Audi tests LMP1 sports car for 2012

Audi tests LMP1 sports car for 2012

• Tests at Sebring (U.S. state of Florida)
• Six Le Mans winners at the wheel
• Preparation for 2012 season

Ingolstadt, December 17, 2011 – Audi Sport is intensively preparing for the 2012
sports prototype season. A test team has started the next trial phase of the LMP1
sports car for the 2012 season in the United States this week.
After the previous tests of the further development of this year’s Le Mans winning
car took place behind closed doors, Audi is now going into public at a race track for
the first time. Since this Saturday, Audi Sport has been running tests with two
vehicles at the Sebring (Florida) circuit. The second LMP1 sports car serves to
compare the test results. Taking turns at the wheel of the two development vehicles
are the 2011 Le Mans winners, the Swiss Marcel Fässler, the German André Lotterer
and the Frenchman Benoît Tréluyer. Also involved in the tests are Dindo Capello,
Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish, who were last victorious at Le Mans in 2008.
The tradition-steeped American circuit has a special significance for Audi, not only
because Audi has celebrated nine victories at the Sebring 12 Hours since the 2000
season. The 5.95-kilometer track that features 17 highly different types of turns
offers plenty of variety, which makes for excellent test conditions. The rough
concrete of the former airfield’s take-off and landing strip in combination with the
tarmac of the other track sectors puts the material to a particularly tough test. On
March 17th, the 12-hour race will open the new FIA World Endurance Championship
(WEC) as well as the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) at this venue.
While the component tests have already started, Audi will not announce the details
of the 2012 racing program, the driver line-up and the technical state of the
development until a later date.

Audi Sport/