Pushing hard!
Audi
Peugeot
Acura
Zytek
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Audi
An Audi R10 TDI will start from the top spot of the starting grid in the 12 Hours of Sebring (US state of Florida) for the third time in a row. Thursday's qualifying session had to be stopped after a few minutes due to an accident. The starting grid will thus be based on the results of the three free practice sessions. Allan McNish's fastest time in Thursday morning's practice secured Audi the pole position.
With a 1m 43.195s, the Scotsman at the wheel of the number 1 Audi R10 TDI beat last year's pole time by 1.779 seconds. This is a hint how much the world's fastest sports cars have been developed over the previous 12 months.
This is also the case for the Peugeot 908, which will line up on the front row of the grid on Saturday at 10:05 a.m. local time (15:05 p.m. in Germany) next to the Audi of Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish. The second Audi R10 TDI with the German trio Lucas Luhr/Mike Rockenfeller/Marco Werner will start from third place.
Since the beginning of the Sebring week on Monday, the diesel-powered sports cars from Audi and Peugeot have been setting the pace alternating at the top of the time sheets. Their fastest times on Thursday were just 78 thousands of a second apart which means that the spectators may expect an especially thrilling sports car race in which also the lighter LM P2 cars from Acura/Honda and Porsche have the chance of overall victory.
Audi is undefeated at Sebring since 2000 and starts for a ninth time in a row from pole position. In a 12-hour long race, however, apart from speed also consistency and reliability are decisive. That's why Audi Sport Team Joest worked especially intensely on the race-setup of the two new R10 TDI cars which race for the first time in their latest technical configuration.
While it was unusually cool at Sebring at the beginning of the week, for race day temperatures up to 31 degrees Celsuis have been predicted – in combination with the bumpy track this makes up an extreme test for men and material.
Quotes after the qualifying at Sebring
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "Qualifying was extremely short due to the accident. Not everybody was able to show its potential. That's why the decision to use the times from the free practice sessions for the starting grid is okay. The forces are almost like we expected them to be. Peugeot is fast, but we have a very good car for the race and thus a good base for Saturday."
Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #1): "We worked a lot since Monday on the car and have gradually improved it. We tried to make the car as easy as possible to drive as Sebring is such a difficult race and we have to get the car to handle consistently and easy for the driver. We are going in the right direction and know that Audi is well prepared. It is likely to be a classic endurance race and really interesting for the spectators."
Tom Kristensen (Audi R10 TDI #1): "It's going to be a great race with a lot of manufacturers challenging us – a real dog-fight. We know our friends from France are very fast with the closed car while the LM P2 cars have a bigger petrol tank. If the race goes green for 12 hours they will have to stop three times less than us. So in that sense it's going to be very exciting."
Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #1): "It proved once more you have to be on it all of the time and be consistently fast in every session. This prepares you for every eventuality. Personally I don't think it was right to cancel qualifying but we'll start from pole-position and aim to stay in front in the race."
Lucas Luhr (Audi R10 TDI #2): "I'm very happy with the week so far. We've been among the fastest in all the sessions. It's important to have a car for the race with which you come good through traffic – which means: you can drive any line. That's what we are working on."
Mike Rockenfeller (Audi R10 TDI #2): "I did my first laps here only on Wednesday and felt comfortable immediately. Third position on the grid is okay. I'm looking forward to the race. We want to show and will show that the best cars are coming from Ingolstadt."
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #2): "Of course we'd prefer to have both cars on the front row instead of starting third. But at Sebring it is always of great importance to work for the race. I hope that our time comes on Saturday. The race has always been Audi's strong point."
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): "So far this has been a typical Sebring week. Track conditions keep changing so quickly that you are always following the changes with your work. Generally we have achieved quite a good basis – especially with car number one. On the second car we still have to do some fine-tuning for the race."
Peugeot
Despite posting the fastest time of today's qualifying session on his only flying lap with the single 908 HDi FAP entered for the 12 Hours of Sebring, Stéphane Sarrazin was deprived of pole-position following an accident which saw the application of an ALMS regulation that worked against Team Peugeot Total.
Stéphane Sarrazin had been in a confident mood at the beginning of the session and went out just minutes after the start in his bid to start Saturday's race from pole. His first flying lap saw him bag a time of 1m 43.117s which effectively toppled his Audi rivals Alan McNish and Lucas Luhr – who had lapped in 1m 43.765s and 1m 44.291s respectively – from the top of the timesheet.
The Peugeot driver's momentum was then interrupted in the course of his second flying lap following a big crash involving the N°8 Mazda. The incident prompted the red flag to come out and the session was halted after just nine minutes. However, the ALMS rules state that an extra minute would have been necessary for the times posted during the session to count.
In keeping with the American regulations, Saturday's start order will consequently be based on the fastest time set by each car during the three free practice sessions. The Peugeot 908 HDi FAP will therefore start the race from second on the grid thanks to the 1m 44.271s lap recorded by Stéphane Sarrazin during Thursday morning's session.
Michel BARGE (Peugeot Sport Director): "Despite the way the afternoon ended, I am very proud of the work accomplished by everyone in the team. We mustn't lose sight of the fact that Stéphane posted the fastest time on his one and only lap, whereas our main rivals had already completed three laps!"
Stéphane SARRAZIN: "The car was nicely balanced for my first flying lap but I had been saving myself a little bit for my second lap. Despite the interruption, I was very pleased to have posted the pole-winning time by a margin of more than six tenths ahead of McNish's Audi. Although this is only its first attempt at this race, the team did a first class job and made sure we had a very competitive 908 today. I am obviously disappointed by the way things turned out; it's frustrating to have lost pole-position in this way, but rules are rules."
Serge SAULNIER: "It is an uncustomary regulation but we fully respect it. We will need to keep on our toes throughout the race to make sure we stay in control of every tiny detail. There is nothing we could have done to come out of today's situation any better, and our intention now is to focus on Saturday's race. Nicolas Minassian will line up for the start and we haven't lost sight of the fact that our objective here is to prepare for the Le Mans 24 Hours."
1, Audi N°1 (Capello/McNish/Kristensen), 1m 43.195s
2, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP (Lamy/Minassian/Sarrazin), 1m 44.271s
3, Audi N°2 (Luhr/Rockenfeller/Werner), 1m 45.090s
4, Porsche N°7 (Dumas/Bernhard/Collard), 1m 45.220s
5, Porsche N°6 (Maassen/Long/Briscoe), 1m 45.999s
Etc.
Acura
SEBRING, Fla. — An early accident by a Mazda prototype sports car stopped qualifications Thursday at the famed Sebring International Raceway when driver Ben Devlin's car hit the Turn One barrier. Devlin walked away.
But due to the necessitated track repairs, the starting lineup for Saturday's 56th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was determined by the best practice-lap speed from the three previous practice sessions.
After compiling times from the practice rounds, Adrian Fernandez recorded the top Acura time of one minute, 46.029 seconds on Wednesday afternoon for a speed of 125.626 miles per hour, and will start third in the No. 15 Lowe's Acura ARX-01b in the LMP2 division. Fernandez will co-drive with Luis Diaz Saturday in an effort to improve their impressive second-place finish in last year's Twelve Hours of Sebring, Acura's debut event.
The two Penske Porsches clocked the top two LMP2 times in practice.
Marco Andretti, seeking to duplicate his grandfather, Mario's, Sebring victories, drove the No. 26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01b to the fifth LMP2 starting position with a time of 1:46.632 and a speed of 124.916 m.p.h. Andretti will co-drive with defending LMP2 champion Bryan Herta and veteran open-wheel star Christian Fittipaldi.
David Brabham took the No. 9 Patron Highcroft Acura ARX-01b to the seventh starting slot at 1:47.819 (123.540 m.p.h.). The reigning 24 Hours of Le Mans champion will team with Scott Sharp, a former IndyCar Series titleholder, and two-time Sebring winner Stefan Johansson in the 10 a.m.- to-10 p.m. endurance classic. Brabham and Highcroft Racing finished fourth in LMP2 last year at Sebring.
Saturday's race will be seen on the SPEED Channel at 9:30 a.m.
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ (#15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX-01b): "I think everybody is disappointed that we didn't qualify, but it was a big crash and we are happy that Ben [Devlin, Mazda driver] is okay. A big part of the preparation the past three days was to qualify and it would have been fun to at least have had five minutes to qualify. Now we have to change our focus to the race. We'll go through our checklists and make sure that Luis and I are comfortable in the car. I have a good feeling that we will be fine for the race. It is a long and tiring race. We would like to improve our finish from last year and get to the top of the victory stand."
MARCO ANDRETTI (#26 XM Satellite Radio AGR Acura ARX-01b): "This is incredibly disappointing because we've shown how quick the XM Satellite Radio Acura has been all week. I really think we would have gotten the LMP2 pole position, so I feel bad for the crew because that would have been a real boost for everyone. That being said, we have to understand that this is a 12-hour race and no one is going to win because they sat on the pole. We know that the XM Acura is very durable and we expect to make our way to the front very quickly."
DAVID BRABHAM (#9 Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b): "Though it was a shame we didn't get to see how strong we could have been in qualifying, we do know that we've progressed a lot during the week. We never went for an ultimate lap time in practice because we were concentrating on race setup, so ninth place on the starting grid doesn't really reflect where we are. It's a long race and we'll treat it that way."
Zytek
deal Preparation For The Year Ahead
Zytek customer takes on the regulars in America
Zytek customer, Barazi-Epsilon team has chosen the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring as an ideal training ground for the forthcoming, Europe-based Le Mans Series. Despite lacking the track experience of the well-funded American Le Mans Series regulars, the team set fourth fastest time in qualifying. However, this was cancelled out following an accident to one of its competitors in the LMP2 class. The crash meant that yesterday’s qualifying session had to be halted and was deemed not long enough to be counted. A rule was invoked stating that the grid would, instead, be decided based on lap times recorded in all practice sessions. As a result the Barazi-Epsilon Zytek 07S fell further back down the grid to 13th overall and ninth in class.
Bodywork debris from the accident also caused the Zytek to puncture and suffer some bodywork damage. Nevertheless, as Zytek race engineer Pete May observes, the 07S has been getting quicker all week, its fastest time * 1min 49.303secs - being achieved in this morning’s final practice session. On this occasion it was being driven by team newcomer, Jean-Christophe Ravier. The team may be on a steep learning curve here at Sebring but there is no doubt that it is making progress.
Barazi-Epsilon team manager Didier Faure says of the Sebring race, “This is the best training for a racing team. It is real, hard race. It means that when we come to the first race of the Le Mans Series at Barcelona in April the team will be well trained.” Comparing running at Sebring with attending last weekend’s LMS practice session at Paul Ricard in France, he said, “All you are doing is trying to be quicker than your neighbour. This is not the main purpose of testing; it is trying to make the team efficient. To race is also much more interesting.”
When the Barazi-Epsilon Zytek 072 * driven by Michael Vergers, Juan Barazi and Jean-Christophe Ravier - starts the Sebring race tomorrow it will be hoping to give itself a competitive edge over those of its competitors in the LMS who will have just attended the Paul Ricard test. It will also be starting a long and gruelling race in which anything can happen.