Salt Lake City - May 19, 2007
McNish & Capello go back to front to extend series lead
Dindo Capello/Allan McNish (Italy/Scotland) finished second in their Audi
R10 TDI in the fifth round of the American Le Mans Series at Salt Lake
City (US state of Utah). Together with their Audi Sport North America
team-mates Emanuele Pirro/Marco Werner (Italy/Germany) they claimed
a fifth consecutive 1-2 in the LM P1 category this season.
Pirro & Werner complete fifth R10 TDI 1-2 for Audi in ‘07
Emanuele Pirro, who started from eighth position on the grid, overtook
seven cars with a perfect start to lead into the first corner. Dindo Capello,
who was eighth in qualifying on Friday, started from the back of the grid
when his team decided to change all four tyres after a spin late in
qualifying. Capello also made a good start and worked his way through
the field to claim second place behind Pirro after a full course yellow
caution.
Both Audi sports-prototypes lead race outright in Utah Emanuele Pirro
pitted after 22 laps and handed over the leading Audi R10 TDI to co-driver
Marco Werner. Dindo Capello inherited the lead but pitted himself shortly
afterwards. Following the pit-stops of their competitors, Allan McNish led
at the mid-way stage of the race. Both Audi R10 TDI sportscars made late
stops for fuel and tyres. With a gap of only 9.9 seconds, Allan McNish
finished second behind the leading LM P2 class Porsche. Together with
Dindo Capello, he extended his championship lead in the LM P1
category. Marco Werner/Emanuele Pirro completed the 1-2 in the LM P1
class with sixth place overall.
The Audi R10 TDI is now heading for the 24 Hour Race in Le Mans (16 -
17 June). The next American Le Mans Series race is the sixth round on 7
July at Lime Rock.
Quotes after the race
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport)
"At Salt Lake City we saw again that the actual regulations are in favour of
the lighter LM P2 cars. The difference in the lap times in qualifying was
about that what we calculated in Ingolstadt with computer simulations.
The drivers and the whole team gave everything and took another win in
the LM P1 class. Now we are looking forward to Le Mans, where the
regulations of the ACO are applied and the LM P1 class is what it was
designed to be: the king class of the sports prototypes.”
Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"This is a great result for us. It was a big, big effort from Allan and myself
and the entire #1 Audi crew. After the opening laps, we found ourselves in
a position to win this race, something I could only have dreamt about last
night after qualifying! We had the speed today and to be so close to an
overall victory hurts, our smaller fuel tanks this year do not do us any
favours. During my stint the Audi was awesome. I was a long time behind
Emanuele, if I could have passed him, I maybe could have won.”
Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"Dindo made a very good start from the back of the grid and got up to
second after an early full course yellow. Unfortunately for Dindo, the
performance of both Audis was very close and he was unable to overtake
Emanuele until ‘EP’ pitted. I re-joined in fifth place, around 12secs ahead
of Marco, and I just drove as fast as I could. The Audi was very good
throughout and I don’t think it could have gone any faster today. Ultimately
our performance just wasn’t quite good enough in terms of an outright
win but realistically second place was much, much better than we ever
expected.”
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #2)
"It was a race with two parts. The start was fantastic. The timing was very
good and we made good ground in the first metres using the long
straight perfectly. After that I could save my tyres and made a good gap.
After the pit-stop it did not go so well and we did not have the speed to win
this race.”
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #2)
"I don’t know why I lost a lot of time during my first stint. In the second stint
we had to use a set of tyres which did not feel nice in practice. But with
these tyres I claimed my best lap times in the race. Although the result is
better than expected, I am a little bit disappointed.”
Dave Maraj (Team Director Audi Sport North America)
"Both Audis performed very well today. Emanuele’s start was one of the
most spectacular starts I’ve ever witnessed – it was breath-taking. I think
without the handicap of this season’s reduced fuel tank, down from 90 to
81-litres, we would have won. But after Friday’s qualifying, the result of the
race is an unexpected gift. As usual, the team pulled together and did an
excellent job in allowing Allan, Dindo, Emanuele and Marco to perform so
competitively on the track.”
The results at Salt Lake City
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