Audi R15 TDI fifth, sixth and seventh on the grid Mike Rockenfeller fastest Audi driver Full concentration on race preparations Audi Sport Team Joest fully concentrated on race preparations at the Le Mans 24 Hours on Wednesday and Thursday. The three Audi R15 TDI cars did not actively participate in the chase for times in qualifying. Instead the Audi squad used every available minute to fine-tune the set-up of the cars for the race. The three Audi R15 TDI cars will start the race on Saturday at 3 p.m. from positions five (Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas/Mike Rockenfeller), six (Dindo Capello/Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish) and seven (Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Treluyer). All three vehicles completed programs prescribed by the engineers and technicians in order to gather as much data as possible and to test tires. "On Wednesday, we weren’t quite where we wanted to be but on Thursday we made good progress," explained Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "At Le Mans, speed isn’t the only thing that counts. It’s important to have vehicles with good drivability and, above all, efficiency as well. This is what we’ve been concentrating on."The 2010-specification Audi R15 TDI, which bears the internal project name "R15 plus" is slightly faster than the R15 was last year despite the restrictions imposed by the regulations. "In addition, we now know that the R15 plus is pretty efficient in terms of tire wear and fuel consumption," said Dr. Ullrich. "And all three vehicles were running absolutely reliably in qualifying - which is another very crucial factor at Le Mans." The fastest time within the Audi squad was set by Mike Rockenfeller in the Audi R15 TDI designated as car number 9 on Thursday night. The German almost exactly matched the time of 3m 22.2s the Audi technicians had calculated in simulations. The other two Audi R15 TDI prototypes also improved their lap times in the final qualifying session. "This is especially nice because all cars were already fitted with the same engines which will also be used in the race," explained Ralf Jüttner, Technical Director of Audi Sport Team Joest. "And on the damp track at the beginning our cars were also consitently fast."Audi won the Le Mans 24 Hours eight times in the past ten years and this year has the chance to equalize Ferrari’s ranking in the honor roll. Only Porsche’s track record reflects more victories. Before the race starts, the five-time Le Mans winner Frank Biela will pilot an Audi-e-tron technological show-piece based on the R8 around the race track. As part of the "Le Mans vers le futur," a demonstration drive for cars with alternative powertrains, the test vehicle will prove that it belongs to the top league of e-sports cars. Not one but four motors - two each on the front and rear axle - power the wheels of the Audi e-tron and make it a genuine quattro. The Le Mans regulations will also allow additional electric engines at the front axle from 2011 on. For the start of the race, the organizers, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), have come up with a special attraction: prior to the start of the formation lap, the drivers will run from the opposite side of the race track to their vehicles, which are lined up along the pit wall. The run pays homage to the classic "Le Mans start" at which the drivers would sprint to their cars. Allan McNish (#7), Marcel Fässler (#8) and Timo Bernhard (#9) have been nominated as starting drivers of the three Audi R15 TDI prototypes.
Quotes after qualifying at Le Mans
Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "We used the two qualifying sessions today very well and clearly improved the cars. Now I’m quite satisfied with the improved performance compared to 2009. Now we will put all knowledge which we collected with the three cars together and tie a strong package to be prepared as good as possible for the race."Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): "Another day without any technical issues. That is very good and important news for us. We have analysed the data from yesterday and stuck to our program. Fortunately it was a big improvement on all three cars. Between the two sessions today we put all the puzzle together and the result was, that all drivers were happy with their cars. That the guys did some fast laps at the end was a nice thing to have but not our main target. No we can look forward to the race."Timo Bernhard (Audi R15 TDI #9): "Contrary to the weather forecast it was mostly dry both yesterday and today. That was good. Thanks to the quite good grip we could work on our long runs and Mike (Rockenfeller) set the best time of our car at the end of the third qualifying session with a new set of tires. He did a very good job and regained fifth positions for us. We’d been there already yesterday. This is a good basis for the race."Romain Dumas (Audi R15 TDI #9): "It was good, we improved the car and it was nice. I think we made a big step today already. We have to continue this in the warm-up and than we’ll see." Mike Rockenfeller (Audi R15 TDI #9): "It was a good day because we tried out a lot - and with success. The car feels very good, which is most important for a 24-hour race. Of course, you need confidence in the team and in the car - and I have this. We are well positioned and have a good set-up. I am confident."Dindo Capello (Audi R15 TDI #7): "That was a good day for us. Compared to yesterday we improved our R15 in many ways. It hepled us that the track was dry again today. Now we are competitive, ready to race and look forward to the start on Saturday."Tom Kristensen (Audi R15 TDI #7): "We’ve seen a very strong pace from Peugeot on both days. We are a lot closer today. We have worked on our programs and tried to optimize different aerodynamic aspects and the mechanical grip. And we’ve been trying to gather the feedback on all three cars. We think we have quite a good setup to go into the race."Allan McNish (Audi R15 TDI #7): "Between yesterday and today everbody worked hard to use the three programs and bring together some big improvements on the setups and the balance of the car. Overall Dindo (Capello), Tom (Kristensen) and I got a bit more of a feeling of what we wanted for a race car in the 24 hours - which in our opinion is more important than the qualifying."Marcel Fässler (Audi R15 TDI #8): "I got a run on fresh tires on Thursday evening to set a quick time. Unfortunately I had some traffic, and therefore I’m not so happy with the time we achieved. Nevertheless, I am satisfied with the setup for the long distance of the race and confident for the outcome."André Lotterer (Audi R15 TDI #8): "The qualifying session went better today than the day before. We have focused on further improving the car. And we succeeded. My team-mate Marcel Fässler tried to set a good qualifying lap, then we focussed again on the preparation for the race. We therefore did not push as it would have been possible. Instead, we have tried different tire compounds. We are closer to the competition - and that is good in any case."Benoît Treluyer (Audi R15 TDI #8): "Today we have made good progress. The car has been further developed in the right direction. We closed the gap to Peugeot a lot, although our competitor was really looking for pure qualifying times in the end. Peugeot was not able to improve their times from the previous day. We made real progress. And we have focussed on the work for the race. This is a good omen for the race."
The starting grid at Le Mans1 Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud (Peugeot) 3m 19.711s2 Gené/Wurz/Davidson (Peugeot) 3m 20.317s3 Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian (Peugeot) 3m 20.325s4 Panis/Lapierre/Duval (Peugeot) 3m 21.192s5 Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller (Audi R15 TDI) 3m 21.981s 6 Capello/Kristensen/McNish (Audi R15 TDI) 3m 22.176s7 Fässler/Lotterer/Treluyer (Audi R15 TDI) 3m 23.605s8 Fernandez/Mücke/Primat (Lola-Aston Martin) 3m 26.680s9 Barazi/Hancock/Turner (Lola-Aston Martin) 3m 26.747s10 Ayari/Andre/Meyrick (ORECA-Aim) 3m 29.506s... 12 Bouchut/Tucker/Rodrigues (Audi R10 TDI) 3m 30.907s13 Albers/Bakkerud/Jarvis (Audi R10 TDI) 3m 31.661s
