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TEAM ADT CHAMPION RACING QUALIFIES AT ROAD AMERICA

 

ELKHART LAKE, WI. (August 20, 2005) - The Audi R8's of Team ADT Champion Racing will start tomorrow's Generac 500 at Road America from the outside of the first and second rows for the 2:45 minute endurance race.

Qualifying driver JJ Lehto (Finland) pushed the No. 1 Audi R8 to the limit but was not able to catch pole setter James Weaver in the Lola AER. Two tenths behind Lehto is the sister car, the No. 2 Audi R8 which Emanuele Pirro (Italy) qualified in fourth position. The top four cars all qualified within six tenths of each other.

Historic Road America, the longest track on the ALMS schedule at 4.048 miles, became part of the series for the first time in 2002 and quickly became a favorite stop on the schedule for nearly all ALMS drivers. The ultra-fast and long circuit contains many different types of turns, presenting both speed and the challenge that professional road racing drivers enjoy.

The Generac 500 at Road America, Round 7 of the 2005 American Le Mans Series, is set for 3:00 p.m. EDT Aug. 21 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The race will be broadcast on SPEED Channel. Qualifying is scheduled for 2:55 p.m. EDT Aug. 20. American Le Mans Radio, and Live Timing and Scoring will be available at www.americanlemans.com.

DRIVER QUOTES:

TEAM ADT CHAMPION RACING AUDI R8 #1

JJ Lehto (Fin). Age: 39. Born: Espoo, Finland. Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco:
"In practice we found a good balance so it allowed us good consistency. We ran qualifying very light and it seemed to help our time. All the times are very close so it will be a good fight between the Dyson cars and us. Nobody can win the race in the first corner anyway."

Marco Werner (D). Age: 38. Born: Dortmund, Germany. Lives: Ermatingen, Switzerland:
"This weekend has been good to us so far. It's nice to be in the front row and it's important to be between the Dyson cars. The car had a little understeer early on but I think it will be fine for the race."

TEAM ADT CHAMPION RACING AUDI R8 #2

Frank Biela (D). Age: 40. Born: Neuss, Germany. Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco:
"If we look at the times and the distance to the car in front it is probably better than we expected because we were struggling a bit with the balance and grip overall. The times are really close and now we will concentrate on the race tomorrow. We have fourth place before so we know we can win."

Emanuele Pirro (It). Age: 43. Born: Rome, Italy. Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco:
"I am quite satisfied. We were a little concerned with the balance and the set-up of the car in practice but recent changes allowed us to produce a good lap. We are fourth but we are very, very close to the others."

DRIVERS CLASS TEAM TIME DIFF.
1) J.Weaver/B.Leitzinger LMP1 Dyson Racing 1:53.042
2 J.Lehto/M.Werner LMP1 ADT Champion Racing 1:53.346 0.304
3) C.Dyson/A.Wallace LMP1 Dyson Racing 1:53.566 0.524
4) E.Pirro/F.Biela/ LMP1 ADT Champion Racing 1:53.619 0.577
5) C.Field/G.Fisken LMP2 Intersport Racing 1:56.259 3.217

For more information on Audi motorsports visit www.audiusa.com. For more information on Champion Racing, visit www.championracing.net.

For "copyright free", hi-res images, please visit www.championracing.net/media.