race at Road America Wisconsin
Dave Maraj, Team Owner of Champion Racing, was especially happy. "This is very special for us. Road America is a favorite track for the drivers and now it is a favorite track for Champion Racing."
The Audi R8 also achieved its 60th victory out of 71 starts since the Le Mans prototype made its debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2000. The 50th win was celebrated last year in Europe and Audi Sport North America is both pleased and proud to have contributed to the Manufacturer's 60th win."
"60 wins out of 71 starts is phenomenal," said Rod Bymaster, Motorsports Manager for Audi of America. "It makes all of us so proud to represent Audi and Champion Racing has done an excellent job in doing just that. The guys are professional, they work hard and the results prove it. And winning here at a truly American race venue is perfect."
The Road America race result for Pirro and Biela mimicked that from the previous race at Portland in which they came from fourth position on the grid to take the checkered flag. Gutsy strategy and flawless pit stops once again aided in the win.
Graham Taylor, Engineer for the Audi R8 No. 2, car described the race winning strategy. "We just let the race come to us. We made the right calls at the right time and the car that pits last is the car that has to pit least. We needed 21 seconds of fuel to get out in front of the No.1 car and when I released Biela and looked at my stopwatch, it read 20.99 seconds. It was that close!"
Bad luck struck the No. 1 Audi R8 drivers again. JJ Lehto led most of the race in the first hour of the 2:45 minute race but a ten second penalty during a fuel pit stop with Marco Werner cost the team the win. It was a frustrating result for a weekend that was extremely important to the duo as they fight to keep their Driver Championship hopes alive.
DRIVER QUOTES:
TEAM ADT CHAMPION RACING AUDI R8 #1
JJ Lehto (Fin). Age: 39. Born: Espoo, Finland. Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco:
"Mistakes today cost us the win."
Marco Werner (D). Age: 38. Born: Dortmund, Germany. Lives: Ermatingen, Switzerland:
"The luck was not on our side again. What's important is that Audi has another win. Congratulations to car No. 2. But I am disappointed that I could not repeat my win from last year."
TEAM ADT CHAMPION RACING AUDI R8 #2
Frank Biela (D). Age: 40. Born: Neuss, Germany. Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco:
"I was actually more comfortable and confident in Portland because we had much better practices there. Here we struggled and I really did not know until the end our chances but I hung in there and the result paid off. The car was great and the strategy and pit stops were perfect. That's how you win races. . "
Emanuele Pirro (It). Age: 43. Born: Rome, Italy. Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco:
"The good wave (from Portland) is still running. We had a good car, we made a good tire choice and the car was very fast. The key point of the race was the pit strategy. Frank could save fuel and make a very fast pit stop and it worked. We were a little concerned with the yellow flag late in the race but Frank held on. He did a great job."
DRIVERS CLASS TEAM Difference
1) E.Pirro/F.Biela LMP1 ADT Champion Racing
2) C.Dyson/A.Wallace LMP1 Dyson Racing 3.239
3) J.Lehto/M.Werner LMP1 ADT Champion Racing 3.777
4) O.Gavin/O.Beretta GT1 Corvette Racing 1 lap
5) R.Fellows/J.O'Connell GT1 Corvette Racing 0.142
For more information on Audi motorsports visit www.audiusa.com. For more information on Champion Racing, visit www.championracing.net.