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LEXINGTON, OH. (June 26, 2004) -
Team ADT Champion Racing
will start from 2nd position tomorrow in round two of the American
Le Mans Series at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Marco Werner, in
his first appearance at Mid-Ohio, put in a remarkable flying lap
(1:12.184/112.612 mph); two seconds faster than the 2002 Pole time
set by Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro.
Tire wear and tire preservation will be the key to winning this 2:45
minute race tomorrow. Mid-Ohio recently put new grooves on the apex
of every corner to ultimately give the race cars better grip. But as
new as these grooves are, they are still quite bumpy and chew up the
tires rather severely.
ADT/Champion Racing spent the better part of yesterday's practice
session working with the Michelin engineers on tire set-up. JJ Lehto
was the most consistent yesterday during practice as he posted six
consecutive laps in the 1:13 minute range.
27 cars will compete tomorrow on Mid-Ohio's 2.25-mile, 13-turn
circuit. CBS Sports will have live coverage of the Mid-Ohio race
from 2-4 p.m. (EDT), while MotorsTV will have live flag-to-flag
coverage in Europe. The American Le Mans Series Radio Web will have
live coverage of the race and of Saturday's qualifying session
online at www.americanlemans.com.
Marco Werner (Germany). "The lap time was good but obviously not
good enough.
I pushed very hard on the tires and it was not possible to go any
faster as we got near the end of the qualifying session. The track
is nice, I like it, but it is also very difficult. Tomorrow's race
will be a good one."
JJ Lehto (Finland). "Dyson has tested here a lot and they did a good
job. We
are all very close and the tires will play a major role tomorrow.
They are really being worked hard and you will either win or lose
based on the tires. There is nothing else that can really make as
big a difference as the tires will this weekend. Today the car was
better than yesterday and the biggest thing is we did a lot of tire
testing yesterday with Michelin. Performance wise, you always have
to compromise a little bit for that one fast qualifying lap versus
choosing a set-up for race distance and we did that today. I think
we are quite positive we've found the right tire and car set-up for
tomorrow."
Brad Kettler (Technical Director). "The car is very, very good for
the race tomorrow. We can run a strong pace all day. The tire wear
issues we were worried about seem to be under control and I'm
satisfied. We would like to have had another six hundredths to our
favor but basically everything is in good shape. Marco and JJ are
driving fantastically and I think we'll have a good day tomorrow."
1) J. Weaver/B. Leitzinger Dyson Racing LMP1
2) J.
Lehto/M. Werner Team ADT Champion Racing LMP1
3) C. Dyson/A. Wallace Dyson Racing LMP1
4) C. McMurry/B .Willman/J. Bucknum Team Bucknum Racing LMP2
5) O. Gavin/O. Beretta Corvette Racing GTS
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