The Audi R10 leads the Speedy/Sebah Lola in Catalunya
Audi
Spyker
Larbre
Sebah
Quifel ASM
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Audi
Audi at LMS debut on second row of the grid
Ingolstadt/Barcelona -- In their first running in the European Le Mans Series the two Audi R10 TDI prototypes fielded by Audi Sport Team Joest will start the 1000-kilometre race at Barcelona (Spain) on Sunday from the second and third rows. Quickest Audi driver in Saturday's qualifying was Allan McNish on position three. Alexandre Premat, on his 26th birthday, set the sixth-best time.
At its Le Mans Series debut Audi Sport Team Joest on Friday and Saturday concentrated primarily on setup work for the five- to six-hour race. Almost 50 cars will start to the round at the "Circuit de Catalunya" on Sunday. Therefore, a car is required, which is comfortable and safe to drive and which enables easy overtaking.
The current ALMS Champion Allan McNish managed setting his fastest time as early as on the first flying qualifying lap making optimum use of tyre performance. Alexandre Premat achieved his best time after a setup change only towards the end of the 20-minute qualifying, on tyres that were heavily worn by that time.
On the Circuit de Catalunya both R10 TDI cars have so far shown a tendency towards "understeer", in other words, they slightly push when cornering.
The race at Barcelona is scheduled to start at 11:35 a.m., local time on Sunday. Eurosport will air live coverage of the starting phase from 11:15 to 12:00 and a summary report from 11:00 to 11:30 p.m.
Quotes after qualifying at Barcelona
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "Our first qualifying session in the LMS did not go completely according to our expectations. We're struggling with understeer here, which has been following us through all the practice sessions. We expect the car to have less understeer as the track builds up grip -- and that should be the case tomorrow. With a few adjustments we're going to make with the setup, we should have a decent racing car. And we shouldn't forget that the race is run over a 1000-kilometre distance."
Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #1): "The gap to the pole position is pretty big -- bigger than expected. We already saw at Sebring that we need to increase our speed a bit. But the race is long, and in an endurance race reliability is still a crucial factor. And, so far, this has always been a major strength of Audi Sport. I'm counting on that tomorrow as well."
Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #1): "We know from experience that the Audi R10 TDI is a car that is better in the race than in qualifying. That's why I'm confident as far as the race is concerned. This morning, handling was not as good as on Friday. For the qualifying practice, we made some minor modifications, and then it was better. The track is very rough on the tyres, so the time has to be set straight on the first lap. Unfortunately, I had to overtake a slower car in Turn 1, and then two more on that lap. This cost me two, three tenths, but certainly not the 1.3 seconds we were lacking to Peugeot's pole time."
Alexandre Premat (Audi R10 TDI #2): "This was my first qualifying in the LMS -- and definitely not an easy one for me. The car was difficult to drive. Before the qualifying practice, we also tried a few things in order to learn more. We need to continue working on the car. I'm sure that, in the end, we can be running in front despite starting from position six."
Mike Rockenfeller (Audi R10 TDI #2): "We're sixth on the grid. That's not what we expected. But it doesn't mean anything, because it's such a long race. We're still struggling with the setup. But I'm sure we'll be able to analyse and fix that for the race. I'm still as optimistic as before."
Ralf Juttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): "It's as difficult as we thought it would be. We knew before that the competition is quick and has an experience advantage in this series. We need to catch up a bit. With the setup, we're not yet completely where we want to be. With car #1, we're already heading in the right direction. With nearly 50 cars on the track, it's particularly important to have a car with good balance and good drivability. The pure lap time will probably not be quite as crucial in the race."
Spyker
SNORAS Spyker Squadron 1000 km of Catalunya qualifying report
Tomorrow's 1000 km of Catalunya has all the ingredients to become the most spectacular 'season opener' in the short history of the Le Mans Series. 13 GT2 car's, amongst them Ferrari's, Porsche's and an Aston Martin, will appear on the grid for the first out of five races this season. That the series' popularity is on the rise could also be easily spotted today; the paddock was crowded with fans, gathered to get a glimpse of their favorite team or driver at the Spanish F1 circuit.
In Mediterranean (sunny) conditions SNORAS Spyker Squadron qualified this afternoon. The first Spyker that went out in the 20 minute GT qualifying session was the number 94 car with Swiss Andrea Chiesa behind the wheel. In his first flying lap he set a quickest time of 1:50.953 good for an 8th place in the competitive GT2 field.
Andrea Chiesa: "Although we completed only 9 laps I was able to set my quickest time right at the beginning. We had a bit of oversteer in the middle of some corners and the team tried to solve the problem by adding a bit more rear wing. After two or three laps it became clear that we could not improve times as the tires were at bit degraded and already lost their optimum performance level. After the wing modification the car felt a bit more stable and balanced which will be important in the long race tomorrow. I am happy with our achieved results this weekend. There are still some small problems but we should not forget that the car just turned its wheels for the first time".
The other car, the number 84, was parked in the pit as the mechanics had to solve a small electrical problem before Scotsman Peter Dumbreck could go out for a quick lap.
Peter Dumbreck: "It was not a smooth running session for us. Because of an electrical problem we started with only a few minutes left in the qualifying session and could only complete one flying lap with the #85. On the positive side the lap was a second quicker than our quickest time so far this weekend. We are still moving forward and I feel that there is still a lot more to come".
Peter van Erp, Managing Director Spyker Squadron: "We have made a lot of progression so far. Yesterday we evaluated the practice sessions with the drivers and mechanics. In the meeting we agreed on a set of changes for each car and this morning, in the third and last free-practice session, it turned out that the changes on the 94 car were quite good. We had the cars setup in the same configuration for qualifying this afternoon and this accidently resulted into both cars setting exactly the same time (1:50.953) in the qualifying session".
As both cars qualified in exactly the same time the rules say that car that claimed this time first will start in front of the other. This results in an eight qualifying time for Andrea Chiesa in the 94 car and a 9th place for Peter Dumbreck with the number 85. Both drivers will also start the race which will start tomorrow at 11:35 CET and can be seen live on MotorsTV.
Larbre
Engine change forces Larbre Competition to miss qualifying
Larbre Competition missed Saturday's qualifying session for the Barcelona 1000kms after a technical problem forced them to change the engine in the team's Saleen S7R.
Patrick Bornhauser managed just a handful of laps in Saturday's practice session, without setting a competitive time.
Team Principal Jack Leconte explained the situation: "We had a problem around the cylinder head in practice this morning," he said. "It's not a major thing, but unfortunately it is something that cannot be fixed here at the circuit. That meant we have had to change the engine completely and it was impossible to do that in time for qualifying this afternoon."
However, with a six hour, 1000km race in prospect , the team is eagerly looking forward to Sunday.
Sebah
A good start for Speedy Racing -- Team Sebah in the 2008 Le Mans Series : Frenchman Xavier Pompidou posted the second quickest qualifying time in the LMP2 class, ninth overall among the LMP1 cars. "This is a great starting position but is not so important at the long races that we have in Le Mans Series. We are still learning about the car and we have been able to improve at every outing from the pit garage. " said Xavier Pompidou.
"The team did a great job during the winter, and this result proves that the package we choose with our partners is the right one. Lola have made a very good car, Judd's new DB engine is strong and Michelin provide us tyres with we can count on" Team Manager Bart Hayden added after the session.
Looking forward to the race Bart Hayden said " Posting the second quickest qualifying time is only the first step. We need reliability to achieve a good result tomorrow. We did not have the opportunity to make a 1000 km simulation before the season, but we ran trouble free during private testing at Magny-Cours and here since Friday so it gives us confidence for the race. It looks like we are on the pace of the LMP2 reference, the Porsche RS Spyder, so the main key for a good result will be reliability."
Quifel ASM
QUIFEL-ASM Team ready for the race
Fifth-fastest time in Barcelona
The QUIFEL-ASM Team achieved the fifth best time in the LMP2 class in qualification for the Catalonia 1,000 km, which begins tomorrow. The Lola B05/40 AER recorded a lap time of 1:36:641. This race also marks the start of the Le Mans Series 2008 Championship.
The Portuguese team's result points to a good race, as the time recorded is just 5 tenths of a second behind the third best time.
This morning free practice sessions took place, in which the QUIFEL-ASM Team also managed the fifth-best time, with 1:36:531. The team made use of that period to further tune the car for the race.
The Portuguese team, together with technicians from Dunlop, have opted for a tyre composition that would allow for greater consistency over the 1,000 km, on what is a particularly demanding track in terms of tyre composition and on which resistance is the main challenge.
The first 45 minutes of the 1,000km will be broadcast live, Sunday starting at 10.15 a.m. on the Eurosport channel. This channel will broadcast 30 minutes of race highlights at 10.30 p.m. Sunday, and again at 7.30 a.m. on Monday, 7th April. The event will also be broadcast live on Motors TV for a total of four and a half hours including the start and end of the race.