"It was a tough qualifying, but the times were closer than expected. Before qualifying, I thought if I could do a 1m 12s time I’d be happy. Now we did a lap of 1m 11.765s. I pushed as hard as I could and even slightly touched the wall. I was a little bit unlucky as there was traffic twice. Now it’s all about the race. There are some places where we can pass other cars.”
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #2):
"Lucas did a good job. His lap of 1m 11.765s is really a good time. The starting position however is disappointing. In free practice, it was hard to believe that we were sometimes leading. But now we saw that it is much more difficult than at St Petersburg. The track is much more bumpy and favours LM P2 cars. We can do a little bit better in the race although it will not be easy from our position on the grid.”
Frank Biela (Audi R10 TDI #1):
"It is very close at the front. We saw seven cars within six tenths of a second. Emanuele did a very good job. His lap time was strong, but we are only seventh as it is so close. The race will be very hard but I believe that there are seven or eight cars out there that can win.”
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #1):
"I think we can be very happy with qualifying, although we are only sixth an seventh on the grid. Compared to last year, we are a lot closer to the leaders. Last year I started sixth and before the end of my stint, I was in the lead. Our car is a lot better in race trim than in qualifying trim. The power of the TDI engine gives us the chance to overtake on the straights. I’m happy with the race set-up and I’m quite optimistic for the race. The gap between us and the pole sitter is really small.”
Dave Maraj (Director Audi Sport Team North America):
"We went a second quicker than last year whereas the LM P2 cars were only 0.5s faster than last year. That means it is much more competitive this year. The position on the grid is not excellent, but I think that we can be competitive in the race. With a little bit of luck, we can be right there in the end.”
The official website: www.americanlemans.com
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Franck BIELA (http://www.audi-motorsport.info) Photo : - |