VAG Division – Volkswagen Group Car Club

Allan McNish gave himself a good warm-up to next month’s Le Mans 24 Hours when the Scotsman’s diesel-engined Audi finished third in an abnormal 1,000km sportscar endurance race at Spa-Francorchamps today (SUN).

Dumfries-born McNish, 40, started his Audi R15 TDI from sixth place on the 49-car grid and along with co-drivers Dindo Capello (Italy) and Tom Kristensen (Denmark) led convincingly before first a power cut and then rain returned to thwart Audi’s bid for victory in a bizarre Le Mans Series race.

“Rain fell just before the start and being on dry weather ‘slicks’, made it extremely difficult on the slippery surface,” reflected McNish. “The Audi team then made a good strategy call to pit me under a safety car period and I led at the end of my stint.

“But then a power cut brought the race to a temporary stop, something I’ve never previously experienced in my career, and then a further rain shower late in the race prompted us to bring Tom [Kristensen] in to change onto intermediate [part-treaded] tyres with 30mins remaining.

“Unfortunately it stopped raining soon afterwards, the track dried and we lost second place with just four minutes to run. But in terms of the performance, Audi can be pleased looking ahead to Le Mans which is why we ran our cars in Le Mans specification unlike Peugeot who chose to run in a higher downforce set-up more beneficial for Spa.”

The McNish/Capello/Kristensen Audi ultimately finished 86.215secs behind the winning Peugeot of Sébastien Bourdais/Simon Pagenaud/Pedro Lamy which had started from pole-position.

The Audi R15 TDI sportscar of Timo Bernhard (D)/Romain Dumas (F)/Mike Rockenfeller (D) started from the front row and finished fifth. The third “factory” Audi of Marcel Fässler (CH)/André Lotterer (D)/Benoît Treluyer (F) had been due to begin the race from fifth position but lost eight laps having repairs made in the pits after Lotterer spun off on the warm-up lap after drizzle made the track surface treacherously slippery. They recovered to finish 12th.

Allan McNish will unexpectedly contest a third race of the year when the Scotsman competes for Audi in the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in America next month (26 Sep).

The 39-year-old Dumfries-born ace drives a “factory” Audi R15 TDI along with co-driver Dindo Capello (Italy), the duo along with Tom Kristensen (Denmark), having scored a début R15 TDI victory in the Sebring 12 Hours (21 March) and then third place in this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours (13-14 June).

McNish commented: “I’m personally very pleased, as are Audi Sport, that we are back racing again and especially to be going to Petit which has become one of the biggest sportscar races on the calendar.

“It shows Audi’s commitment to sportscars and the American Le Mans Series and I’m personally delighted to be racing in America again.”

Audi Sport will glean valuable data from this 1,000-mile race – an event McNish has already won four times – concerning its new R15 TDI sports-prototype in readiness for the 2010 season. Meanwhile the scenic and challenging, undulating 2.54-mile, 12-corner Road Atlanta circuit is a favourite of McNish who won by just 4.512secs in his Audi from Peugeot after a near 10 hour epic battle last year.

Former triple American Le Mans Series champion McNish, who has won Petit for the last three years, will face the similar diesel-powered Peugeot cars that defeated Audi at Le Mans in June – only the third time the German manufacturer had been beaten in the twice-around-the-clock race since its début in 1999.

“At Le Mans, we saw how much Peugeot had moved forward from our race with them at Sebring and I expect that to have continued,” added Allan. “Acura have been racing regularly in ALMS so they will have developed their car significantly since the ALMS season opener which we won first time out with the R15 TDI. But everyone at Audi is really looking forward to the challenge.”

The annual 1,000-mile/10-hour sportscar classic, the penultimate round of this year’s American Le Mans Series, has run since 1998 and saw a record attendance of 113,000 fans last year. Audi remains undefeated since first contesting the race in 2000.

Allan continued: “I raced in the first ever Petit in 1998 and when I think of last year with over 110,000 spectators witnessing a spectacular race, including my novel way to the starting grid and such a close finish, and with the teams and drivers line-up for ‘09 it looks like it will be just as much fun.”

Britain’s double Le Mans 24 Hour race winner lost control of his Audi R10 TDI on his “out” lap en route to take up his front row grid position last year – starting the race two laps down in 36th place after major repairs with the race three minutes old.

“I enjoy the Road Atlanta track, it is one of the old style tracks with fast corners that follow the natural flow of the land – it’s a track that sorts the men out from the boys,” added McNish.

German duo Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner will drive a “sister” Audi Sport Team Joest R15 TDI while Audi’s regular DTM driver, Mike Rockenfeller (Germany) is the team’s reserve driver in Georgia.

“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.”

Allan McNish “Petit Le Mans” Formguide (4 wins from 6 starts):
1998 (Porsche 911 GT1): Qualified – 1st (AM). Race – Retired
1999 (Porsche 911 GT1 EVO): Qualified – 15th. Race – 7th
2000 (Audi R8): Qualified – 1st (AM). Race – 1st + AM fastest lap (1:11.782, 127.386mph)
2006 (Audi R10 TDI): Qualified – 2nd (AM). Race – 1st
2007 (Audi R10 TDI): Qualified – 3rd. Race – 1st + AM fastest lap (1:09.195, 132.148mph)
2008 (Audi R10 TDI): Qualified – 2nd (AM). Race – 1st

Audi “Petit Le Mans” Formguide (9 wins from 9 starts):
2000 (Audi R8): 1st (Allan McNish/Dindo Capello/Michele Alboreto)
2001 (Audi R8): 1st (Frank Biela/Emanuele Pirro)
2002 (Audi R8): 1st (Dindo Capello/Tom Kristensen)
2003 (Audi R8): 1st (Johnny Herbert/JJ Lehto)
2004 (Audi R8): 1st (JJ Lehto/Marco Werner)
2005 (Audi R8): 1st (Frank Biela/Emanuele Pirro)
2006 (Audi R10 TDI): 1st (Allan McNish/Dindo Capello)
2007 (Audi R10 TDI): 1st (Allan McNish/Dindo Capello)
2008 (Audi R10 TDI): 1st (Allan McNish/Dindo Capello/Emanuele Pirro)