Facebook Page
Twitter Updates
Home » Blog » Allan's Blog » A Great Way to end a Title winning season
22 October 2007 | Posted in Allan's Blog
I'm standing on the hotel patio here in Monterey, a few miles from Laguna Seca, the scene of our latest triumph when Dindo and I managed to pull it out of the bag again. Audi Sport North America is holding an end-of-season party, with a nautical theme, hence the Pirate outfit if you check my gallery!
Laguna, as we knew before we arrived, wasn't going to favour our Audi R10 TDI with low grip and quite slow corners combined with only a couple of short straights which meant the LM P2 class Porsches and Acuras would be strong and the starting grid was testament to that with us qualifying down in fifth place and our sister Audi two places further back.
Both Dindo and I needed to be very aggressive in traffic, throw the car around quite a lot, but in reality we had nothing to lose because we'd wrapped the title up at Petit Le Mans and if we ended up in the gravel trap so be it. But there was the final race of the year victory at stake and that's what we were both going all out for.
At the start of the race, I was very aggressive, making up three positions immediately and getting into the lead. Once I was at the front of the field, I was able to control the pace of the Porsches which was going to prove quite critical for the entire race. The full course caution periods came at neutral points for both Audi and Porsche I'd say regarding our respective strategies, and we managed to hold on to the lead after the yellows. It came down to exactly the same as at Petit two weeks earlier. I handed the Audi over to Dindo in the lead, after almost two hours, with Romain Dumas in the Penske Porsche chasing him to the chequered flag.
Suffice to say that the last few laps were even more nail biting than they had been at Road Atlanta - if that was possible. Dumas actually slipped ahead of Dindo twice near the end only for Dindo to force his way ahead again immediately on each occasion. It was absolutely critical that going into the last lap Dindo was leading. If he hadn't been ahead at that stage we wouldn't have won. But Dindo managed it. He drove probably a better race than at Petit and there I thought he drove his best ever race. But it was real close - just 0.4sec ahead of the Porsche with Marco, who shared with Mike Rocky Rockenfeller as EP was not considered race fit, claiming third place - a similar margin ahead of the second Penske Porsche.
And all of this after four hours of hard but fair racing - it had been absolutely superb - one of the best races I've competed in. Wheel to wheel stuff, around the outside of cars - great, and probably one of the best races Laguna Seca has ever seen.
A great testament to the way the American Le Mans Series has developed and also a great testament to the way Audi Sport has fought back after our slight mid year lull.
Well, I need to get out of this Pirate stuff now and into my best bib and tucker. It's the championship banquet where Dindo and I pick up the silverware for a second consecutive year - certainly a nice feeling and one that makes missing out on June just that bit easier to take.
Add to Digg 
Save in De.li.cious
- Christian