LEXINGTON,
OH. (May 22, 2005)
– Today’s 2:45 minute American Le Mans Series race at Mid-Ohio
provided all the drama that sports car racing is known for:
strong competition, lots of traffic, hilly, windy road courses,
changing weather conditions, and the inevitable unavoidable
contact. The No. 2 Audi R8 piloted by Frank Biela and Emanuele
Pirro managed these elements well and finished the 3rd
race of the 10-race season in 3rd position. Contact
early in the race caused the No. 1 Audi R8 of JJ Lehto and Marco
Werner to spend 35 minutes in the garage resulting in a 5th
place LMP1 finish.
At the start,
Pirro went wide to try to gain some ground but ultimately had to
fall back into his original 4th position. As Pirro
went wide, Lehto did the opposite as he tried to sneak inside
Butch Leitzinger in the Dyson car but to no avail. A half a lap
later there was some side-to-side contact between Lehto and
Shimoda (Zytek) but not enough to cause any damage to the sturdy
Audi R8.
Then, without
any warning, Lehto came over the hill at Turn 11 and encountered
a collection of GT2 cars that had just spun. With nowhere to go
and blinded by the crest of the hill, Lehto crashed nose to nose
with a Porsche GT2 car. With severe damage done to the No. 1
Audi R8, the call was made to bring the car into the garage for
repairs.
Approximately
35 minutes later, the car emerged from the garage with Marco
Werner behind the wheel. Most parts in the front of the car had
to be replaced but the experienced crew of Team ADT Champion
Racing performed the task professionally, timely, and ultimately
produced a perfect racecar for Werner.
While the No.
1 Audi was in the garage, the No. 2 sister car driven by Pirro
was quietly working its way through the field to take the lead
45 minutes into the race.
Pirro held the
lead until his driver change at exactly 1:00 pm, one hour after
the start of the race. Biela assumed control of the No. 2 Audi
R8 and charged ahead. A short time later (1:21 pm) Biela made
contact with the Maserati thus earning the No. 2 a stop and go
penalty. When Biela emerged from the pits, he did so in third
position, which would ultimately be finishing position for the
No. 2 car. Werner, working his way through traffic and then
five minutes of rain, went from 21st position when he
emerged from the pits to 18th position.
Team ADT
Champion Racing will pack up the gear and the team and head to
La Sarthe France to prepare for the 73rd running of
the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The official Test day is Sunday, June
5th and the race will commence Saturday, June 18th.
SPEED Channel will again provide coverage of the race.
DRIVER
QUOTES:
TEAM ADT
CHAMPION RACING AUDI R8 #1
JJ Lehto (Fin). Age: 39. Born: Espoo, Finland. Lives: Monte
Carlo, Monaco:
“It was one of
those days that we have not yet experienced at Champion Racing,
especially in my time with them since 2003. It was just one of
those racing situations today. It happened so quickly I really
didn’t know it happened. I had no visibility and nowhere to
go. Fortunately they were able to fix the car and we got back
on the track and scored some points. And unfortunately today
was very expensive, and that is never good.”
Marco Werner (D). Age: 38.
Born: Dortmund, Germany.
Lives:
Ermatingen, Switzerland:
“Today was not our
day. There was so much trouble. First JJ’s accident and then I
went off on the last lap because of the rain. It was difficult
to be in the rain on slicks. The team did a great job getting
us back in the race, which is important for us for the
Championship. The team did an incredible job in fixing the car
and giving it to me in excellent condition. I had no problems
with it.”
TEAM ADT
CHAMPION RACING AUDI R8 #2
Frank Biela (D). Age: 40. Born: Neuss, Germany. Lives: Monte
Carlo, Monaco:
“I’m happy that we finished third. It was quite difficult,
especially at the end when it started to rain and the track got
much cooler. Unfortunately I had a spin and I had some contact
but third place is still good.”
Emanuele
Pirro (It). Age: 43. Born: Rome, Italy. Lives: Monte Carlo,
Monaco:
“It was a very eventful race. Before the start, it wasn’t our
greatest position but when I left the car, things were looking
pretty good. The car was running well and we were in first
position and I was quite optimistic. But then there was some
bad luck with the stop and go penalty, and some spins, and the
rain. But at the end of the day we have to be happy with third
place. Today’s result was quite important to us for the Driver
Championship.”
Brad Kettler (Technical Director):
“It was a very action-filled race. JJ had a huge incident he
couldn’t avoid but the guys as usual did a fantastic job fixing
it. The car did its fastest lap after the repair and we just
pressed on. We knew we (No. 1 Audi) had to finish 70% of the
race to score points and stay in the Championship and that’s
exactly what we did. We ended up finishing 84% of the race.”
DRIVERS CLASS
TEAM DIFF.
1) J.Weaver/B.Leitzinger
LMP1 Dyson Racing
2) C.Dyson/A.Wallace
LMP1 Dyson Racing 26.328
3) E.Pirro/F.Biela
LMP1 ADT Champion Racing 1
lap
4) H.Shimoda/T.Chilton
LMP1 Zytek Engineering 4
laps
5) J.Lehto/M.Werner LMP1 ADT Champion Racing 19:02.543
Margin of
victory: 26.328 seconds
Time of race:
2:46:05.925
