Quotes after the Le Mans 24 Hours

Quotes after the Le Mans 24 Hours

Ingolstadt/Le Mans, June 12, 2011 – After Henri Pescarolo, Jacky Ickx, Michele
Alboreto and Tom Kristensen, Benoît Tréluyer is only the fifth driver in history to
have won the Le Mans 24 Hours from the pole position. For the Frenchman this
was the first victory at his home race, as it was for his team colleagues Marcel
Fässler and André Lotterer. With a track record of ten victories now, Audi is now
ranking in second place of the honor roll alone. Quotes after the Le Mans thriller.
Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “2011 was no doubt the most
difficult Le Mans race we’ve ever contested – but in the end with the sweetest result
we’ve ever had as well. From such a difficult situation we managed to recover again
on our own power and in the end to defeat – albeit with a narrow margin – our really
strong competitors from Peugeot. After eight hours we’d lost two of our three cars
and knew that it would be extremely difficult with just one car. The entire squad
gave everything to do the best for this car. Of course the drivers had to drive it. And
they did a really fantastic job – although it was the squad with the least experience
at Le Mans. Of course it’s extremely important that Allan (McNish) and Mike
(Rockenfeller) came out of both accidents, which were really severe, without any
injuries.”
Marcel Fässler (Audi R18 TDI #2): “This has been a tremendous day. The last six
hours were incredible. It just seemed like they wouldn’t pass. When I looked at the
time I kept thinking it had stopped. I said to myself: The clock can’t be running, it
would have had to be over a long time ago. I tried to stand somewhere where I
couldn’t listen to any commentators. But that was simply impossible. You could see
the dream coming closer and closer. And then there were moments when everything
became increasingly difficult, like the situation with the slow puncture just before
the end when André (Lotterer) was driving. And then you start trembling again: Will
the dream really come true. And then it did come true. It’s really fantastic. We
worked hard for this all winter. Le Mans is the most important race. I’m particularly
happy to be the first Swiss to have won it.”


André Lotterer (Audi R18 TDI #2): “It was a very intensive race. I was pushing like
crazy from the first to the last minute. I felt no boredom in the car. I gave
everything that was possible. And I had no choice but to do that either. In the end it
worked out. I’m simply happy that together we’ve managed to do this. All the
mechanics and everyone else worked so hard to prepare the car. This is a great
reward for many hours of overtime. Due to the two accidents yesterday was a
difficult day for Audi Sport. I’m very happy that Allan (McNish) and Rocky are okay
and that despite the accidents we’ve got a reason for joy.”
Benoît Tréluyer (Audi R18 TDI #2): “We’ve won an incredible race. A fantastic
feeling! That was clearly a team victory. We only did the driving. The biggest job was
the preparation. Without a fast and reliable car like our Audi victory at a 24-hour
race wouldn’t have been possible. I’d also like to mention Marco (Bonanomi) who
helped us very much. The victory belongs to the team that has gathered here today.
It’s like in soccer: If just one person is missing you can’t win. It’s particularly nice
that I attended the same racers school here at Le Mans as Marcel (Fässler) and
Sébastien (Bourdais). This makes it all the better to be on the podium here at this
venue with them.”
Timo Bernhard (Audi R18 TDI #1): “I’m incredibly happy for the team. The whole
team stuck together tremendously in the preparation phase. I take my hat off to car
number 2. They drove a superb race. A very strong performance. Naturally, we would
have liked to have been among the front runners with our car number 1 as well. But
even when we were forced to just watch we could see that the car was incredibly
competitive. Until our retirement we were in contention. I can’t deny my
disappointment as a driver. But the most important thing is that Mike is okay. He
had no choice but to react the way he did in that situation. Congratulations to the
whole Audi Sport team. A superb showing. I’m happy that victory has been
clinched.”
Romain Dumas (Audi R18 TDI #1): “For sure it’s a good race when you work for
nearly one year to prepare and then win this race. Okay my car wasn’t on top of the
podium today but I am very happy that it is Audi that has won. We all share this
victory. We all work together. That is the strength of this incredible team. Last year
we won. Benoit, André and Marcel were second and they were very happy for us and
now we are very happy for them.”
Mike Rockenfeller (Audi R18 TDI #1): “I was driving my fourth stint. Just three or
four more laps and the tank would have been empty. After the Mulsanne corner I
was on the long straight heading for Indy. In the second right-hand there was a GT
car in front of me. It was running on the left-hand side and I used the headlight
flasher. For me it was clear that he would stay on the left as he had the lap before
too. We overtake very often at this place of the track. Just as I was running
alongside him at 300 km/h he misjudged this. He suddenly pulled over to the right.
I still wanted to evade him by going out on the grass. Nevertheless he must have
still slightly touched me at the rear. I immediately turned left. It was a severe
accident. But the most important thing is that I’m basically okay. The safety
standards are simply enormous and have saved my life. I’ve never had such an
accident in my life and hope that I’ll never have such an experience again. I’m
extremely sorry. We had good chances of being in contention for victory. I would
always take advantage of such a gap again because I believe that it was not a risky
maneuver. It was quite a normal act of straight overtaking. Consideration should be
given to perhaps finding another solution for amateur drivers. it’s simply too
dangerous. There were several dangerous incidents for me while I was driving. At
that particular moment, unfortunately, the outcome wasn’t so good.”
Dindo Capello (Audi R18 TDI #3): “After the bad start of the race and the big fright
we had at seeing Allan’s and then Rocky’s accidents we are pleased that they are
fortunately in very good shape. We now can enjoy this great moment and
congratulate the team of car #2. The drivers, the team, the engineers but especially
all the people from Audi who are back in Ingolstadt at the moment who gave us not
only the most beautiful racing car on the starting grid but also the fastest car. That
is something unique and now we celebrate. We got pole position and fastest lap
and we won the race. It’s more than we expected. Congratulations to everyone.”
Tom Kristensen (Audi R18 TDI #3): “A fantastic result for Audi. All the energy went
into one car after we lost two. I was extremely disappointed at the time but
overwhelmed by the fact that nobody was hurt, neither Allan (McNish), spectators
or any of the photographers and the same for Mike (Rockenfeller’s) accident. Of
course we have mental pain but nobody got badly hurt. My biggest respect to
Benoit (Tréluyer), André (Lotterer) and Marcel (Fässler). They have done a fantastic
Le Mans race. Not to have been behind the steering wheel is personally something I
haven’t enjoyed but being witness to a really fantastic Le Mans race is something
which goes down in the Audi history books as one of the greatest achievements at
the legendary circuit.”
Allan McNish (Audi R18 TDI #3): “Congratulations to Audi. Congratulations to the
winning team. A superb result. André (Lotterer) drove superbly as did Marcel
(Fässler) and Ben (Tréluyer). The tears in the garage just show the pressure they
were under all of the way through the race. For our car’s situation, and for Rocky and
his car, as well there is a touch of sadness as it’s not an Audi 1, 2, 3 like last year but
today’s race winning performance was just incredible. Regarding my accident: I went
down the inside of a GT class Ferrari which was just ahead. As I got past the first
thing I knew was I was spinning towards the wall on the left hand side and so
immediately realised that he’d tagged the left rear of my car with the right front of
his – after that I was just along for the ride. It was a very big accident. I have to say a
huge thank you to the Audi designers because they have produced a car that could
survive an enormous impact allowing the driver to open the door and get out
unharmed.”
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): “A completely crazy race –
I don’t think the world has ever seen anything like this before. Maybe there have
been races at Le Mans before with an even closer outcome. But to be dueling with
several cars over the period of 24 hours within gaps of just seconds – I don’t think
this has ever happened before. It was really nerve-racking. Everyone who has been
here will only realize what happened a few days from now. After Spa we were sitting
together. Not everything was going as planned there. At that time Jo Hausner
wished for us to have a race here in which Audi and Peugeot would be within seconds
of each other up to the end. And that’s exactly what we got – I could curse him for
that ... It was a great victory for Audi – but also for Allan (McNish) and particularly
for Mike (Rockenfeller). We had horrible accidents. We’ve got to thank Audi for
building such safe cars.”

Info and Photos: Audi Sport.