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BRASELTON, GA. (September 30, 2005) - Team
ADT Champion Racing qualified 2nd and 3rd for tomorrow's 8th annual
Petit Le Mans sports car endurance race. JJ
Lehto managed a time of 1:11.769 in the Audi R8 No. 1 car placing him on
the
front row alongside the Zytek, which is joining the American Le Mans
series for
the last two races of the season. Emanuele Pirro, who qualified a
mere 1/100th
of a second slower than Lehto (1:11.779) parked his No. 2 Audi R8 early
in the
session to preserve the tires for tomorrow's 1,000 mile (394 laps) or 10
hours,
whichever comes first.
The stakes (and pressure) will be evident tomorrow for both Audi R8s
when they
compete against each other as well as the other 29 cars on the grid.
Tomorrow's
race could either determine the LMP1 American Le Mans Series Driver
Championship (Pirro/Biela) or place Lehto in the history books as being
the only driver to win Petit Le Mans three times in succession.
Another bonus to Lehto and
teammate Marco Werner winning this particular race is the fact they
would
complete the sports car trifecta, i.e., winning the three most important
sports
car races in the world: 12 Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours of Le Mans,
and Petit Le
Mans.
Team ADT Champion Racing has also won this endurance classic road race
twice in
succession and a win buy either Audi could score the team a second
hat-trick
following wins this year at the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of
Le Mans.
And finally, the Audi R8 has never been beaten at Petit Le Mans and
would
provide a fitting farewell if Audi could, in it's sixth appearance at
Petit Le
Mans, retire on top of the podium.
The ninth round of the American Le Mans Series, the 1,000-mile/10-hour
Petit Le
Mans, will get the green flag tomorrow at 11:20 a.m. EDT at Road Atlanta
in
Braselton, Georgia. SPEED Channel will provide live television
coverage.
American Le Mans Series Radio, and IMSA Living and Timing Scoring will
be
available at www.americanlemans.com.
DRIVER QUOTES:
TEAM ADT CHAMPION RACING AUDI R8 #1
JJ Lehto (Fin). Age: 39. Born: Espoo, Finland. Lives: Monte Carlo,
Monaco:
"Starting in the front row is more than we expected. It's
definitely a nice way
to start the race but it still is a very long race so it really doesn't
mean
that much. Having consistency is the most important aspect to
winning Petit Le
Mans and our car set-up is pretty good right now."
Marco Werner (D). Age: 38. Born: Dortmund, Germany. Lives: Ermatingen,
Switzerland:
"Being in the front row definitely has its advantages as overtaking is
difficult
here. I never thought we would be there (front row) but JJ is
unbelievable.
The car is running well and we'll look to stay out in front and
hopefully get
the win here like we did last year."
TEAM ADT CHAMPION RACING AUDI R8 #2
Frank Biela (D). Age: 40. Born: Neuss, Germany. Lives: Monte Carlo,
Monaco:
"We were very close in qualifying so even though we are third, we are
very
happy. We expected the Zytek to be very fast so this we expected.
For us, it
is more important to realize where the others are (Audi R8 No. 1, Dyson
Team) as
we fight for the Championship. From that point of view, we feel
pretty
confident. The car is great and as long as we keep it on the road,
we should be
okay."
Emanuele Pirro (It). Age: 43. Born: Rome, Italy. Lives: Monte Carlo,
Monaco:
"Quite honestly, every position is a good position for a 10 hour race.
I'm very
happy with the car and I want to thank the mechanics for this because we
had to
change a lot to get here. 1/100th of a second behind JJ is pretty
close and you
can definitely win the race starting from third position."
DRIVERS
CLASS TEAM
TIME DIFF.
1) H.Shimoda/T.Chilton
LMP1 Zytek Engineering
1:10.781
2 J.Lehto/M.Werner
LMP1 ADT Champion Racing
1:11.769
0.988
3) E.Pirro/F.Biela/ LMP1 ADT Champion Racing
1:11.779
0.998
4) J.Weaver/B.Leitzinger/ LMP1
Dyson Racing 1:11.963 1.182
A.Wallace
5) C.Dyson/G.Smith
LMP1 Dyson Racing
1:12.628
1.847
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