Le Mans - June 15, 2006
First qualifying at Le Mans held in heavy rain
The two Audi R10 TDI sportscars of Audi Sport Team Joest hold third and
fourth positions respectively after the first qualifying session for the Le
Mans 24 Hour race (France). With the session being held in extremely
difficult weather conditions on Wednesday evening, the Audi drivers
concentrated fully on completing the required number of laps enforced by
the regulations so as to fulfil the terms for qualifying for the race. This
includes a minimum of three laps per driver at night.
Track conditions extremely treacherous
Having been dominated by searing summer heat for days in the Le Mans
region of France, rain set in on Wednesday evening at 1900 hrs just in
time for qualifying. Thereafter, conditions kept changing, with the track
remaining wet and slippery throughout the four hours of the session. As
more favourable weather has been forecast for the final qualifying
session on Thursday, the Audi drivers did not take unnecessary risks,
especially as both Audi R10 TDI cars were equipped with their "race”
engines already.
On Wednesday, many spins and off-track excursions showed how
slippery the track was. The Audi Team was no exception either. In the final
hour, Dindo Capello spun off at the "Tertre Rouge” S corners and touched
the barriers. His Audi R10 TDI incurred slight damage on the right rear
suspension and will be back on track on Thursday.
Final grid positions likely to be set on Thursday night
The Le Mans grid positions will be finally decided on Thursday night in
the second qualifying from 1900 hrs to 2100 hrs and from 2200 hrs to
2400 hrs. The race will start on Saturday at 1700 hrs.
Quotes after first qualifying
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport)
"All in all I draw a positive conclusion as both cars were in the top-four on
the time sheets all of the time. We concentrated on finding a good
balance for the special circumstances on the wet circuit here at Le Mans.
Today it was difficult for all drivers as they found completely different grip
levels in the various parts of the track. If it’s raining again tomorrow we
will go on working on the perfect set-up for these conditions. If it is dry, we
will do some fine tuning for the race.”
Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #7)
"The day for me was not so busy. At the beginning I just did my mandatory
laps at night. When I joined the track again later, I aquaplaned off on a
slippery corner. I’m sorry for the team because I gave them some extra
work. But I hope I will pay them back tomorrow evening with a strong
performance.”
Tom Kristensen (Audi R10 TDI #7)
"After so much sunshine, the weather turned into two rainy sessions
tonight. We were curious how our Audi R10 TDI would feel under wet
conditions but we found a good balance very quickly. The car produces a
lot of downforce and the TDI engine has a huge amount of power.
Despite the difficult conditions I enjoyed my first laps of this racing week
very much.”
Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #7)
"The track was tricky, there was aquaplaning on the Hunaudières straight
and before Indianapolis. The ‘standard’ road sections of the track were
additionally slippery due to fuel and oil spillage which required a delicate
balance of power. The car was good straightaway and had good balance.
Also in this weather and track conditions, the torque of the diesel engine
could be used to good advantage.”
Frank Biela (Audi R10 TDI #8)
"We did not want to take big risks today because there will be another
qualifying session tomorrow which will hopefully be drier. We believe it
did not make much sense to take big risks today. We went through our
routine. We did the night qualifying for each driver. On my last run,
unfortunately, I encountered traffic. The car was good, everything is
running well, so we are looking forward to the second qualifying.”
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #8)
"So far we are happy. The conditions were very difficult with the rain. The
target was to check the car and make sure it was running properly. In wet
conditions, it was important that the three drivers qualified at night.
Besides that, we produced some good laps and we saw that the speed
was there.”
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #8)
"I hardly regard this as qualifying because the weather didn’t allow us to
run through our programme. I hope it will be dry on Thursday. Of course,
every lap counts as everybody still needs to improve a little bit. I was
happy that I kept the car on the road in these conditions and completed
my mandatory laps.”
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest)
"The sudden rain upset the plans of all the teams but that was the same
for everyone. On the other hand, we haven’t previously had much
experience with the Audi R10 TDI in wet conditions so gained some
valuable information. We had to find a compromise between getting
enough knowledge in the rain and not taking too much risk. Many cars
had problems this evening and also Dindo (Capello) had an off which
can always happen under these circumstances. We were not going for
quick lap times today as we should have enough time for that tomorrow.”
Results of first qualifying
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