Audi on the pole

NYSpeed Automotive
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The new Audi R10 TDI has written a piece of motorsport history making its début at Sebring (USA): For the first time ever, a diesel powered car has claimed pole position in a sportscar race. In Thursday’s qualifying session, Scotland’s Allan McNish broke the track record by over two seconds, impressively underlining the performance of the modern Audi TDI technology.

Setting the second-best time, Marco Werner guaranteed that both new Audi R10 TDI prototypes will start from the front row on Saturday at 10:43 a.m. local time (4:43 p.m. in Germany). Because of an electronics problem, the German could record only one timed lap moving from last spot to second position shortly before the end of qualifying.

The 12 Hours of Sebring is the most prestigious sportscar race in America, the season opener of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and for Audi Sport, first and foremost, a test race for the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 17/18 June. In qualifying, the Audi R10 TDI proved to be fast. It will, however, be an even bigger challenge to survive the 12-hour distance on a track which is especially tough for the material.

Quotes after qualifying at Sebring

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "In qualifying, Allan McNish has achieved an impressive track record with the new R10 TDI. That said, we know we still have a lot of work to do before Le Mans because we had a sensor problem with the number #1 car. Marco achieved second place despite that with a single lap, which was a strong performance. The whole team has worked hard.”

Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #2): "This is the best result we could dream of in qualifying. Now Audi and the R10 TDI are in the motorsport history books with the first diesel car on pole position in a sportscar race. Congratulations to Allan (McNish) who did a fantastic lap. And congratulations to Audi who proved once again that if they start something new they know what to do.”

Tom Kristensen (Audi R10 TDI #2): "An all Audi front row shows clearly the potential we have in our hands with the Audi R10 TDI. It’s perfect to have the new diesel technology on pole on its début. But nevertheless the race is long. Today we could see with our ‘sister’ car how dangerous the smallest problem can be.”

Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #2): "Although qualifying doesn’t mean so much in a 12-hour race, it is great to start from pole position on the début of the Audi R10 TDI and the TDI technology. The car ran fantastically well. I was able to push from the very beginning and set the time within three laps. So I could save the tyres for the race itself.”

Frank Biela (Audi R10 TDI #1): "We already came to Sebring with a good car and since then made further steps forward. Today we had bad luck because we suffered from some electronic problems which seem to have appeared overnight and stopped us in qualifying. But we will sort this out during the next practice sessions.”

Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #1): "Our priority now is to fix the electronics problem which stopped us this morning and prevented Marco (Werner) to do a better qualifying lap. Despite that he managed to put our R10 TDI in to second place so that we have a good position for the race. And I’m sure that our technicians will find the problem for the race.”

Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #1): "After a week without any troubles the problem came just in time for qualifying! Now we have to search for the reason. Thank goodness we still have some time until the race on Saturday. We are lucky to have both cars on the front row although my lap was very difficult.”

Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director, Team Audi Sport North America): "The problems with the #1 car were a little strange. A few minutes before qualifying everything seemed to be all right but then Marco (Werner) lost a lot of time in the pits. That he still managed to do such a strong lap deserves great credit. We put bets on Allan’s lap time before qualifying, but even the best one was more than one second over his real time.”

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ib4newmanssaysaudisrgay

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That is amazing… absolutely amazing.

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haha Audi haveing electical problems…NO WAY!

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Diesel=slow
Audi=slow

I call BS!

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<3

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OK, they proved they are fast, now they need to prove they can last… :tup:

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So since they use diesel, does this mean that they get better gas mileage, thus allowing them to carry less gas to go the same distance that they would go using normal gas which would also make the car lighter than if they were using a traditional motor? Make sense?

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I love the hate…:lol:

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i heard they dont carry any gas

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I think they have already proved it…
http://www.audi.com/audi/com/en1/experience/motorsport/background/history.html

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Just because Audi doesn’t have a NASCAR track record doesn’t mean ignorant americans can bash them

Hey, “electrical” problem above, might want to read how it was the track’s timing electRONICS not the car’s elecTRICAL.

big difference there pal.

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hahahahaha :rofl:

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That probably won’t come until the 24Hr LeMans Race. They usually use the 12 Hr Sebring Race as a test and tune more or less.

That was last year. I’m not saying that they won’t dominate this year, but this is a new chassis, new powerplant, and it’s too early to say whether some teething problems will show up. But so far, it’s looking grim for the rest of the ALMS LMP1 field.

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I’m not just talking about last year…
I’m talking about 1930-
http://www.audi.com/audi/com/en1/company/history/motorsport_highlights.html

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But we are talking about this year. So last year and the year before is irrelevant in terms of reliability becaues we don’t know what kind of problems the new chassis and engine may have. Posting weblinks doesn’t change that fact. This is bleeding edge, nobody knows 100% what will happen.

Case in point, McLaren was very reliable in F1 when Mika Hakkinen was racing, now, they blow up every session like clockwork :shrug: and their history is just as storied. Doesn’t make any difference to the here and now.

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I get what you are saying… I just posted those links because people come off like Audi is new to the race scene… Which in fact they have a very rich past.

That is all from me…

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Just :fyi: , everyone so far that has posted in this thread is well aware of Audi’s success in racing. Especially neurokinetik. :wink:

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I gotcha! I misinterpited his post.:wink:

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A little update

                     NO. 2 AUDI R10 TDI LEADING IN SEBRING DARKNESS

                                                                                                                                        ![http://www.americanlemans.com/News/NewsImages/3182006192513562_Image1_Thumb.JPG](http://www.americanlemans.com/News/NewsImages/3182006192513562_Image1_Thumb.JPG)
                                                                                                                                                              The No. 2 Audi R10 TDI leads by two laps in the darkness at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
                                                                                                             <b>Sebring</b>-The Audi R10 TDI and the Porsche RS Spyder entered the 54th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring as favored but unproven entries. Through the first half of the demanding half-day event, both auto manufacturers were just that in their Sebring debuts. Especially the Audi R10 TDI, which was making its first-ever showing in a race.

                    Two days after one of the two new Audi R10 TDI entries garnered the pole by breaking the Sebring International Raceway track record by more than two seconds, the No.2 car –the first diesel-powered pole sitter in an international race – developed problems with its heat exchanger during the morning warm up session. As a result, the No.2 car was forced to start the race from pit lane in the 34th position. Despite the handicap start, the No.2 Audi R10, piloted by the trio of Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish, needed just 61 laps (just under two hours) around the 3.7-mile circuit to move into the front-running slot.

As good as the No.2 car’s recovery from its mechanical problems was, the sister Audi R10 TDI was forced to retire from the race due to an overheating problem after 117 laps. Before withdrawing, the No.1 car driven by Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner posted a best lap of 1:48.687.

“Sebring is a very, very tough race track,” Ralf Juttner, Technical Director for Team Audi Sport North America, said as he spoke of his concerns regarding the untested R10. “We have done some miles on the car, but we didn’t run it for 12 hours in a row without a break.”

Just past the eight-hour mark, the No. 2 car led the No. 37 Intersport Racing Lola B05/40-AER of Jon Field, Clint Field and Liz Halliday by just over two laps. The Intersport trio led in LMP2 by two laps over the No. 6 Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder.

                                                                                                                                        ![http://www.americanlemans.com/News/NewsImages/3182006192513562_Image2_Thumb.JPG](http://www.americanlemans.com/News/NewsImages/3182006192513562_Image2_Thumb.JPG)
                                                                                                                                                              The No. 6 Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder is the team's only LMP2 car left in the race and is third overall.
                                                                                                             Through the first hour of competition, both Spyders dominated the LMP2 class and were among the top five running cars; however, mechanical problems forced the retirement of the No. 7 car of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Patrick Long near the seven-hour mark. Thus, car No.6 (piloted by Sascha Maassen, Lucas Luhr and Emmanuel Collard) was the lone Porsche RS Spyder that was left to do battle with the top-leading cars.

In GT1, the battle between the Corvettes and the Aston Martins has materialized as a fight between last year’s American Le Mans Series champions – Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin with Jan Magnusson in the No. 4 Corvette C6.R – with the 009 Aston Martin pole-sitting car of Pedro Lamy, Jason Bright and Stephane Serrazin. With two-and-a-half hours left, Magnussen led Lamy by less than two minutes.

The closest battle on the track, however, is in GT2 where the traditional front-running Porsches have been upstaged thus far by the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F430GT with Ralf Kelleners, Jaime Melo and Anthony Lazarro and the Multimatic Motorsports Team Panoz Panoz Esperante GTLM of David Brabham, Scott Maxwell and Sebastien Bourdais. Bourdais is leading Lazzaro by 12 seconds.