E Pirro under a kettle moraine country
sky |
the Pirro family celebrate the win |
Frank Biela, with teammate Emanuele Pirro
wins third straight ALMS
race at Road America Wisconsin |
Marco Werner takes third overall |
ELKHART LAKE, WI. (August 21, 2005) - Team ADT
Champion Racing scored a double hat trick today when the No. 2 Audi R8
piloted by Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela won the Generac 500 at Road
America. Today's win not only gave the No. 2 car its third consecutive
win of the American Le Mans season, but the win also gave Team ADT
Champion Racing its third consecutive win at Road America, (2003-2005).
Dave Maraj, Team Owner of Champion Racing, was especially happy. "This
is very special for us. Road America is a favorite track for the drivers
and now it is a favorite track for Champion Racing."
The Audi R8 also achieved its 60th victory out of 71 starts since the Le
Mans prototype made its debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2000. The
50th win was celebrated last year in Europe and Audi Sport North America
is both pleased and proud to have contributed to the Manufacturer's 60th
win."
"60 wins out of 71 starts is phenomenal," said Rod Bymaster, Motorsports
Manager for Audi of America. "It makes all of us so proud to represent
Audi and Champion Racing has done an excellent job in doing just that.
The guys are professional, they work hard and the results prove it. And
winning here at a truly American race venue is perfect."
The Road America race result for Pirro and Biela mimicked that from the
previous race at Portland in which they came from fourth position on the
grid to take the checkered flag. Gutsy strategy and flawless pit stops
once again aided in the win.
Graham Taylor, Engineer for the Audi R8 No. 2, car described the race
winning strategy. "We just let the race come to us. We made the right
calls at the right time and the car that pits last is the car that has
to pit least. We needed 21 seconds of fuel to get out in front of the
No.1 car and when I released Biela and looked at my stopwatch, it read
20.99 seconds. It was that close!"
Bad luck struck the No. 1 Audi R8 drivers again. JJ Lehto led most of
the race in the first hour of the 2:45 minute race but a ten second
penalty during a fuel pit stop with Marco Werner cost the team the win.
It was a frustrating result for a weekend that was extremely important
to the duo as they fight to keep their Driver Championship hopes alive.
DRIVER QUOTES:
TEAM ADT CHAMPION RACING AUDI R8 #1
JJ Lehto (Fin). Age: 39. Born: Espoo, Finland. Lives: Monte Carlo,
Monaco:
"Mistakes today cost us the win."
Marco Werner (D). Age: 38. Born: Dortmund, Germany. Lives: Ermatingen,
Switzerland:
"The luck was not on our side again. What's important is that Audi has
another win. Congratulations to car No. 2. But I am disappointed that I
could not repeat my win from last year."
TEAM ADT CHAMPION RACING AUDI R8 #2
Frank Biela (D). Age: 40. Born: Neuss, Germany. Lives: Monte Carlo,
Monaco:
"I was actually more comfortable and confident in Portland because we
had much better practices there. Here we struggled and I really did not
know until the end our chances but I hung in there and the result paid
off. The car was great and the strategy and pit stops were perfect.
That's how you win races. . "
Emanuele Pirro (It). Age: 43. Born: Rome, Italy. Lives: Monte Carlo,
Monaco:
"The good wave (from Portland) is still running. We had a good car, we
made a good tire choice and the car was very fast. The key point of the
race was the pit strategy. Frank could save fuel and make a very fast
pit stop and it worked. We were a little concerned with the yellow flag
late in the race but Frank held on. He did a great job."
DRIVERS CLASS TEAM Difference
1) E.Pirro/F.Biela LMP1 ADT Champion Racing
2) C.Dyson/A.Wallace LMP1 Dyson Racing 3.239
3) J.Lehto/M.Werner LMP1 ADT Champion Racing 3.777
4) O.Gavin/O.Beretta GT1 Corvette Racing 1 lap
5) R.Fellows/J.O'Connell GT1 Corvette Racing 0.142 |