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 6
Sep - The
ADT Champion Audi of Johnny Herbert and JJ Lehto starts the seventh
round of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca from the second
row of the grid.
The 39-year-old
Briton set a fastest time of
1:16.842, an average speed of 104.849mph around the 2.238-mile
Californian track.
The team decided to save any further tire wear
by not contesting the final five minutes of qualifying when the
20-minute time trial resumed which ultimately proved costly when James
Weaver demoted Herbert a place on his last lap.
 Johnny
Herbert:
“I was on
provisional pole for each of my three flying laps but Frank [Biela]
ultimately bettered my times. The front tires were starting to grip
nicely on my fourth flier but I had to back off when the red flag
appeared. It was decided to ‘save’ the tires [for the race] which is
why I didn’t go back out when qualifying resumed. Unfortunately in
those final five minutes, we were bumped off the front row. I’ve
finished second here for the past two years so I would dearly like to
think we can go one better in my third Laguna race and score a win.
The team has worked hard to give us a competitive car and it would be
good to reward them.”
 JJ
Lehto:
“We have made
definite progress over the past two days in getting a good set-up on
the R8 - it was a major struggle on Friday with massive understeer
[push]. It’s extremely important to finish ahead of the Joest Audi in
the race in terms of the ALMS championship. I’m third in the Driver’s
standings and Champion Racing is placed second in the Team’s
category. With only two races remaining after Laguna, it is
mathematically possible to win both titles by winning the last three
races even if Joest finish second in all three so the last three races
are going to be very, very interesting.”
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