Audi took an unexpected win on the last street track and hope to achieve the same on the streets of Long Beach
Audi
Andretti Green
Fernandez
Tafel
Risi
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Audi
Double anniversary for Audi in Long Beach
* Audi's winning streak in racing began 20 years ago
* 25th race for the R10 TDI diesel sportscar
* Luhr/Werner head to Long Beach as championship leaders
Ingolstadt -- AUDI AG celebrates two anniversaries during the weekend of the "Grand Prix of Long Beach" on 19 / 20 April: Almost 20 years ago to the day, Audi's unique winning streak on closed circuits started around the famous street circuit near Los Angeles, California. Furthermore, Long Beach is the 25th race for the R10 TDI diesel sportscar.
After having revolutionised rallying with quattro four-wheel drive at the beginning of the 1980s, Audi swapped to circuit racing in 1988. On 16 April 1988, Hurley Haywood and Hans-Joachim Stuck started in a brace of production based Audi 200 quattro cars in the opening race of the North American Trans-Am series. Hurley Haywood's second place on Audi's racing debut made the competition sit up and take notice. However, it was just a foretaste of what would follow: Audi won eight of the 13 Trans-Am races during the 1988 season and the championship convincingly in the end. The following year the Trans-Am series organisers unceremoniously banned the superior quattro drive.
The winning streak in the Trans-Am series, which continued the following year with the Audi 90 quattro in the IMSA GTO Championship and later in touring car racing in Europe, typifies the successful motorsport involvement of AUDI AG which is repeatedly coupled with the use of ground breaking technology. quattro drive, which is available today for every Audi model, is just one example of this. Proof of the direct technology transfer between motorsport and production is also the combination of turbo-charging and direct injection (TFSI), which was unbeaten in the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 2001 and 2005 and is today found in numerous Audi production models. TFSI enables the cubic capacity of spark ignition engines to be reduced ("downsizing") which in turn lowers CO2 emissions. In this way, Audi extracts an impressive 272 hp from a mere two-litre, four-cylinder power plant fitted in the new TTS.
Now in its third year, Audi continues to grab the headlines in motorsport with the R10 TDI. The first and only diesel sportscar to date to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans is a rolling test laboratory with which the Audi engineers collect know-how for the next generation TDI engines. The over 650 hp prototype is unbeaten in the LM P1 class of the American Le Mans Series. Long Beach is the 25th race for the R10 TDI -- as a result Audi celebrates two anniversaries at the same time in California.
The temporary race track in Long Beach, which staged Formula 1 races between 1977 and 1983, is regarded as the mother of all contemporary street circuits and is an extreme challenge for the diesel sportscar that was originally developed for the high-speed circuit of Le Mans. The average speed over a single lap at Le Mans is almost 240 kph, at Long Beach in contrast, only around 160 kph. The tight hairpin in Long Beach, one of the slowest corners to be encountered in motorsport, is particularly difficult for the world's fastest sportscar.
On the first weekend in April, German duo Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner proved with their spectacular win in St Petersburg (Florida) that it is also possible to win with the R10 TDI around a street circuit. In the process they were once again able to exploit one of the greatest advantages of TDI Technology: the competitors with their conventional spark ignition engines have little to offer against the enormous torque, in excess of 1,100 Newton metres produced by the V12 TDI engine, especially when accelerating.
Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner arrive in Long Beach as leaders in the LM P1 class. The second R10 TDI is driven by Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro. The race starts on Saturday (19 April) at 4:10 p.m. local time (1:10 a.m. Sunday morning German time).
Marco Werner about Long Beach: "Long Beach is a fantastic street circuit steeped in tradition, which is relatively fast due to the width of the roads. Unfortunately, it is quite bumpy like the majority of street circuits. The tight and narrow hairpin is the slowest corner I know. We lost a lot of time there last year."
Andretti Green
Bryan Herta, #26 XM Satellite Radio Acura
"Long Beach is an important event for a lot of reasons. It's very important to Acura because of the market we're in and the proximity to the HPD headquarters. But, it's also a vital weekend for the XM Acura team. We have to get some solid points in the championship and it's a place that I know we can challenge for the win. Christian and I have probably combined for more starts at Long Beach than any other driver combination in the race and hopefully that experience will help us."
Christian Fittipaldi, #26 XM Satellite Radio Acura
"The experience that Bryan and I have at Long Beach definitely won't hinder us but I'm not sure it will be a huge help, either. There are a couple of very competitive teams and drivers who know Long Beach. I did not know the St. Pete track but we were competitive as soon as the flag dropped. But, it's better to start with that experience than to have to learn the track. Long Beach is a very straight forward street course, very similar to St. Pete. We have to keep the XM Satellite Radio Acura off the walls and be careful."
Fernandez
Lowe's Fernandez Racing Ready to Tackle Streets of Long Beach
Fernandez Prepares for Long Beach-Mexico City "Double"
Lowe's Fernandez Racing drivers Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz are hoping the saying "third time is a charm" holds true as the team heads to California this week for the third round of ALMS competition -- the Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach.
Ill fortune in the ALMS season-opening rounds has left two podium finishes on the table for the team, and Fernandez and Diaz with ground to make up in the point standings. At Sebring, a second-place overall finish for the #15 Lowe's Acura ARX 01-b was nullified in post-race technical inspection. Two weeks ago in St. Petersburg, Fernandez was hit from behind while running in fourth place with 20 minutes to go in the race.
A strong showing at Long Beach in 2007 has the team optimistic for the weekend. Last year saw Fernandez running third overall in the closing stages until a gamble on fuel strategy brought the team's podium bid to an end on the final lap.
Fernandez will hit the ground running this week as he prepares to contest both the Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday and the NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Mexico City on Sunday. This will be his fourth Nationwide Series start aboard the #5 Lowe's car at his hometown circuit -- Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. He has three top-12 finishes to his credit, claiming his best finish to date of ninth last year. The #5 Lowe's-sponsored entry will be fielded by Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports team with Chad Walter as crew chief.
Fernandez will arrive in Long Beach late Wednesday to take part in two ALMS test sessions on Thursday. His participation ensures that Diaz, who will qualify the #15 Lowe's Acura on Friday while Fernandez is in Mexico, will be able to maintain his grid position.
The Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach race will take place at 4:10 pm PT on Saturday, and will be broadcast on ABC at 9:30 am PST on Sunday, April 20th. It will be carried live on Fox Latin America/SPEED. The Nationwide Series race from Mexico City will be broadcast on ESPN at 10:30 am PST on Sunday.
Sunday's 34th Annual Grand Prix of Long Beach will mark the final race of the Champ Car World Series. Twenty drivers are expected to contest the Series' finale, the result of a recent merger with the IndyCar Series. Fernandez rose to prominence in Champ Car competition. His 11-year career from 1993 to 2003 included eight wins, four pole positions and 21 podiums in 178 career starts with a best finish of second in the championship in 2000.
Race Notes:
* Circuit -- 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street course
* Saturday's race will last one hour and 40 minutes
* A driver may not drive more than one-hour, 10-minutes total in the race
Of Note:
* Fernandez is the most experienced driver of the ALMS field on the streets of Long Beach with 14 career starts on the circuit [one in ALMS, one in Grand Am, 11 in Champ Car and one in Indy Lights competition]
* Fernandez claimed his best finish at Long Beach of second in 2003 driving for Fernandez Racing in the Champ Car Series; his best starting position was third in 1998 in Champ Car
* Diaz is a former race winner and polesitter at Long Beach [2006 Grand Am]
* Diaz made his U.S. racing debut at Long Beach in 2000 in Indy Lights competition; he has made a total of six career starts on the circuit [one in ALMS, one in Grand Am, two in Atlantics and two in Indy Lights]
* Fernandez and Diaz currently sit 13th in the ALMS point standings following the loss of a second-place overall finish in post-race technical inspection at Sebring and contact at St. Petersburg
* Fernandez and Diaz claimed three podiums and six top-five results in their ALMS debut last season
Of Personal Note:
* Fernandez will celebrate his 45th birthday this Sunday, April 20
* Fernandez and wife, Catalina, are expecting their second child -- a son, Niko -- to be born within the next two to three weeks. The couple's daughter, Valentina, will celebrate her first birthday on April 29
A Tale of Two Cities:
* Fernandez will log over 6,200 miles (10,066 kilometers) and 17 hours of flying time while doing the Long Beach-Mexico City double. His fast-paced schedule includes: + Thursday, April 17 -- Long Beach: media events in the afternoon followed by two one-hour ALMS test sessions. Wheels up at 7:00 pm for Mexico with an arrival time of 1:15 am locally. + Friday, April 18 -- Mexico City: press conference and media events in the morning followed by three hours of Nationwide Practice. Wheels up at 7:00 pm for Long Beach with an arrival time of 10:00 pm. + Saturday, April 19 -- Long Beach: ALMS warm up at 7:15 am followed by a driver's meeting, sponsor appearances, two autograph sessions and the race at 4:10 pm. Wheels up at 7:30 pm for Mexico City with an arrival time of 1:45 am locally. + Sunday, April 20 -- Mexico City: Lowe's appearance followed by driver's meeting, autograph session and the race at 1:00 pm (80 laps). Wheels up at 7:00 pm for Long Beach with an arrival time of 10:00 pm. + Monday, April 21 -- Santa Clarita/Torrance, Calif.: Acura/Honda Corporate "Race Day" activities.
Off-The-Track -- Long Beach:
* Wednesday, April 16 -- Diaz will participate in the ALMS' EPIC Pump Promotion to promote the use of ethanol and its relevance in the ALMS; EPIC, a Series partner, will provide E85 fuel to consumers for $0.85/gallon during the hour-and-a-half promotion which begins at 11:30 am PST at Conserv Fuel in Brentwood, Calif.
* Thursday, April 17 -- Diaz will make an appearance at the Statewide Latino Caucus where he will brief 50 elected Latino leaders from California on the American Le Mans Series
* Friday, April 18 -- Lowe's is the presenting sponsor of the Tecate Light "Fiesta Friday" Concert presented by Lowe's featuring renowned Mexican pop artist and Latin Grammy winner Aleks Syntek; the free concert will be held at the Tecate Light stage in front of the Long Beach Performing Arts Center at 6:00 pm PST
* Saturday, April 19 -- Fernandez and Diaz will be on hand to greet fans at the Team Lowe's Fan Experience located trackside at 2:00 pm PST
FERNANDEZ ON HIS GOALS FOR THE WEEKEND: "Long Beach and Mexico City are two of my favorite races, so I am definitely looking forward to this weekend. For Long Beach, I can tell you that the motivation within the team has never been stronger. We should be heading into this weekend with two podiums, but that's racing sometimes and it makes all of us all the more eager to show what we can do. We had a good run last year but our strategy didn't quite play out. We were banking on at least one or two yellows and they didn't happen which left us short on fuel. A lot of factors come into play in these short sprint races, especially strategy and traffic. I feel good about this weekend and we should come out of the box strong.
"For Mexico, I have a lot of confidence going in as well. This is a race I thoroughly enjoy, and we have a lot of track time on Friday to prepare for the race. David Green will qualify the car while I am in Long Beach for the ALMS race, and that means we will start at the back. But I have been in that position before and we almost won the race. I have to thank Lowe's and JR Motorsports for giving me this opportunity. It is always a pleasure to compete in my hometown, and I hope to pay back the fans that have supported me for so many years with a good result."
DIAZ ON LONG BEACH: "We are definitely looking to bounce back at Long Beach. It is frustrating to not have the results to prove what this team is capable of but I feel we will turn things around at Long Beach. This is a track that Adrian and I know well, and I love racing here. It is a challenging circuit particularly in our series with the different classes of cars and that is one of the things that I really like about competing on the street circuits. Long Beach is very fast with a lot of places to pass and that makes it very interesting. You have to be both patient and aggressive. It was very special to win here with Scott Pruett in 2006, and we will be working hard to get to the podium this year. We have a lot of fans here and this is like a second home for Adrian and me. I am looking forward to a good weekend."
Risi are looking for an upturn in form at Long Beach
Tafel
Tafel Racing Looks to See if What Works in the East Can Play on the West Coast
No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Ferrari Attempts to Bring St. Pete Success to Long Beach
LONG BEACH, Calif., April 14, 2008 - Can what works in the East play on the West Coast? Tafel Racing, fresh off its maiden American Le Mans Series GT2 victory in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Fla.), looks to find out this Saturday in the Grand Prix of Long Beach (Calif.). Like its St. Pete predecessor, the 100-minute Long Beach event challenges the No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari F430 GTC over city streets rather than on a purpose-built racing facility. The Jim Tafel (Alpharetta, Ga.) owned program found the magic setup on the streets just off of Tampa Bay and, with modifications, hopes to bring that same success to Southern California for drivers Dominik Farnbacher (Ansbach, Germany) and Dirk Muller (a native of Germany living in Monaco) on April 19.
The classic Long Beach configuration with its long, bending front-straightaway and hairpin final corner is a favorite of both sophomore driver Farnbacher and 2000 GT2 Champion Muller. However, despite being similar in length to the Florida track, the 34 year-old SoCal course brings an entirely new set of circumstances to Technical Director Tony Dowe (Cumming, Ga.) and the Tafel team. The track is narrower and bumpier than the Florida facility or the Detroit temporary circuit that is the third "street" course on the calendar. Unlike the other two facilities that have limited public use- St. Petersburg mixes airport runways and city streets while the Detroit track runs through the Belle Isle city park- Long Beach is made- up entirely of streets used for daily traffic. The surface construction is different and oil has built up from everyday motorists. All these small differences lead to magnified handling characteristics for the Bell Micro Ferrari at Long Beach.
No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari - Image by Rick Dole The Long Beach street course is legendary in American motorsports. The 1.968-mile, 11-turn course winds through the Southern California beach town with iconic backdrops and classic features. It is the street course that spawned all others in the United States from long-ago closed races to the very successful St. Petersburg event two weeks ago. While temporary in nature, these layouts have become almost a second home to drivers Farnbacher and Muller. In 2007, Muller set the class record for fastest race lap (one minute, 21.465 seconds) at Long Beach in a Ferrari. Showing his flair on street courses, Muller also set fastest race lap at St. Petersburg on the way to victory lane on April 5. Farnbacher finished seventh co-driving with owner Jim Tafel here last season and earned his first ALMS victory at St. Pete.
The Cumming, Ga.-based program rallied from a disappointing result in the season-opening 12 Hours of Sebring to capture the convincing St. Petersburg victory in the season's second race. By virtue of the win, Farnbacher and Muller moved into the lead of the GT2 driver standings. Tafel Racing currently sits second in the Team Championship- just six points back- while the No. 71 holds a narrow lead in the privateer entrant championship known as the IMSA Cup. Nine races, including Long Beach, remain in the 2008 season. Tafel Racing has six major sports car racing victories since its debut in 2005. Five victories in the Grand American Rolex GT Series join the American Le Mans Series victory at St. Petersburg.
The Grand Prix of Long Beach can be seen, tape- delayed, on ABC Sports at 12:30 pm (ET), Sunday, April 20. Live timing and scoring of each on-track session and the American Le Mans Series Radio Web broadcast can be found at www.AmericanLeMans.com.
Quotes
Jim Tafel, Owner: "We ran a remarkable race at St. Pete. Everything from the car prep to the drivers to the strategy to the pit stops were right. We just need to repeat at Long Beach. Now I know what it tastes like and I am just getting hungrier."
Tony Dowe, Technical Director: "There are a lot of people that think the setup for Long Beach will be the same as St Petersburg. Other than being by large bodies of water and temporary courses they are quite different, so the setup will demand some subtle, but very different, changes. Long Beach has a very bumpy and quite different surface to St. Pete, with all of the problems that will bring to setups. The ambient [temperature] at Long Beach is usually quite a bit cooler than St. Pete so the tire choice will also bring some different options; as will the length of the race. The decision on what to do with tires during the race will vary quite a lot as it will depend when, not if, there is a yellow caution period. The race being 15 minutes shorter than at St. Pete will place a premium on good driver changes during the stop."
Dominik Farnbacher, Driver, No. 71: "Long Beach is, let's say, the same thing as St. Pete. The turns are a bit different and you use different gears but, after what we have seen in St. Pete, we can also win this race without a doubt. But, the other teams won't sleep so Tony and the team are prepping the car with a good package. The whole team is really motivated, like at St. Pete, and that will give us an extra boost to win this race. Dirk did very well here last year. He was the quickest driver out there so to have him by my side is wonderful My favorite part on this course is Turn One, the big, wide, hard-braking zone before you enter a little, tiny road on your left."
(About the race distance): "100 minutes is no problem. I used to drive sprint races so maybe it is an advantage."
Dirk Muller, Driver, No. 71: "Now, with having won in St. Pete, we will transfer this big boost into the event of Long Beach. The pressure to win a race is gone and we can look forward to achieve more. With having had a very good Tafel Ferrari in St. Pete we really should be competitive in Long Beach as well. Dominik and I are looking forward to it."
(About leading the driver championship): "My attitude now is the same as in the first two races. I want to get the most possible points out of the weekend to build up the account. Now with the lead in the championship we will get more focus on us but this is fine and it should help us to achieve more."
(About his secret on street courses): "I won't tell until I retire. I just think that you have to be used to it and that you need to have the confidence. I got both racing a lot with the world touring cars on street tracks. Also, with knowing the Ferrari so well I can just do my job."
Risi
Houston, Tx -- April 15, 2008. The historic Long Beach street course near Los Angeles in California is host to the third round of the 2008 American Le Mans Series, and it is a venue that everyone looks forward to visiting -- including the Ferrari of Silicon Valley-supported GT2 Champions, Risi Competizione.
With its picture postcard setting of sun, sea and palms, it is one of the top motorsport events in the USA, similar in many ways to the equally historic Formula One Grand Prix in Monaco. The 1.968 mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit is as challenging as any other, but its situation and atmosphere make it a favorite for competitors, visitors from nearby Hollywood, and the many fans who are able to see, hear and experience the most competitive and entertaining sportscar racing in the world.
Defending GT2 Drivers Champion, Jaime Melo of Brazil, now residing in Houston, has not had the start to the season that he and his team mate, Mika Salo of Finland, were either anticipating or hoping for.
"Our first two races this year were not the results we were looking for," says Melo. "But what has helped me to remain so positive is that we have a very competitive Ferrari 430 GT car and a great team behind us. I know that we all know our potential, so we must hope we won't have any problems this weekend.
"Long Beach is a little bit different from St Petersburg, but both tracks are bumpy so the most important thing is to have a good car over the bumps. I think we will keep the set up very similar to St Petes, but for sure it's going to be really hard and really tight. The race is short compared to normal, and strategy/what we do under any yellows is going to be very important. Our guys must be prepared for pit stops at any time, but they are very quick and slick on these; we cannot lose any time in the pits. We will need to push from the first to the last minute as Porsche will be strong again, as well as the other Ferraris."
Also looking forward to Long Beach is Risi's Californian driver, Harrison Brix. The San Jose resident, who will be taking his second start in the American Le Mans Series with team mate Patrick Friesacher of Austria, is no stranger to Long Beach.
"I've been to a bunch of prior races at Long Beach when my family ran an Indy car there, plus I raced a Daytona Prototype there with Doran Racing so fortunately I know this one. It makes a huge difference, especially when it's a street track and you have a profound advantage right out of the gate.
"It's a pretty challenging track," continued Brix, "especially when you are dealing with traffic which we will be. I think it will be a pretty tight race and a hard fought battle all the way through. I don't think you will see any one or two lap margins of victory as at some of the races.
"I was pretty happy with our result at St Petersburg. Any time you make a debut in a series and finish is good but to be classified in the top five is great. Patrick and I got along great and we are with a good team and have a well prepared car which makes it much, much easier for us; we have the best tools in GT2."
Risi Competizione's Chief Engineer, Rick Mayer, predicts that caution periods could well be a determining factor in the outcome of the race. "The event is 100 minutes long, the same as last year, and the minimum time that a driver must complete is 30 minutes. With fuel being good for about 60+ minutes, that leaves a big window for a caution flag, one-stop race. Last year, surprisingly, there was only one caution.
"The strategy should be pretty straight forward. Pit work will likely gain or lose the lead out of the pits -- and that's applicable to all the classes, not just GT2. A green flag stop (late race pit) will have the entire field short-filling on fuel and, any way you look at it, the pit stop will be critical here. The Risi team is very quick on tire changes and the drivers' change is fast. The pit work should be good, but we could use some luck at this event. We've consistently had fast cars, but we're 0 for 2 for the season and that needs to change."
The Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach, Round 3 of the 2008 season, is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 19 from the famed Long Beach street circuit. ABC will broadcast the race from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 20. XM Satellite Radio will provide coverage on Channel 144 from 7 to 9 p.m. ET Saturday, April 19. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage of the race at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring.