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QUALIFIES THIRD - Sunday, August 22, 2004
at 03:35
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ADT CHAMPION RACING QUALIFIES THIRD AT ROAD AMERICA
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (August 21, 2004) - Team ADT Champion Racing will start tomorrow's Road America 500 race, round Seven in the American Le Mans Series, from the second row for tomorrow's 2:45 minute endurance race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Qualifying driver JJ Lehto (Finland) pushed the No. 38 Audi R8 to the limit but was only able to squeak out the third fastest time. Pole sitter Butch Leitzinger, Lola AER, broke the previous track record to earn the coveted pole position. The Dyson Racing duo will start side by side tomorrow as they lead the field of 22 cars into Turn 1.
Lehto, along with teammate Marco Werner (Germany), will count on the consistency and the reliability of the Audi R8 along with their personal experience and road racing expertise as they battle for the win in tomorrow's race.
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 Road America 500 will get the green flag at 1 p.m. (CDT) on Sunday, August 22. The race will be televised live by the SPEED Channel in North America and by MotorsTV in Europe, while the American Le Mans Series Radio Web will have live coverage of the race and of qualifying online at www.americanlemans.com.
Driver quotes:
JJ Lehto (Finland): "Well, the car is obviously not working the way we want it to. We have been trying a lot of things and still can't seem to get it just right. We struggled at Mosport and we are struggling here. We'll just have to strip the car and start again from a clean sheet tomorrow. That's all. That's racing."
Marco Werner (Germany): "We are a little too slow this weekend and we're not sure why. The car has a little bit of understeer right now as well as a bounce where you touch the ground. That is a bit of a problem on the braking points as you are locking wheels."
Brad Kettler (Technical Director): "Obviously we are a little bit disappointed. Road America is normally a very good place for the R8 to run. We've had a little bit of trouble with the behavior of the car, the handling, since we got here. We've improved it but not to the level that I would like. Basically we are just going to concentrate on a consistent performance tomorrow."
DRIVERS TEAM TIME SPEED
1) J. Weaver/B. Leitzinger Dyson Racing 1:51.893* 1:30.239
3) C. Dyson/A. Wallace Dyson Racing 1:52.524 1:29.508
2) J. Lehto/M. Werner ADT Champion Racing 1:53.251 1:28.677
4) J. Field/D. Dayton Intersport Racing 1:55.456 1:26.220
5) I. James/J. Gue Miracle Motorsports 1:58.847 1:22.618
*New qualifying record
For more information on Champion Racing, please visit www.championracing.net. For more information on Audi's motorsport program, please visit www.audiusa.com.
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