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June 13,
2004 Audi Continues to Lead at Le Mans, Fighting Back at Nürburgring
Source: Audi Sport
After a relatively calm night, two Audi R8 sports cars
continue to lead the Le Mans 24 Hours. At the Nürburgring 24
Hours, held simultaneously, Infineon Team Abt Sportsline can
still hope for a podium result: Sunday morning, the best Abt-Audi
TT-R was running fourth.
Following thrilling early stages of the race, there were no
major dramas for the Audi teams at Le Mans during the night.
Despite that, the lead changed in the early morning: Seiji Ara,
Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen took the lead shortly after
7 a.m., when the push-rod of the left rear suspension had to
be changed on the #88 Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx Audi R8 which
had been in the lead from the start. James Davies, Johnny
Herbert and Guy Smith lost two laps and are now one lap behind
in second position.
The charge through the field was successful for the other two
Audi R8 cars which had dropped to the back after early
accidents. Team ADT Champion Racing (JJ Lehto/Emanuele Pirro/Marco
Werner) moved from 41st to fourth and can still look forward
to finish on the podium. The performance of Frank Biela and
Pierre Kaffer, making there way up from 44th back into the top
ten during the night in Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx's second
Audi R8, was especially remarkable. The two Germans have to
finish the race alone as the doctors recommended Allan McNish,
following his accident on Saturday, not to continue in the
race.
In continually difficult weather conditions on the Nürburgring
Nordschleife, both Abt-Audi TT-R are running among the
leaders. Shortly after midnight, Fredrik Ekblom spun into the
barriers at the Döttinger Höhe due to aquaplaning. Repairs
at the car's front and the rear sections cost 48 minutes, the
#7 car consequently dropping to 8th position. Making up lost
ground, Ekblom and his team-mates Mattias Ekström and
Christian Abt progressed to 7th. The #8 Abt-Audi TT-R, driven
by Patrick Huisman, Frank Stippler and Karl Wendlinger,
cruised through the night without a single unscheduled
pit-stop, running now second just a few seconds behind third
place.
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