keith go over every system with care