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 23
Aug -
An outright victory,
two overall runner-up positions plus further second and fourth LMP900
class placings would be considered a creditable “roll call” from five
races for most but not for Team ADT Champion Racing. The “privateer”
Audi team has its sights set firmly on American Le Mans Series title
honors and after
last Sunday’s cruel luck at Mosport, Johnny Herbert and JJ Lehto are
especially pumped up for a top finish at Road America tomorrow (SUN).
Lehto and Herbert
start the 165-minute race placed third and fourth in the Driver’s
standings with Team ADT Champion Racing second in the Teams’
division. But
 with
only three races remaining after tomorrow’s sixth round encounter and
with an 18-point deficit, Dave Maraj’s Florida-based squad needs a
maximum points haul. Herbert qualified the 2002-specification ADT
Champion Audi R8 in third position on the 37-car grid during today’s
20-minute time trial. His fastest time was a 1:52.472, an average
speed of 129.568mph. 
Road America
featured on the ALMS calendar for the first time last July and
Herbert, on his Elkhart Lake track début, brought the ADT Champion
Audi R8 home third with Stefan Johansson. Herbert’s 2003 co-driver,
fellow ex-Formula One single-seater ace Lehto, is also testing his
skills around the sweeping 4-mile
 Road
America track for only the second time, JJ having driven a CART race
here in 1998.
Johnny Herbert:
“I locked-up the
front left tire on my first flying lap - the tire pressure was not up
to temperature - and then had to abort my last quick lap when I hit
traffic. It’s disappointing to get bumped off the front row right at
the end of the session - especially by just two-hundredths of a second
- but we’ve got ourselves a well-balanced car that can be driven
aggressively and which should be mighty strong for the race.” 
 JJ
Lehto:
“The late race
collision at Mosport a week ago really hurt our championship hopes.
Instead of collecting 20-points or 16-pts for first or second place,
we came away with 10 while our main championship rivals, the Joest
Audi team, ultimately took another maximum score. We must score very
well today to make up ground. Since Friday the car has been really
good and I believe we have an excellent race set-up.”
Top Testing
Times (Friday):
:
1
Biela / Werner (Joest Audi), 1:54.298 (127.498mph)
2
Field / Dayton (Lola-MG), 1:55.374 (126.309)
3
Herbert / Lehto (ADT Champion Audi), 1:55.391 (126.291)
4
Weaver / Leitzinger (Lola-MG), 1:56.631 (124.948)
5
Jeannette / Leuenberger (Panoz), 1:58.457 (123.022)
6
Dyson / Wallace (Lola-MG), 1:59.162 (122.294)
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