Long Beach - April 18, 2008
Lucas Luhr who qualified the #2 Audi R10 TDI constantly improved his
lap times on the 1.968 mile track in downtown Long Beach in the
25-minute qualifying session. Initially, the German Audi works driver was
fighting for a top position on the grid in a fierce battle with the LM P2 cars.
After 15 minutes, Luhr had set his personal best time of 1m 11.765s
when a red flag interrupted the session for three minutes.
In the remaining seven minutes, he again went out but was unable to
improve his lap time once more. In spite of being just 0.435s slower that
the fastest LM P2 cars, Luhr’s leading LM P1 lap time was only good
enough for sixth position overall on the grid.
In a strong team effort, Emanuele Pirro qualified the #1 Audi R10 TDI just
0.131s behind the sister car. The Italian made a leap forward in the first
fifteen minutes and set his lap time of 1m 11.896s before the red flag
came out. Pirro will line up seventh on the grid and second in the LM P1
class. He was upbeat after qualifying as he expects the Audi R10 TDI
car’s race pace to be more competitive than its qualifying speed.
Quotes after the qualifying at Long Beach
Lucas Luhr (Audi R10 TDI #2)
"It was a tough qualifying, but the times were closer than expected. Before
qualifying, I thought if I could do a 1m 12s time I’d be happy. Now we did a
lap of 1m 11.765s. I pushed as hard as I could and even slightly touched
the wall. I was a little bit unlucky as there was traffic twice. Now it’s all
about the race. There are some places where we can pass other cars.”
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #2)
"Lucas did a good job. His lap of 1m 11.765s is really a good time. The
starting position however is disappointing. In free practice, it was hard to
believe that we were sometimes leading. But now we saw that it is much
more difficult than at St Petersburg. The track is much more bumpy and
favours LM P2 cars. We can do a little bit better in the race although it will
not be easy from our position on the grid.”
Frank Biela (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"It is very close at the front. We saw seven cars within six tenths of a
second. Emanuele did a very good job. His lap time was strong, but we
are only seventh as it is so close. The race will be very hard but I believe
that there are seven or eight cars out there that can win.”
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"I think we can be very happy with qualifying, although we are only sixth an
seventh on the grid. Compared to last year, we are a lot closer to the
leaders. Last year I started sixth and before the end of my stint, I was in
the lead. Our car is a lot better in race trim than in qualifying trim. The
power of the TDI engine gives us the chance to overtake on the straights.
I’m happy with the race set-up and I’m quite optimistic for the race. The
gap between us and the pole sitter is really small.”
Dave Maraj (Director Audi Sport Team North America)
"We went a second quicker than last year whereas the LM P2 cars were
only 0.5s faster than last year. That means it is much more competitive
this year. The position on the grid is not excellent, but I think that we can
be competitive in the race. With a little bit of luck, we can be right there in
the end.”
The Long Beach race starts on Saturday at 16.10 hours local time (01.10
hrs CEST) and is contested over 100 minutes.
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