Quotes after qualifying at Le Mans

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "Today we didn’t really concentrate on going for times. Instead it was a very intensive day’s work for the mechanics. Between the two segments of qualifying we fitted all the parts planned for the race to the cars, which then had to be adjusted. This cost quite some time. Afterwards we drove very good long-runs on slicks and were able to prepare ourselves well for the race. It’s a good sign that we were still able to fight so closely for pole position in the process.”

Dindo Capello (Audi R15 TDI #1): "I hope the fans will be party to a race equally as exciting as qualifying was. However, I would still like to swap positions at head of the field. It’s difficult to assess the relative strengths after qualifying because you just don’t know with which tires and which set-up the competition were running today. Nevertheless, I’m still not entirely satisfied with our car, which is why we have a lot of work to do before race day. But I know that I can rely on the engineers and mechanics.”

Tom Kristensen (Audi R15 TDI #1): "I’d like to have had a few more laps in the R15 TDI today. But my engineer said that I had already driven here so often and should rather concentrate on the essential things. So, towards the end of qualifying I drove the fourth stint on a used set of tires, which brought us extremely useful information for the race. Our target was to find a set-up which allows us to drive as long as possible on a single set of tires but to be quick at the same time. We only made one attempt to put in a quick lap – Allan (McNish) used this opportunity perfectly in the ideal conditions towards the end of the first session with a little diesel in the tank.”

Allan McNish (Audi R15 TDI #1): "In fact we really should be very pleased with our performance. The weather conditions were tricky yesterday, which is why we had to work through a large program during the four hour qualifying session. We wanted to understand the tires better on this track and to find out how the track conditions change. We also had to set-up the car. The battle with Sarrazin at the end was a lot of fun. The reality is that its only about the balance for the race. We still have room for improvement. We work closely together with the crews of the other cars in the Audi team and see all the data so that everything is just right on Saturday at 3.00 p.m.”

The starting grid at Le Mans

1 Sarrazin/Montagny/Bourdais (Peugeot) 3m 22.888s
2 Capello/Kristensen/McNish (Audi R15 TDI) + 0.762s
3 Minassian/Lamy/Klien (Peugeot) + 1.972s
4 Boullion/Pagenaud/Treluyer (Peugeot) + 2.174s
5 Gene/Wurz/Brabham (Peugeot) + 2.364s
6 Luhr/Rockenfeller/Werner (Audi R15 TDI) + 2.892s
7 Bernhard/Dumas/Premat (Audi R15 TDI) + 4.218s
8 Charouz/Enge/Mücke (Aston Martin) + 4.292s
9 Davidson/Turner/Verstappen (Aston Martin) + 4.816s
10 Belicchi/Jani/Prost (Aston Martin) + 5.246s
...
13 Albers/Bakkerud/Mondini (Audi R10 TDI) + 8.304s
14 Karthikeyan/Lotterer/Zwolsman (Audi R10 TDI) + 8.660s

Only in the dying seconds towards the end of the first part of qualifying did Allan McNish make an attempt on fresh tires. In doing so he recorded a 3m 23.650s lap which proved to be almost unbreakable for the competition for the majority of the second qualifying session. Only after several attempts on fresh tires did Stéphane Sarrazin, in the fastest Peugeot, manage to eclipse the time set by McNish by 0.762 seconds just twelve minutes before the end of qualifying.

"For us, today was all about finding the optimum race set-up and to collect as much data as possible with our new car around the Le Mans race track,” explained Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. "The grid positions for a 24-hour race do not directly affect the final result. That Allan (McNish) managed to secure a position on the front row while working through the program demonstrates just how much potential the R15 TDI has.”

Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Werner also only undertook a single qualifying attempt. Around midnight Marco Werner posted a time of 3m 25.780s which secured sixth place on the grid for the Audi R15 TDI with the start number "2”.

The three Germans were assigned the task of comparing different aerodynamic configurations in the first part of qualifying. For this purpose their Audi R15 TDI was equipped with special data-logging suspension, which was changed as scheduled between the two qualifying sessions. Since the break was reduced from 60 to 35 minutes because the schedule was changed at short notice, Luhr Rockenfeller and Werner could only continue qualifying later. Changing a turbocharger cost further time.

The third Audi team with German Timo Bernhard and the two Frenchmen Romain Dumas and Alexandre Prémat made no qualifying attempt whatsoever. They concentrated on tire tests and will start the race on Saturday from seventh on the grid. Alexandre Prémat set the fastest time of 3m 27.106 s immediately at the beginning of qualifying.

The fastest ten cars on Thursday evening were all within about five seconds – this much time separated the fastest Peugeot from the quickest Audi in qualifying last year. This time the difference around the 13.629-kilometer track is less than one second.

The two Audi R10 TDI fielded by the privateer team Kolles qualified in 13th and 14th positions.

This weekend Audi has the chance of taking a ninth overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and to draw level with Ferrari in the race’s all time winners list.