Alpinestars and Castrol new partners in sports car program
Audi starts the 2011 sports car season in the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 19. Making its final appearance is the Audi R15 TDI, which had to be modified to comply with the new regulations and which carries the project name “R15 plus plus” internally. Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas/Mike Rockenfeller (D/F/D), last year’s Le Mans winners, as well as Dindo Capello/Allan McNish/Tom Kristensen (I/GB/DK), Le-Mans winners from 2008, drive the two diesel race sports cars.
Early race end for Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish
First technical defect in more than four years
Ingolstadt/Silverstone, September 12, 2010 – Audi started into the new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) with a podium result. In the 1000-kilometer race at Silverstone (Great Britain) Timo Bernhard and Dindo Capello in the Audi R15 TDI occupied third place.
A differential failure on the sister car driven by Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish after just 15 of the 170 laps prevented a better result after the strong qualifying performance with grid positions one and two. In front of a crowd of 40,000 spectators McNish had taken the lead after starting from the pole position and fought a spectacular duel with the subsequent winner Anthony Davidson in the Peugeot in the early phase before the R15 TDI designated as car number “7″ started to coast on the track without drive. It was the first retirement due to a technical failure since the launch of the R15 project and the first for Audi Sport Team Joest in more than four years.
The unusual defect on the differential, which will be carefully examined in the next few days at Audi Sport in Ingolstadt, affected the race of Timo Bernhard and Dindo Capello as well. Because the team did not want to take any risks with the tire strategy with one remaining car the tires of the second R15 TDI were changed at the first refueling stop to be on the safe side. This caused Bernhard/Capello to lose contact with the leading Peugeot that was driving two stints on one set of tires from the outset.
In addition, unusually heavy understeer caused the gap to the leading Peugeot to increase to slightly more than one minute by the end of the first half of the race. In the second half Bernhard/Capello were able to keep the pace of the front runners and to even reduce the gap to about 50 seconds. However, an additional refueling stop three laps before the finish locked third place of the German-Italion duo in concrete. Continue reading ‘Audi R15 TDI on the podium at Silverstone’
Allan McNish clinches first pole position for the R15 TDI
Ingolstadt/Silverstone, September 11, 2010 – Audi has written a small chapter of motorsport history by securing the first ever pole position in the new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC). Both Audi R15 TDI cars will start into the 1000-kilometer race at Silverstone (Great Britain) from the front row.
At the Le Mans 24 Hours Audi triumphed in June primarily due to the reliability and efficiency of the Audi R15 TDI. At the inaugural round of the new worldwide sports car racing series at Silverstone the innovative diesel race sports car from Ingolstadt has been setting the pace so far as well: after posting fastest times in two of the three free practice sessions Allan McNish and Timo Bernhard clinched the two top grid positions in qualifying on Saturday afternoon.
Audi last started from the top grid position in a sports car race more than two years ago. For the Audi R15 TDI which has already won three races this marked the first pole position in its seventh racing commitment, for Allan McNish the first since Sebring in 2008.
Audi Sport Team Joest to compete with two prototypes
Ingolstadt, August 24, 2010 – A new worldwide racing series focused on innovative drive concepts, new technology and reduced fuel consumption will stage its inaugural round at Silverstone on September 12. The newly incepted Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) makes it possible for Audi to tour the world with its innovative diesel-powered race sports cars.
In the future, the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours, which Audi won for the ninth time this year, will be the central event of the new intercontinental sports car series which in 2011 is planned to consist of a total of seven endurance races in America, Asia and Europe. With the new series the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) wants to continue the great tradition of the World Championship for Makes that thrilled spectators from 1953 to 1984 and which at times was more popular than Formula 1. Continue reading ‘Audi R15 TDI embarks on a world tour, Driver pairings announced’
It is not often you can get behind the scenes with a Le Mans champion like Allan McNish and his compadres from Team Joest. McNish, armed with a handheld camera, journals his weekend at the Spa 1000km race. This is an entertaining look behind the scenes and give you an idea what it would be like to be a professional driver behind the wheel of an R15. Now we just need to send him a camera that isn’t blurry! And what was Dindo Capello doing to prep for the race and settle his nerves? You’ll be shocked when you see!!
Allan Mcnish has just published a great blog post on his website reflecting on the 8 hour race at Paul Ricard and the first win for the R15 Plus. I love hearing from the drivers directly and this gives us even more reason to get excited for Le Mans! Enjoy the read…
Well the first race is over and I don’t think anyone at Audi Sport could have hoped for a better result at Paul Ricard. Giving the R15 Plus its first victory follows in the same vane as with the R8, R10 TDI and R15 TDI – Audi’s fine tradition of scoring a début race win first time out with its latest sportscar.
Winning at Ricard was a positive surprise. Before arriving at Le Castellet, Dindo and I had effectively done one day of dry weather testing. So we were very early in our learning process. It was important from the drivers’ point of view to get on with the job and for us and the team to start on a good and firm footing. Continue reading ‘Reflections from Allan McNish about first win in the R15 Plus’
