Britain’s Allan McNish will turn his attention to fine-tuning his brand new diesel-engined Audi R18 sportscar at Le Mans next month after enduring disappointment in the annual Sebring 12 Hour endurance race in Florida today (SAT).
Dumfries-born McNish shared his diesel-engined Audi R15 TDI with regular co-drivers Tom Kristensen (Denmark) and Dindo Capello (Italy), the trio recovering superbly to claim fourth place at the chequered flag. Having led the field several times, an accident wrecked their chances of earning Audi a 10th win in the annual Floridian race.
McNish had hoped to give the R15 TDI sportscar a perfect send-off in the opening round of the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup prior to Audi Sport switching to the brand new R18 for the rest of the year. The same trio had scored the model’s maiden win in the corresponding race in 2009 and showed the Audi R15 TDI was today on par with the new LMP1 sportscars of Peugeot and Acura/Honda in its last ever race.
“It was a tense and close fought battle as we’d expected but our bid for victory was destroyed when Marc Gene miscalculated entering one of the fast turns and hit the side of Dindo which damaged our car’s suspension,” reflected McNish.
“That cost us a number of laps for repairs so it was a case of recovering the best we could from that major setback. The car ran very well, the balance was excellent towards the end of the race, and our lap times extremely competitive. It’s a case of what might have been but we can take heart from just how competitive our ‘old’ R15 TDI was against the new cars”.
Audi “factory” ace McNish, who had himself previously won the Sebring race in 2004, ’06 & ’09, started the race from fourth on the 55-car grid that contested the 59th Twelve Hours of Sebring in what was also the opening round of the American Le Mans Series.
McNish swept his Audi into the lead for the first time on 90mins but with Capello at the wheel and almost 4½hrs on the clock, the Italian having taken over from Kristensen, the Audi and Peugeot of Marc Gene collided as the pair diced for second place on the heels of the leader.
Seven laps were lost for right rear suspension repairs, Capello resuming 17th but was into seventh by mid-distance, seven laps down on the leader. McNish “triple stinted” for an energy-sapping three-hours in the hot and humid 80°F weather conditions handing the car to record eight-time Le Mans 24 Hour race winner Kristensen placed fifth with three hours to run.
The “Great Dane” moved in to fourth place with 2½hrs remaining with McNish ultimately taking the chequered flag in that position, five laps behind the winning Peugeot of Loic Duval (F)/Nicolas Lapierre (F)/Olivier Panis (F).
The “sister” Audi Sport Team Joest entry of 2010 Le Mans 24 Hour winning combination of Timo Bernhard (D)/Romain Dumas (F)/Mike Rockenfeller (D) finished fifth. Having started from second position, fourth-placed Rockenfeller collected a left rear puncture from debris 65mins into the race resulting in bodywork damage.
Rejoining after repairs and fresh tyres, the German returned to the pits after damage from the initial incident caused a second puncture on his “out” lap, causing more bodywork damage and costing eight laps for repairs which dropped them to 50th.
McNish’s next outing is when the Audi Sport team makes important preparations for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours at an official one-day “test” with its three-car Audi R18 entry on Easter Sunday (24 Apr).
The test day will be the new R18’s first public outing, a 3.7-litre V6 TDI turbocharged diesel powered Coupé which will bid to earn the German manufacturer a 10th victory in the annual 24 hour race which this year is staged on 11-12 June.
McNish and Audi are contesting the entire Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and will give the Audi R18 its race début in the 1,000 Km of Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) on 7 May.
Audi Sebring 12 Hours Formguide (Début: 1999 – 10 wins from 12 races)
1999: 3rd (Alboreto/Capello/Johansson) Audi R8R. Also 5th.
2000: 1st (Biela/Kristensen/Pirro) Audi R8. 360 laps (1,332 miles), 110.692mph. Also 2nd.
2001: 1st (Capello/Alboreto/Aiello). Audi R8. 370 laps (1,369 miles), 113.983mph. Also 2nd, 3rd & 4th.
2002: 1st (Capello/Pescatori/Herbert). Audi R8. 346 laps (1,280.2 miles), 106.507mph. Also 2nd & 5th.
2003: 1st (Biela/Werner/Peter) Audi R8. 367 laps (1,357.90 miles), 113.097mph. Also 2nd & 6th.
2004: 1st (McNish/Biela/Kaffer) Audi R8. 350 laps (1,295 miles), 107.711mph. Also 2nd & 3rd.
2005: 1st (Kristensen/Lehto/Werner) Audi R8. 361 laps (1,335.70 miles), 111.028mph. Also 2nd.
2006: 1st (McNish/Capello/Kristensen) Audi R10 TDI. 349 laps (1,291.30 miles), 107.319mph.
2007: 1st (Biela/Pirro/Werner) Audi R10 TDI. 364 laps (1,346.8 miles), 112.039mph. Also 4th o/a (2nd LM P1).
2008: 3rd (McNish/Capello/Kristensen) Audi R10 TDI. Also 6th (Luhr/Rockenfeller/Werner) Audi R10 TDI.
2009: 1st (McNish/Capello/Kristensen) Audi R15 TDI. Also 3rd (Luhr/Rockenfeller/Werner) Audi R15 TDI.
2010: Did not enter
2011: 4th (McNish/Capello/Kristensen) & 5th (Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller)
Allan McNish Sebring 12 Hours Formguide (Début: 2000 – Six podiums including 3 wins from 7 races all with Audi)
2000: 2nd (39.111 seconds behind winning Audi).
2004: 1st (Qualified 2nd).
2005: 2nd (6.365 seconds behind winning Audi – closest margin of victory for this race).
2006: 1st (Qualified 1st, 1:45.828secs*, 125.865mph + Fastest Race Lap, 1:48.373* 122.909mph).
2007: 4th.
2008: 3rd (Qualified 1st, 1:43.195secs*, 129.076mph).
2009: 1st, record distance (1,417.10 miles), record average speed (117.986mph).
2010: Did not Enter.
2011: 4th.
