Club Arnage

From Autosport.......

Audi reveal LMS line-up

Reigning ALMS champions Allan McNish and Dindo Capello will spearhead Audi's attack on the Le Mans Series this year.

DTM racers Alex Premat and Mike Rockenfeller will double up in the second car, with each duo contesting every round of the series in the Team Joest R10 TDIs.

Head of Audi motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich said: "With a mix of seasoned campaigners and young drivers, we should be well prepared for the tough task that awaits us in the LMS.

"Our target is clear, we want to take the title and show who designs and builds the best sportscar and the best diesel engines."

The six-round LMS season kicks off at Barcelona on April 6, with Monza, Spa, Silverstone, Nurburgring, and one venue still to be confirmed to follow.

Have they committed themselves to a full ALMS season as well as the LMS?

Not sure about ALMS, maybe an announcement today.

From DSC, yesterday.....

Audi’s Le Mans Series Plans
ALMS Details To Come? On Tuesday
A Clear Statement Of Intent

Allan McNish wanted to do it (the Le Mans Series) and now Audi AG has confirmed it will do it – race in the Le Mans Series this year, in a head to head battle against the Peugeots. ‘For the first time since entering endurance racing exactly ten years ago, Audi now contests a European based sportscar series’ says the statement.

Audi Sport Team Joest wil run Audi R10s for McNish and Dindo Capello and Alexandre Prémat (France) and Mike Rockenfeller – which should leave Biela / Pirro and Luhr / Werner for the ALMS?
The statement says that the team will run two cars in ‘every race of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) organised endurance championship’.

2004 was a classic LM(E)S year, with the two Veloqx Audi R8s, McNish at the wheel of one of them (at Monza, right), going head to head with each other: suddenly, the diesel race in the Le Mans Series looks compelling.

“Previously the European fans have only been able to see the R10 TDI in action at the 24 Hours of Le Mans," explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. "We are absolutely delighted that we have been able to create a base together with the ACO over the last few months which will see our diesel sportscars on the grids in the classical European 1000-kilometre races. The Le Mans Series already boasted an extremely attractive field last year. The Audi factory involvement surely will further increase the value of the championship.

"With Audi Sport Team Joest and our mix of seasoned campaigners and young drivers we should be well prepared for the tough task awaiting us in the Le Mans Series," says Dr Ullrich. "Our target is clear: We want to take the title to Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm and show who designs and builds the best sportscar and the best diesel engines."As at Le Mans last year, below.

“Having now won the American Le Mans Series title three times (2000, '06 & '07), I’m delighted to be racing again regularly in Europe,” commented Allan McNish. “My career began in 1987 and I’ve come close to championship success in Europe on a couple of occasions only to just miss out.

“I last raced sportscars regularly in Europe in 2004 and started the final race that year leading the championship, but missed out." That was that classic, drama-filled affair at Spa, when Pierre Kaffer crashed heavily at Blanchimont (and the Bus Stop, and into Warren Hughes' TVR ...).