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08.04.2002 |
This is what you won´t see every day: Audi drivers Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen drove to victory in round six of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in Trois-Rivières, Canada, despite starting from 20th position on the grid. Frank Biela/Emanuele Pirro and Johnny Herbert/Stefan Johansson completed a convincing Audi 1-2-3 victory finishing second and third. |
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On
the short 1.5-mile but extremely demanding street circuit, the Audi R8 sportscars
where a class of their own. In all practice sessions and during the entyre
3-hour race distance one of the three R8 cars was in front. In the opening
stages of the race, Tom Kristensen needed just 25 laps to move from 20th
on the grid to second position behind Emanuele Pirro. And despite Johnny
Herbert being hit at the start by a competitor, the Champion team had to
change the rear bodywork and Herbert dropped to the back of the field, the
Briton had moved into the top three again in the 2001-spec R8 after one
third of the race.
Herbert and teammate Stefan Johansson had the chance to take the first victory of an Audi customer team in the ALMS. However, a stop-and-go-penalty cost Johansson a lap and sealed third position for the Champion team. |
| After
that, the victory was decided between the two Infineon Audi R8 sportscars
of Team Audi Sport North America. For a long time, Emanuele Pirro and Frank
Biela looked like the winners. In the final stages of the race, however,
the two Audi teams choose different strategies: While Biela made his final
fuel stop without taking new tyres, Capello shortly afterwards profited
from a caution period, using it for a “full service” including tyre change.
With the new rubber, Capello recorded faster lap times and finally won thanks
to the pit strategy.
Capello´s teammate Tom Kristensen defended his lead in the American Le Mans Series with his second victory of the season. Rinaldo Capello, however, is only two points behind. Rinaldo Capello: “This was a great race for us. Of course we were a bit lucky with the last caution period. Our crew was clever in the pit lane. They decided to change the tyres just at the right moment. This was the key to the race. After the restart I saw that Frank had problems with his tyres. He had to brake very early for Turn 1 so I could pass him there easily.” |
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