The three Audi R15 TDI start the 24 Hours of Le Mans (France) on Saturday from the first four rows of the grid. The quotes afterqualifying on Thursday evening.
Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “Today we didn’t reallyconcentrate on going for times. Instead it was a very intensive day’s work for themechanics. Between the two segments of qualifying we fitted all the partsplanned for the race to the cars, which then had to be adjusted. This cost quitesome time. Afterwards we drove very good long-runs on slicks and were able toprepare ourselves well for the race. It’s a good sign that we were still able to fightso closely for pole position in the process.”
Dindo Capello (Audi R15 TDI #1): “I hope the fans will be party to a race equallyas exciting as qualifying was. However, I would still like to swap positions at headof the field. It’s difficult to assess the relative strengths after qualifying becauseyou just don’t know with which tires and which set-up the competition wererunning today. Nevertheless, I’m still not entirely satisfied with our car, which iswhy we have a lot of work to do before race day. But I know that I can rely on theengineers and mechanics.”
Tom Kristensen (Audi R15 TDI #1): “I’d like to have had a few more laps in theR15 TDI today. But my engineer said that I had already driven here so often andshould rather concentrate on the essential things. So, towards the end ofqualifying I drove the fourth stint on a used set of tires, which brought usextremely useful information for the race. Our target was to find a set-up whichallows us to drive as long as possible on a single set of tires but to be quick at thesame time. We only made one attempt to put in a quick lap – Allan (McNish) usedthis opportunity perfectly in the ideal conditions towards the end of the firstsession with a little diesel in the tank.”
Allan McNish (Audi R15 TDI #1): “In fact we really should be very pleased withour performance. The weather conditions were tricky yesterday, which is why wehad to work through a large program during the four hour qualifying session. Wewanted to understand the tires better on this track and to find out how the trackconditions change. We also had to set-up the car. The battle with Sarrazin at theend was a lot of fun. The reality is that its only about the balance for the race. Westill have room for improvement. We work closely together with the crews of theother cars in the Audi team and see all the data so that everything is just right onSaturday at 3.00 p.m.”
Lucas Luhr (Audi R15 TDI #2): “I hope that all the problems you can have arenow behind us. We drove by far the least amount of laps when compared to theothers. Due to a problem with the car we were unable set-up the car as wewanted in qualifying. This isn’t so bad, these things do happen. Unfortunately welost time in the pits again in second qualifying. I now hope that we can have atrouble free race. The Audi R15 TDI is good. Unfortunately we didn’t get any setupwork done. We’ll probably have to copy the set-up of one of the other cars.”Mike Rockenfeller (Audi R15 TDI #2): “Unfortunately qualifying didn’t go well forour car. Several small problems meant that we didn’t drive very much, couldn’t tryvery much and are now sixth. This obviously doesn’t influence the race but wehoped for more. We would have particularly liked to have driven more and wouldlike to have tested more.”
Marco Werner (Audi R15 TDI #2): “We know what the car is capable of, but withus there is a problem somewhere and our car had too much push at the start. Idon’t think that I’ve ever started a race at Le Mans in a new car with so few lapsunder my belt. In qualifying I only got two timed laps. I only got involved in theaction fifteen minutes before the end. On top of this came the fact that thefloodlight in the Porsche Curves was switched off in the last two laps. To drivethis car for the first time in the night and to run through such a dark section madethings very difficult. Even though we improved the time I wasn’t able to make upany positions on the grid.”
Timo Bernhard (Audi R15 TDI #3): “I feel at home in the Audi R15 TDI.Qualifying was not the focus of our attention today, we didn’t even botherinvesting in a new set of tires to go for a time. Romain (Dumas) and I are twonewcomers in the car, which is why, for us, it was all about completing as manykilometers as possible. This also explains the seventh position, with which I amnevertheless pleased. After all seven is my lucky number, because I won twochampionships in the USA with this number.”
Romain Dumas (Audi R15 TDI #3): “For our car its wasn’t at all about qualifying.Alexandre (Prémat) drove the first outing, then Timo (Bernhard). I started into thenight immediately at the beginning of the second half of qualifying. The goal wassimple, to complete as many laps as possible to get used to the car because Ihadn’t run in the dry beforehand. Of course it wasn’t easy to do this in thedarkness. I drove a complete stint, and it went very well.”
Alexandre Prémat (Audi R15 TDI #3): “Our approach was very simple: Wedidn’t run with new tires or drive with low fuel. We weren’t so bad on a single lap,but other laws apply at the 24 hours. We didn’t even start a single seriousqualifying attempt, but in fact prepared exclusively for the race. Seventh on thegrid for a 24-hour race in meaningless. I’m really happy that the other two drivershave acclimatized themselves well with the car and track – they were really fastduring both the day and night. We have a very good drive line-up for this 24-hourrace.”
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): “Today we packedas much work into qualifying as we normally distribute on a test day and couldcomplete in free practice. The main focus of attention was the work with the tires,which is why we drove so many long-runs. Fast qualifying times were effectivelyof minor importance for us. So much the better that Allan (McNish) managedsuch a fantastic lap. However, we were well aware that there would be a reply.But we accept this, congratulate the competition and continue to concentrate onour logical preparation before the start of the race.”
