Audi dominates first Sebring test

By Matt Beer Tuesday, March 17th 2009, 05:28 GMT


Audi's new R15 TDI made a stunning debut on the first day of official testing for the Sebring 12 Hours, comfortably out-pacing rivals Peugeot and Acura on Monday.

The No.2 R15 of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello lapped in 1m43.596s, half a second quicker than team-mates Marco Werner, Lucas Luhr and Mike Rockenfeller, and 1.406s clear of Sebastien Bourdais and Stephane Sarrazin in the best of the evenly-matched Peugeots.

While both Audi and Peugeot had already taken part in private tests at the track over the weekend, Acura did not start running until the official opening day yesterday. The De Ferran Motorsports car was fifth, within a tenth of a second of the two Peugoets, and 0.7s faster than the Highcroft Acura.

McNish said the new Audi already felt like a major step forward over its predecessor.

"It's the first time we've actually seen the Acura running and the updated Peugeot as well as us, so we've had the first feelings of relative performance, and the first feelings of the R15 on a circuit we know very well," he said.

"The car feels more agile, it feels more reactive, especially at high speed and through Turn 1, which is a very bumpy corner, it's more stable than the R10 was. We're actually going through there a gear higher.

"We've got a better response from the engine as well. I think the V10 being a bit shorter and lighter is allowing the chassis to be more agile in the other parts of the circuit.

"Performance-wise, what we've seen to date is that we're a little bit ahead of Peugeot on short runs and also on long runs. Acura are very early in their running because they didn't run on Saturday, so I think we've got to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday to see their full potential."

Highcroft driver Brabham is expecting the diesel teams to be tough to beat this weekend.

"We have a steep mountain to climb against Audi and Peugeot here this weekend but we are up for the challenge," he said.

"It is a step by step process for us. The car is getting more and more reliable and we only had one small issue this morning. Having a trouble free run is the key thing we need to focus on."

The No.16 Dyson Lola-Mazda of Andy Lally, Chris Dyson and Guy Smith was the only LMP2 car to run on the first day, lapping 7s slower than the Audis.

FIA GT regular Advanced Engineering set the fastest time in GT2 with its Ferrari, which boasts Gianmaria Bruni on its driving strength for this event, ahead of the No.87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche and Risi's two Ferraris. The new Rahal Letterman BMWs were 1.3s off the pace on day one.

"We are still doing some development, and that is going along nicely," said BMW driver Dirk Muller. "There is no grip yet this early in the week."

Peugeot’s Nic Minassian set the unofficial fastest time Tuesday in the final test day prior to the start of the 57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida, the first race of the 2009 American Le Mans Series. Official practice starts Wednesday with the race set for 10:30 a.m. ET on Saturday.

The Frenchman, at Sebring International Raceway for the second straight year with the diesel-powered Peugeot 908 HDi, turned in a best lap of 1:44.555. He is teaming with Pedro Lamy and Christian Klien in one of the two Peugeot factory prototype coupes.

Peugeot set the benchmark on Tuesday, but Audi's new R15 TDI is in close pursuit. (ALMS) » More PhotosMinassian was 0.259 seconds quicker around the 17-turn, 3.7-mile circuit than Audi Sport Team Joest’s Dindo Capello in one of the two brand new Audi R15 TDI prototypes. Making their worldwide event debut, the Audis sat second and third overall with Marco Werner at 1:45.630.

Acura, like Audi, is debuting a new prototype this week. Scott Dixon was the quickest of Acura’s P1 pilots with a lap of 1:45.714 in the de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-02a.

Dyson Racing’s Guy Smith was the fastest LMP2 driver with a lap of 1:51.733. The Dyson team is debuting the new Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 coupe at Sebring as part of a new long-term partnership with the Japanese manufacturer.

Jan Magnussen went quickest in GT1 in Corvette Racing’s No. 3 Corvette C6.R. The Dane, defending race and class champion, posted a lap of 1:58.196 in the entry that he will share with seven-timeSebring winner Johnny O’Connell and newcomer Antonio Garcia.

Fellow first-year Corvette Racing pilot Marcel Fässler was 0.886 seconds behind in the Corvette C6.R that he will drive with Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin. This is the last appearance at Sebring for the GT1 Corvette with the team set to move into GT2 in August at Mid-Ohio.

Speaking of which, Ferrari factory driver Gianmaria Bruni was the fastest driver in class for Advanced Engineering/Pecom Racing Team and its Ferrari F430 GT. Bruni, who set a lap of 2:03.163, drove at Sebring last season for Risi Competizione and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2008 with the team.

Wolf Henzler was second quickest in GT2 for Farnbacher Loles Racing. The German Porsche factory driver’s best time was a 2:03.684 in the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. He is driving with full-season teammate Dirk Werner and Richard Westbrook.

Third quickest was Mika Salo in the Risi Ferrari at 2:03.740. He is teaming with the full-season pairing of Jaime Melo and Pierre Kaffer.

The American Le Mans Series will open its 11th season with the 57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on Saturday, March 21. SPEED will televise the race live from 10 a.m. to noon and 2-11 p.m. EDT. American Le Mans Radio and Live Timing & Scoring will be available at americanlemans.com. Sebring also will mark the debut of the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge for 2009.

Leading Acura drivers believe the new LMP1 ARX-02a has great potential, despite a slightly disappointing debut race for the car at Sebring.

Although Scott Dixon put the De Ferran Acura on pole, both it and the sister Highcroft entry failed to match the diesel Audi and Peugeots' pace in the 12 Hours.

While Highcroft fell back after two accidents before retiring with transmission problems, the De Ferran car managed to stay in fourth place until being stopped by a suspension breakage.

Team boss Gil de Ferran was satisfied with his car's times prior to the failure.

"We are a little disappointed we didn't make it to the chequered flag," he admitted. "But I felt good about our performance today. We proved that the Acura is the best handling car out there today.

"The track was coming to us as the race progressed. We stayed on the lead lap until we had a couple of unscheduled pitstops."

Highcroft's David Brabham pointed out that the car was still at a very early stage in its development.

"I think we didn't get enough time leading into the race to properly have everything together," he said. "I think it has been a success for the first race, since it was such a scramble to get to be reliable.

"We are learning as we go and it was great learning experience today. We now have a clearer idea of what we need to set up the car. I see a lot of potential with this new Acura."

De Ferran agreed that the teams were only scratching the surface of the new car's potential at present.

"We leave Sebring with a good feeling about the new Acura," he said. "It is a good concept and it will get better."