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Audi R10 TDI in second place at Salt Lake City - Sunday, May 20, 2007
at 14:38
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Ingolstadt, 20 May 2007
McNish & Capello go back to front to extend series lead
Pirro & Werner complete fifth R10 TDI 1-2 for Audi in ‘07
Both Audi sports-prototypes lead race outright in Utah
Dindo Capello/Allan McNish (Italy/Scotland) finished second in their Audi R10 TDI in the fifth round of the American Le Mans Series at Salt Lake City (US state of Utah). Together with their Audi Sport North America team-mates Emanuele Pirro/Marco Werner (Italy/Germany) they claimed a fifth consecutive 1-2 in the LM P1 category this season.
Emanuele Pirro, who started from eighth position on the grid, overtook seven cars with a perfect start to lead into the first corner. Dindo Capello, who was eighth in qualifying on Friday, started from the back of the grid when his team decided to change all four tyres after a spin late in qualifying. Capello also made a good start and worked his way through the field to claim second place behind Pirro after a full course yellow caution.
Emanuele Pirro pitted after 22 laps and handed over the leading Audi R10 TDI to co-driver Marco Werner. Dindo Capello inherited the lead but pitted himself shortly afterwards. Following the pit-stops of their competitors, Allan McNish led at the mid-way stage of the race. Both Audi R10 TDI sportscars made late stops for fuel and tyres. With a gap of only 9.9 seconds, Allan McNish finished second behind the leading LM P2 class Porsche. Together with Dindo Capello, he extended his championship lead in the LM P1 category. Marco Werner/Emanuele Pirro completed the 1-2 in the LM P1 class with sixth place overall.
The Audi R10 TDI is now heading for the 24 Hour Race in Le Mans (16 - 17 June). The next American Le Mans Series race is the sixth round on 7 July at Lime Rock.
Quotes after the race
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "At Salt Lake City we saw again that the actual regulations are in favour of the lighter LM P2 cars. The difference in the lap times in qualifying was about that what we calculated in Ingolstadt with computer simulations. The drivers and the whole team gave everything and took another win in the LM P1 class. Now we are looking forward to Le Mans, where the regulations of the ACO are applied and the LM P1 class is what it was designed to be: the king class of the sports prototypes.”
Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #1): "This is a great result for us. It was a big, big effort from Allan and myself and the entire #1 Audi crew. After the opening laps, we found ourselves in a position to win this race, something I could only have dreamt about last night after qualifying! We had the speed today and to be so close to an overall victory hurts, our smaller fuel tanks this year do not do us any favours. During my stint the Audi was awesome. I was a long time behind Emanuele, if I could have passed him, I maybe could have won.”
Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #1): "Dindo made a very good start from the back of the grid and got up to second after an early full course yellow. Unfortunately for Dindo, the performance of both Audis was very close and he was unable to overtake Emanuele until ‘EP’ pitted. I re-joined in fifth place, around 12secs ahead of Marco, and I just drove as fast as I could. The Audi was very good throughout and I don’t think it could have gone any faster today. Ultimately our performance just wasn’t quite good enough in terms of an outright win but realistically second place was much, much better than we ever expected.”
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #2): "It was a race with two parts. The start was fantastic. The timing was very good and we made good ground in the first metres using the long straight perfectly. After that I could save my tyres and made a good gap. After the pit-stop it did not go so well and we did not have the speed to win this race.”
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #2): "I don’t know why I lost a lot of time during my first stint. In the second stint we had to use a set of tyres which did not feel nice in practice. But with these tyres I claimed my best lap times in the race. Although the result is better than expected, I am a little bit disappointed.”
Dave Maraj (Team Director Audi Sport North America): "Both Audis performed very well today. Emanuele’s start was one of the most spectacular starts I’ve ever witnessed – it was breath-taking. I think without the handicap of this season’s reduced fuel tank, down from 90 to 81-litres, we would have won. But after Friday’s qualifying, the result of the race is an unexpected gift. As usual, the team pulled together and did an excellent job in allowing Allan, Dindo, Emanuele and Marco to perform so competitively on the track.”
The results at Salt Lake City
1 Maassen/Briscoe (Porsche) 66 laps
2 Capello/McNish (Audi R10 TDI) + 9.932s
3 Bernhard/Dumas (Porsche) + 57.191s
4 Leitzinger/Wallace (Porsche) + 1m 28.563s
5 Smith/Dyson (Porsche) + 1m 50.637s
6 Pirro/Werner (Audi R10 TDI) + 1m 57.262s
7 Fernandez/Diaz (Acura/Honda) – 5 laps
8 Gavin/Beretta (Corvette) – 5 laps
9 Magnussen/O’Connell (Corvette) – 5 laps
10 Field/Field/Berry (Creation-Judd) – 6 laps
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