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THE NEW AUDI R15 PLUS MAKES AN OVERWHELMING DEBUT!

Ingolstadt/Le Castellet, 11 April 2010 – The Audi R15 TDI, model year 2010 (internally labeled “R15 plus”) has won its race début at Le Castellet (France) and in doing so left a strong impression.

The technically further developed diesel racing sports car ran the entire distance without the smallest problem during the test race. On the opening lap of the 8-hour race Allan McNish overtook the Peugeot which had started from pole position in the hands of Frenchman Stéphane Sarrazin and on the third lap the Lola-Aston Martin of Stefan Mücke. From then on Allan McNish and teammate Dindo Capello did not relinquish the lead. At the checkered flag after 266 laps the two Audi drivers held a five-lap lead from the Lola-Aston Martin of defending champion Stefan Mücke, Harold Primat and Adrian Fernandez. The Oreca team Peugeot finished fourth after succumbing to a technical problem during the opening stages of the race.

The only unscheduled pit stop was made just seven minutes before the end of the race, when Audi Sport Team Joest switched to rain tires for safety reasons as rain began to fall.

Audi Sport Team Joest used the Le Mans Series 2010 season opener as preparation for the 24-hour race at Le Mans on 12/13 June. In the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday as well as Sunday morning’s warm-up the team compared different set-up configurations before selecting a version which allowed Dindo Capello and Allan McNish to record constantly fast laps in the relatively low temperatures. The Audi R15 TDI was almost always the fastest car in the field throughout the eight hours and also set the fastest race lap.

Audi Sport Team Joest gained important knowledge for Le Mans during the victorious race at Le Castellet, which will now be evaluated by Audi Sport in Ingolstadt and which go into further fine tuning of the R15 plus.

Next on the agenda is a 30-hour test and the Le Mans dress rehearsal at the 1000-kilomtere race at Spa-Francorchamps on 9 May, which Audi Sport Team Joest will contest, exactly like Le Mans, with three Audi R15 TDI.

>>>>>Read more in our RolfsRacing.com LeMans Series Pages.

The year 2010 could hardly have started any better for Audi “factory” driver Tom Kristensen: The Dane was voted “Sportsman of the Decade” as many as two times in his native Denmark. The TV channel “TV2″ as well as the major daily newspaper “Berlingske Tidende” awarded the prestigious title to the record Le Mans winner.

“I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me and helped me receive these two awards,” said the Audi driver. “Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of being so successful some day. But back then I had the great fortune of joining Audi. It’s a big privilege to have been a member of one of the world’s best race teams for as much as a decade now.”

The eight-time Le Mans winner clearly prevailed against such popular athletes as tennis pro Caroline Wozniacki, bicycle racer Michael Rasmussen and U.S. football star Morten Andersen in the votings.

Tom Kristensen was also recently recognized by the British racing magazine “Autosport,” which voted the Dane “Sports Car Driver of the Decade,” followed in second place by Allan McNish as another Audi “factory” driver.

Tom Kristensen has been competing for Audi since 2000 and has meanwhile won the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans (France) eight times, the 12 Hour Race at Sebring (USA) five times, the “Petit Le Mans” race at Road Atlanta (USA) and the LMP1 title in the American Le Mans Series in 2002. In addition, the Dane contested the DTM for Audi from 2004 to 2009, celebrating a total of four victories in the Audi A4.

In 2010, Tom Kristensen wants to fully concentrate on his greatest passion: on sports car races with Audi. Yet again, the highlight will be the 24 Hour Race at Le Mans on June 12/13.

Ingolstadt Aug. 25, 2009- For the first time since its victorious debut at Sebring in March, the technologically innovative Audi R15 TDI will again compete in an endurance race in the USA: On September 26, Audi Sport Team Joest will contest the 1000-mile “Petit Le Mans” race, which is part of the American Le Mans Series, at Road Atlanta (Georgia) with two cars. The two diesel powered racing sports cars will be driven by Dindo Capello (Italy) and Allan McNish (Scotland) as well as the two Germans Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner. DTM racer Mike Rockenfeller is planned to be the team’s reserve driver.

“The race at Road Atlanta already marks the first part of our preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2010,” explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “We want to use it as an opportunity for our engineers to learn even more about the new Audi R15 TDI in direct competition with strong rivals. A lot of things can be simulated on test rigs and in track tests. But nothing can replace the experience gathered in actual racing events.”

“We’re convinced that we weren’t able to fully exploit the potential of the R15 TDI at Le Mans,” says Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “At Road Atlanta, we’ll have the opportunity to test on Sunday before the race so that we should be in a better position than we were at Le Mans. Despite the strong competition by Acura/Honda, Peugeot, Mazda, Oreca and other prototype teams we figure on having good chances of fighting for victory, as we did over the past few years.”

Audi will contest the “Petit Le Mans” race for as much as the tenth time this year and has been unbeaten there so far. The Audi R8 won six times, the Audi R10 TDI three. Now, the plan is for the Audi R15 TDI to continue this impressive string of exploits.

>>>>>Visit our RolfsRacing.com ALMS Page.

Le Mans: Audi “factory” driver Allan McNish has received the “Segrave Trophy” – one of the highest-ranking awards in British motorsport – by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) for his outstanding achievements in the 2008 season. The Scotsman succeeds the reigning Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton in receiving this honor.

Ingolstadt/Sebring - The Audi R15 TDI has defeated its competition in its debut race: Dindo Capello (Italy), Tom Kristensen (Denmark) and Allan McNish (Scotland) achieved a historic victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring (US state of Florida) with the new diesel-powered sports car of AUDI AG. The Audi drivers completed 383 laps - beating the previous distance record by an impressive 13 laps. In the fastest ever Sebring race, Audi Sport Team Joest’s pair of Audi R15 TDI prototypes ran the entire distance without technical problems despite the innovative Le Mans prototype having only completed its maiden run in December. Bad weather had hampered Audi Sport’s test program and temperatures never exceeded 15 degrees during the tests in Europe.

At Sebring, the Audi crew faced ambient temperatures almost double that and worked day and night to learn more about the new diesel sports car and to adapt it to the extremely bumpy race track in the center of Florida. They were able to solve all minor teething troubles which arose just in time for race day.

In the race the new Audi R15 TDI proved fast from the very beginning: Allan McNish outpaced the pole sitting Acura/Honda at the start completing the first lap with more than five seconds advantage. Later, however, it was not the Acura/Hondas which were the cars to beat but the two Peugeot 908s. The lead swapped no fewer than twelve times among the diesel-powered prototypes from Audi and Peugeot. Over long periods of the race, the four leading prototypes were covered by just a few tenths of a second.
Read more in our RolfsRacing.com ALMS Sebring Event Page.