| Team ADT Champion Racing successfully completed their first practice session for this weekend’s 53rd running of the 12 Hours of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway. While the Audi R8 remained consistent in performance, track conditions deteriorated significantly throughout the day. High winds, dry conditions and blowing dust slowed the pace from the morning session to the afternoon session.
JJ Lehto, the ‘Flying Finn”, set the fastest time of the day in the morning session with a time of 1:49.723 (121.397 mph). The sister car driven by Emanuele Pirro scored the second fastest time at 1:50.055 (121.030 mph) during the same session.
Tom Kristensen (Audi R8 #1) and Allan McNish (#2) have yet to have seat time as both Audi “works” drivers arrive today from testing in Spain for AUDI AG’s involvement in DTM, the German Touring car series.
The 53rd annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring will get the green flag at 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, March 19, and will be televised live from 10:30 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. by SPEED Channel. The American Le Mans Series Radio Web will have also have live coverage online at www.americanlemans.com.
DRIVER QUOTES FROM PRACTICE:
TEAM ADT CHAMPION RACING AUDI R8 #1
JJ Lehto (Fin). Age: 39. Born: Espoo, Finland. Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco:
12 Hours of Sebring – seventh career appearance including 2005
“The car behaves really well but we are still waiting for our new tires from Michelin. The track is the worse I have ever seen. It’s really slippery and especially with this wind, it really messes up the car and the balance a lot. But I really don’t have any complaints with the car.”
Marco Werner (D). Age: 38. Born: Dortmund, Germany. Lives: Kreuzlingen, Switzerland:
12 Hours of Sebring – third career appearance including 2005
“The car is good but the track is not, it’s very windy and dusty today. We are about three seconds off from the times we did at testing in February. We will work on this and see if we can improve for tomorrow.”
TEAM ADT CHAMPION RACING AUDI R8 #2
Frank Biela (D). Age: 40. Born: Neuss, Germany. Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco:
12 Hours of Sebring – seventh career appearance including 2005
“This is a new team for me, first test and now first race with Champion Racing and I can honestly say I’m quite happy with everything. The car seems to be good. It’s been very difficult to judge as the conditions keep changing. It’s been dry a lot, and now very windy and therefore you have a lot of dust on the track.”
Emanuele Pirro (It). Age: 43. Born: Rome, Italy. Lives: Monte Carlo, Monaco:
12 Hours of Sebring – seventh career appearance including 2005
“I’m quite happy so far with how things are going. We’ve done some experiments in the car trying to find a good race set-up. Frank and I have similar comments to the car and the car felt comfortable to drive. The crew is working well so I am quite optimistic right now.”
For more information on Audi motorsports visit www.audiusa.com. For more information on Champion Racing, visit www.championracing.net. |