Le Mans, June 18, 2005
Saturday’s morning warm-up for the 73rd running of the Le Mans 24 Hours
was completed without any problems for the two Audi importer teams ADT
Champion Racing (USA) and Audi PlayStation Team ORECA (France). All
nine Audi drivers were in action during the 45-minute warm-up session. The
three Audi R8 were noted in positions two, three and six respectively.
At the start of the race, set for 4 p.m., Emanuele Pirro (#2), JJ Lehto (#3) and
Franck Montagny (#4) will be at the wheel of the three Audi R8 sports cars.
During the race, driver changes are planned as follows:
Audi R8 #2: Emanuele Pirro > Allan McNish > Frank Biela
Audi R8 #3: JJ Lehto > Marco Werner > Tom Kristensen
Audi R8 #4: Franck Montagny > Stéphane Ortelli > Jean-Marc Gounon
The early morning, temperatures had already reached over 20 degrees
Celsius. For the start of the race, 31 degrees is predicted, for Sunday even
up to 34 degrees. At night, temperatures are forecasted to stay above 20
degrees Celsius.
The endurance classic will be started by Dr Martin Winterkorn. The
Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG was elected as the
honorary starter by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO). At 11:30 a.m., Dr
Winterkorn will hand-over 18 Audi cars which will be used by the ACO as
"Official Cars”.
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