Audi : The gap is narrowing

For the first appearance of the R18 TDI on the track at Road Atlanta, Audi set the second and fourth fastest times at the end of qualifying.

Timo Bernhard in the #1, takes the front row alongside the Peugeot 908 of Bourdais / Davidson / Pagenaud while Dindo Capello qualified the #2 in the second row.

Timo Bernhard (Audi R18 TDI #1): "I’m really pleased. Two weeks ago, at Silverstone, I also drove the qualifying session but we were a bit unfortunate with the weather conditions. That’s why I wanted to drive in qualifying again - either here at Road Atlanta or at the ILMC finale at Zhuhai. I managed a good lap; it was at the limit from the beginning to the end."

Dindo Capello (Audi R18 TDI #2): "Unfortunately, I had some traffic on the first few laps. I then deliberately dropped back a bit in order to have a gap in front of me. Afterward I must have wanted too much and overdrove the car a bit. That cost a few tenths of seconds. It’s important to be fast in the race, and particularly in traffic. That’s what we’ve been working on over the past two days."

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "In the past few days the gaps between us and our main rival, Peugeot, became smaller and smaller. In qualifying the difference was merely a tenth of a second, but we all know that that’s not crucial for the the race here."

From 2000 to 2008, Audi had nine consecutive victoires at Petit Le Mans.

(Source: Audi Motorsport press information)

Photo : BRASELTON (GEORGIA, USA), ROAD ATLANTA, PETIT LE MANS, QUALIFICATION, 30 SEPTEMBRE 2011. Third in qualification Dindo Capello holds the record of wins at Petit Le Mans, with five victories.