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Audi has laid down the first marker for Le Mans in
June with victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
The R15 driven by Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello took the
chequered flag on its first competitive outing, but only after a spectacular
race-long battle with - yes, you guessed it - the Peugeot 908 of Frank
Montagny, Sebastien Bourdais and Stephane Sarrazin, which finished within 20
seconds of the Audi.
The second of the works R15s, driven by Mike Rockenfeller, Lucas Luhr and Marco
Werner, crossed the line in third.
The lead Audi and the Peugeot ran within seconds of each other for virtually the
entire race, with only a puncture for Bourdais with three hours to go allowing
the R15 to stretch the lead out to a minute.
Despite a series of blistering laps from the Toro Rosso driver to close the
gap, it was McNish in the Audi who put the hammer down in the final stint,
outpacing the Peugeot by a couple of seconds per lap and eventually crossing
the line 22 seconds in the lead.
After the race, Bourdais paid tribute to the Scottish driver. "The puncture
didn't help, but Allan McNish just killed us," said the Frenchman.
"I was quite
a bit quicker than the Audi when I was on the track, but as soon as Allan
turned the heat up, we couldn't do anything. He seems to be on another planet
and there's nothing we can do about it."
Audi's victory makes Danish driver Tom Kristensen - already an eight-time Le
Mans champion - the first man to win Sebring five times.
Despite taking pole position, the Acura ARX-02a couldn't keep pace with the
Audi and Peugeot, slipping back to fifth before retiring with suspension problems
after eight hours.
So has this set the tone for Le Mans? Audi edging out Peugeot... again? Or will
Aston's LMP1 car - though not competing in Sebring - be in the mix too?
Thoughts please...
Open Car Bar
What do you think?
Want to comment on this?
AshHorne commented on this article
at 11:46 am on 23 March 2009
Every time I see Bourdais on TV he's always complaining about something, whether its crying about just missing out on a podium (instead of being happy that 4th was the best position he had all season!), complaining about Massa shoulderbarging him on the pit corner, or jumping on the "anti-hamilton" bandwagon. Does the guy ever have anything positive to say?
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LeBonkers commented on this article
at 01:26 pm on 23 March 2009
Well, maybe not on television =P Bourdais? Losing? And you call yourself an F1 Driver? hehe... =P
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angelica commented on this article
at 02:39 pm on 23 March 2009
I am a big Audi-fan and happy the Mc Nisch won again, even with their new car. The R15 is just amazing and I hope they 'll have a great ALMS season.
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KMTV commented on this article
at 03:19 pm on 23 March 2009
Peugeot = Minor revisions to their car, and still lose by seconds Audi = Completely new car, and still win, albeit mostly by luck this time. They were neck and neck all the way but in the end it came down to that puncture for Bourdais. Still. I think the Audi trio demonstrated why Tom Kristiensen is one of the world's most versatile drivers, Why Allan McNish is severely underrated, and exactly why just because you are a F1 driver doesn't mean you're any good at driving a real racing car.
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StigsIrishCousn commented on this article
at 03:40 pm on 23 March 2009
It will be interesting to see what happens when Aston are competing too! Obviously this type of racing is as interesting as F1 and a lot of the drivers are the same so why do we never get any coverage?
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