Elkhart Lake - August 19, 2006
Allan McNish claims pole-position at Road America
The two Audi R10 TDI sports-prototypes start the seventh race of the
American Le Mans Series at Road America (US state of Wisconsin) from
the first row. In qualifying on Saturday, Audi "works” driver Allan McNish
(Scotland) secured pole-position with a lap time of 1:49.181 minutes,
shattering the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) track lap record from
2004. Starting beside the championship leaders on the front row are their
team-mates Frank Biela (Germany) and Emanuele Pirro (Italy) in the
second Audi R10 TDI.
Championship leader shatters ALMS track record During the 20 minute
qualifying session on Saturday, Allan McNish topped the timesheets from
the very start. During the time trial the Scotsman, who is driving on the
4.048 miles track located about 60 miles north of Milwaukee for the first
time, improved his time with each lap. On his second lap in dry but
overcast weather conditions, he broke the ALMS qualifying track record
set in 2004. He then proceeded to improve his time with each of his next
three laps.
Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro in second place
Frank Biela, who along with Emanuele Pirro won the corresponding Road
America race last year, drove the second Audi R10 TDI to a 1:50.567
minute second best time. The fast and flowing Road America track
perfectly suits the Audi R10 TDI. For Audi’s new diesel-powered
sportscar, it marks the fourth "pole” start of the season. Already at
Sebring, Le Mans and at Salt Lake City, the 650 hp strong prototype was
the fastest car in qualifying.
The race at Road America starts on Sunday afternoon at 2 pm local time
(9 pm in Germany) and takes over a time of 2.45 hours.
Quotes after qualifying in Road America
Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #2)
"I was immediately happy with the Audi R10 TDI when we started
practicing on Friday. We struggled a little this morning and my own runs
were interrupted by red flag stoppages. We made some minor changes
for the final practice and were back on the pace and I felt a lot happier.
Allan did a great performance in qualifying and so we’re very optimistic for
the race. Not only is the car quick but it is nice to drive – we have a good
race car for tomorrow.”
Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #2)
"It was a perfect qualifying session – from the car, the team and me
personally – everything clicked together all at the right time. We had an
imbalance this morning and the team worked hard to understand why
and ultimately ‘dial’ it out and the R10 TDI was perfect in qualifying which
allowed me to really attack this circuit. The diesel Audi’s superb torque
and aerodynamics combined with excellent Michelin tyres were perfectly
suited to this hilly circuit.”
Frank Biela (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"It is nice to be on the front row but I am unhappy about the gap of over
one second to Allan. His settings were different to mine. At two or three
important places my car was understeering, we now must work to find
more grip. During the race it will be very important to have good pit stops
and to finish the race without problems.”
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"We managed to put both cars at the front. This is a good demonstration
of the high technology and performance of our cars. The race will be
another story: because it takes a long time to warm-up the tyres, the first
laps will be quite difficult. But on the faster sections of the track, our cars
should be very strong. The track is very long, so we don’t expect any
problems with traffic.”
Dave Maraj (Team Director Team Audi Sport North America)
"It’s a great achievement to get 1-2 on the grid especially considering the
Dyson Lola’s weight reduction. The Audi Sport North America team has
fully concentrated on the job from the moment practice began on Friday
and this is our reward. However the race is going to be tough and is likely
to feature a number of full course yellows so our race strategy will play a
massive part in the final leaderboard.”
The starting grid at Road America
|
