Podium for Audi at ILMC finale in China

Podium for Audi at ILMC finale in China

􀀁 Timo Bernhard/Marcel Fässler on position three at Zhuhai

􀀁 Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish retired

􀀁 One-two success for Audi R8 LMS in the GTC class

Ingolstadt/Zhuhai, November 13, 2011 – At the end of the Intercontinental Le

Mans Cup (ILMC) Audi Sport Team Joest achieved another podium result with the

Le Mans winning Audi R18 TDI at the season finale in China. Timo Bernhard and

Marcel Fässler finished the 6-hour race at Zhuhai in third place. Allan McNish and

Tom Kristensen in the “sister car” were forced to retire due to a collision in which

they were not at fault.

As was often the case this year, Audi Sport Team Joest was lacking the necessary bit

of luck at Zhuhai after both Audi R18 TDI cars had been setting the pace at the

beginning of the race. As early as on lap one Allan McNish and Timo Bernhard

managed to pass one of the two Peugeots and to take over positions two and three.

On lap 18 both Audi drivers also overtook the Peugeot of Sébastien Bourdais which

had been leading up to that point.

The Audi squad was not able to enjoy the one-two lead for very long though: Allan

McNish lost a lap early on when during the first refueling stop the rear bodywork of

the Audi R18 TDI had to be exchanged as a result of contact with a GT car in which

he had not been at fault. More serious consequences were caused by the mistake of

a rival in the LMP1 class who made a braking mistake in front of Turn 1 and slid into

the rear of the Audi that was running in front of him causing a cable harness to be

severed. The resulting short circuit caused irreparable damage to the onboard

electronics of the R18 TDI. Following several unscheduled pit stops Audi Sport

Team Joest took the car out of the race after three hours and 46 minutes.

Timo Bernhard and Marcel Fässler were running at the front of the field for a long

time. However, toward the race’s midpoint the Audi R18 TDI designated as car

number “1” lost too much time since the tires started degrading much more heavily

than expected during the second stint. While trying to overtake the leading Peugeot

and to recover the lap that way, Marcel Fässler went into a spectacular spin in the

fast finish turn shortly before the end of the race. The Le Mans winner managed to

regain control of the R18 TDI without touching the track barrier and thus secured

third place. After Imola and Silverstone, this marked the third joint podium result in

the ILMC for Bernhard and Fässler.

One-two victory for the Audi R8 LMS in the GTC class

In the GTC class Audi recorded a one-two-three success at Zhuhai: Audi Sport

customer racing China celebrated a commanding victory on its first appearance with

the Audi R8 LMS. DTM racer Edoardo Mortara on his GT debut won together with the

Hong Kong Chinese Darrel O’Young and the Swiss Alexandre Imperatori. Second

place went to the Audi R8 LMS fielded by Audi race experience. The Audi GT3

customer sports car will make another appearance next weekend in China at the GT

race in neighboring Macau.

Quotes after the race

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “In the first two hours we were

absolutely part of the action at the front. Unfortunately, though, we weren’t able to

convert the good speed we had into victory at the finale – and that’s no doubt

disappointing for everyone in the team. With car number ‘1’ we lost a lot of time at

the end of the second double-stint which we weren’t able to recover although

afterward we again drove the times of the two leading Peugeot cars pretty

consistently. That’s why in the end it was no longer possible to attack. Car number

‘2’ became entangled in a rear-end collision in which it was not at fault and, as a

consequence, developed an electrical problem which we weren’t able to repair. That

was of course disappointing.”

Timo Bernhard (Audi R18 TDI #1): “The pace definitely existed today – as had

actually been the case at all the previous races. It’s a shame because on the first

stint we took the lead and after the second one we were leading for about ten

seconds. Unfortunately, in the second part of Marcel’s double-stint we had to note

that the tires had heavily degraded. Exactly the time we lost at that point was the

time we were lacking in the end. We weren’t able to make up for that any more as

the competitiveness in the ILMC is too high to be able do so. I do think though that

Marcel (Fässler) and I did a good job today. The pace was good, we always managed

to get through the field in a nice, clean drive.”

Marcel Fässler (Audi R18 TDI #1): “Basically speaking, this wasn’t my weekend,

unfortunately, because I was struggling a bit here. The race had started well and

Timo (Bernhard) did a good job. We were really competitive. Unfortunately, the

performance of the tires dropped severely during my double-stint. On the last ten

laps on this tire we simply lost too much time. That’s a shame because we’re not

happy with third place, even though that was obviously the maximum we could

achieve today.”

Tom Kristensen (Audi R18 TDI #2): “A frustrating end for our ‘yellow’ car. Until

today it’s been a perfect weekend. The tests in wet and dry conditions, the qualifying

session – everything went according to plan or even better. From the start, Allan

(McNish) and Timo (Bernhard) were running really fast. But when Allan was hit in

the rear by the Rebellion car, the impact apparently caused a short circuit. We had

to change the battery several times but that didn’t eliminate the problem. That was

a shame because we were definitely quick enough to be able to win the race – and

that was clearly our goal. It’s been a character-building year.”

Allan McNish (Audi R18 TDI #2): “I think everyone in the team did an outstanding

job. That’s why it’s so disappointing that we had to give up with our Audi R18 TDI.

We had a really good pace, Tom (Kristensen) and I were both really pleased with the

set-up. In addition, Tom drove a fantastic qualifying session. So we started into the

race with a lot of self-confidence and a good feeling and immediately put pressure

on our rivals from Peugeot and took the lead. Unfortunately, a GT car touched me as

early as on the first stint, which meant we had to change the tail due to the

regulations. But the real problem happened when I was hit in the rear by a

prototype. That damaged the wiring and caused a short circuit in the car which

couldn’t be repaired. I’m a little sad because I was confident that we’d be able to

clinch victory here – and I wasn’t the only one in the team who had that opinion. In

the future, Audi Sport will come back stronger than before, this much is sure.”

Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): “The season finale of the

ILMC was like the previous races of the season: It started really well and in the

beginning we had the impression that we were quicker than our competitors. That

changed after about two hours though. At the end of the second stint we lost a lot

of time but our strategy had paid off up to that point. The Peugeot cars though

apparently benefited from the increasing amount of pickup on the track. In these

conditions they weren’t struggling quite as much with degrading tires as we were.

For car number ‘2’ the race here at Zhuhai was a mirror image of the season as well.

Allan (McNish) didn’t even notice the damage to the rear of his car after contact

with the GT vehicle and in the second incident with the LMP vehicle he wasn’t able to

do anything either. Afterward the race was over for Allan and Tom (Kristensen) due

to a resulting electrical problem. I want to thank the team a lot for having shown

outstanding morale here. All we can do now is look toward the future with

optimism.”

Results

1 Bourdais/Davidson (Peugeot) 249 laps in 6h 01m 24.879s

2 Montagny/Sarrazin (Peugeot) + 38.651s

3 Bernhard/Fässler (Audi R18 TDI) - 1 lap

4 Jani/Prost (Lola-Toyota) - 7 laps

5 Nicolet/Premat/Pla (Oak-Pescarolo-Judd) - 9 laps

6 Meyrick/Mücke/Primat (Lola-Aston Martin) - 10 laps

7 Lahaye/Moreau/Ragues (Oak-Pescarolo-Judd) - 11 laps

8 Mailleux/Ordonez/Vernay (Oreca-Nissan) - 21 laps

9 Farfus/Müller (BMW) - 28 laps

10 Priaulx/Alzen (BMW) - 29 laps

...

18 Mortara/O’Young/Imperatori (Audi R8 LMS) - 39 laps (1 GTC)

19 Lee/Gruber/Tak Mak (Audi R8 LMS) - 46 Rd (2 GTC)

Audi Sport.