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Home » Blog » Allan's Blog » Back in the office! my ALMS title defence begins on Saturday...
13 March 2007 | Posted in Allan's Blog
By the time you read this on Tuesday I'll have my backside in the Audi R10 TDI getting some laps under my belt at Sebring ready for Saturday's American Le Mans Series season-opening 12 Hour race. I flew over yesterday and to say I'm excited and can't wait to get in the car again is an understatement.
Audi Sport has obviously been busy testing and developing the R10 TDI in an attempt to repeat our 2006 success. In terms of Le Mans, Peugeot will be very strong with their diesel car. Looking at the car and their driver line-up with the likes of Sebastien Bourdais and Jacques Villeneuve, you can see that Peugeot are 100% committed. Combine this with the power and torque figures that I hear on the grapevine, it merely underlines their potential. Having said this, we (Audi) know we have a good, fast, economical car and a stable team with an important additional fact being that we have a year’s experience of diesel racing technology.
In America it’s a similar picture in that the competition will be just as tough. We had a tremendously successful 2006 season with Dindo and I winning seven races outright last year and to be honest, I don’t think that can be repeated because that kind of success cannot happen year after year and with the likes of Acura (Honda) and Porsche, neither like to lose and both will be strong.
So essentially, on both sides of the Atlantic, we’ll need to be firing on all cylinders if we want to achieve Le Mans and ALMS success this year.
Looking specifically ahead to Sebring, I believe this race represents two things for us. A development opportunity for Le Mans, in that the bumpy, high-speed circuit is very demanding for car, driver and team, with the race featuring a big entry causing ‘traffic’ problems which you obviously cannot replicate in testing. But as soon as qualifying and the race starts, then it’s all about Sebring and you forget about the race in June.
I’ll obviously head to Sebring aiming to win for a second consecutive year, and if it’s not my car, then the other Audi. With Dindo and Tom in my car, we’ve got a very strong combination with very good speed but also the knowledge of how to win this race. Our ‘sister’ car is in a similar position and Emanuele, Marco plus Frank will also be wanting to win.
It’s also going to be quite odd for me because my close friend Dario Franchitti is racing an Acura. Although I’ve known him since 1983, I’ve only ever raced against him on one previous occasion and that was in the Daytona 24 Hours last year. In the next race, I’ll then be racing against Dario’s younger brother, Marino, in that same “factory” Acura as Dario has a conflicting IRL race so it’s going to be a bizarre situation. I’m really pleased for Mimo – it’s his first proper break.
I’m going to adopt the same tactic at Sebring this week as I did at Daytona when I actually bet Dario, who was competing in his first sportscar race, $10 that he couldn’t overtake six cars by the end of the first lap. We both deposited our bets with our manager, Julian Jakobi, and to give Dario his due, having started 14th on the grid, he did overtake six cars but four of those were before he had even crossed the start line which was totally illegal and within a couple of laps he was penalized. But Dario reckons he won the bet, I’m convinced I won the bet but unfortunately Julian still has our money in his pocket!
Looking further afield, the Formula One World Championship begins in Melbourne on Sunday. In effect, it begins just a few hours after the chequered flag at Sebring due to the time difference. I still take a close look on what’s going on in F1 and from winter tests, McLaren and Ferrari have set the pace and I don’t think anyone else will be consistent enough in the early races at least. Championships are generally won and lost in the first three or four races and I still believe that Felipe Massa will outpace his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Lewis Hamilton obviously has tremendous potential but should not be expected to win races or even podiums while reigning world champion Fernando Alonso seems to have adapted to McLaren from Renault. As for David Coulthard, there has been a fair amount of media hype around Red Bull due to them now being under the leadership of designer Adrian Newey but the Renault-powered car will not take them to race wins just yet until they get talent in depth.
I believe Motors TV will be showing "live" coverage from the start at 2.30pm UK time so there are no excuses for not catching the action . . . keep your fingers crossed for me!
Tagged with: action car coverage crossed dario depth fingers he his it8217s keep my race sebring showing start take them tv uk we will year
Posted by Allan McNish at 17:57 PM
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