Audi on second and third row of the grid in Malaysia

Audi on second and third row of the grid in

Malaysia

• Audi R8 LMS cars to start from positions three and six

• Le Mans winner Marcel Fässler sets best time of all Audi drivers

• Belgian Audi Club mainly focused on race preparation

Ingolstadt/Sepang, 16 September 2011 – Team WRT (Belgian Audi Club) has

achieved a good starting base with its two Audi R8 LMS cars for the 12-hour race

at Sepang, not only due to the grid positions: Frank Biela/Marcel Fässler/Marco

Werner managed to set the third-best time overall in qualifying. Their teammates

Seiji Ara/Darryl O’Young/Alex Yoong took sixth place. Prior to the race,

both squads have worked out a set-up to suit the unusually tough demands of the

12-hour competition.

The qualifying format that is not used in Europe already caused a high level of

suspense. Every racer drove his own qualifying session. The aggregate of the

respective fastest times set by the three drivers determined the grid positions.

Marcel Fässler achieved the best lap time of all six Audi drivers at 2m 05.728s. In his

R8 LMS he also drove the third-best time in his session. The second-fastest lap

within the Audi driver squad was achieved by his team-mate Marco Werner at noon

in 2m 06.257s.

However, the work of the WRT team was centered on a much more important task.

With ambient temperatures of 35 degrees centigrade and track temperatures of

about 50 degrees the team had to find a set-up for the 520-HP Audi R8 LMS that is

easy on the material yet allows fast lap times. The tires and brakes are considered to

be under particularly high stress on the 5.543-kilometer GP circuit near the equator.

By simulating various stints the squad of team director Vincent Vosse managed to

find an ideal compromise for the set-up under the high thermal loads.

The 12-hour race starts on Saturday at 12:00 local time (6:00 a.m. Central European

time) and lasts 12 hours. Audi fans can find links to several videos from Sepang

over the weekend on www.facebook.com/AudiSport.

Quotes after qualifying

Frank Biela (Audi Sport performance cars R8 LMS #1): “This was not completely

satisfactory. I‘d thought that a bit more would be possible. I had oversteer when

turning into the corner. We tried out various things because the weather kept

changing a bit. Sometimes the track was moist and had no grip and then the grip

would be a bit higher again. Since Tuesday we’ve been working on a set-up that

should function well across the whole distance.”

Marcel Fässler (Audi Sport performance cars R8 LMS #1): “I drove the first

qualifying session today. My session was pretty good. I felt comfortable in the Audi

R8 LMS. I managed a more or less flawless lap. I wasn’t one-hundred-percent

satisfied with the balance of the car in qualifying but instead we should be prepared

for the race even the better.”

Marco Werner (Audi Sport performance cars R8 LMS #1): “My second outing was

the best one because this set of tires was perfectly heated. I really felt comfortable

with it. These tires had more grip than the first set right from the beginning. I drove

my best time on this set although I ran up to a car in front of me in the last turn. On

the whole I’m pleased. I’ve never set such a fast lap on this circuit, neither last year

nor this year. I’m well sorted for the race. And my team-mate Frank Biela worked

out a good set-up for the race due to his work since Tuesday.”

Seiji Ara (MediaCorp Audi R8 LMS #2): “When I went out as the first driver of our

Audi R8 LMS I had two new sets of tires available to me. On the first set the car was

understeering in fast turns. Then we made a change for the second trial. The

understeer was no longer as troubling as before but instead the car tended to

oversteer a bit in slow turns. That’s why I wasn’t quicker. That wasn’t perfect,

unfortunately. But basically the Audi R8 LMS functions very well and I’ll be giving

everything in the race.”

Darryl O’Young (MediaCorp Audi R8 LMS #2): “Qualifying was okay. Unfortunately,

I made a mistake on my first trial in the penultimate corner. The car was

oversteering there and I lost a couple of tenths. On my second outing a car in front

of me spun. Both of my best laps were about equally fast. It’s too bad that I wasn’t

able to improve. Still, we’ve got a decent grid position for the race.”

Alex Yoong (MediaCorp Audi R8 LMS #2): “We’re well prepared for the race. But I

can’t deny my disappointment about qualifying. All drivers of the #2 Audi R8 LMS

were sure that more would have been possible today. Balance wasn’t bad but we

couldn’t make perfect use of the tires. Grip was simply not good enough. Before my

trial in the third session it had been raining a bit. Two days ago we were half a

second faster on old tires at higher temperatures. But we’re well prepared for the

race. At this event you’ve got to really make sparing use of your brakes and tires.”

Vincent Vosse (Team Director WRT): “We systematically prepared for the race and

are starting from rows two and three. I’ve got to admit though that we’ve seen

some really fast competitors in qualifying. Our drivers did an absolutely thorough

job and continuously improved the two Audi R8 LMS cars. The car has been set up

very well for the long distance. Twelve hours are a long time and a lot can happen.

On Saturday it will be crucial to drive a flawless race with a homogeneous squad in

the full field here.”

Qualifying results

1 Kataoka/Hairuman/Schneider (Mercedes) 6m 16.346s

2 Taniguchi/Yanagida/Ang (Mercedes) 6m 17.231s

3 Biela/Fässler/Werner (Audi R8 LMS) 6m 18.421 s

4 Sun/Bruni/Griffin (Ferrari) 6m 18.829s

5 Lung/Sawa/Schwager (Lamborghini) 6m 19.413s

6 Ara/O’Young/Yoong (Audi R8 LMS) 6m 19.753s

7 Yu/Li/Johansson (Ford) 6m 22.946s

8 Lee/Imperatori/Lim (Audi R8 LMS) 6m 24.476s

9 Fung/Jones/Asai (Lamborghini) 6m 24.662s

10 Engstler/Kraihamer/Romanov (BMW) 6m 31.997s

Audi Sport.