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Home » Blog » Allan's Blog » Daytona disappointment... Wheels Down at Sebring... Europe confirmed...
30 January 2008 | Posted in Allan's Blog
Daytona was ultimately a disappointment. We had a really good driver line-up and that combined with the SAMAX run Riley-Pontiac, should have allowed us to challenge for victory. We suffered bad luck in qualifying, Mike [Rockenfeller] suffering a broken throttle cable almost immediately. That stranded him out on the track and he had to repair it himself, which he did, but that only left time for a couple of flying laps right at the end.
We qualified 14th but shortly before mid-distance on the Saturday evening, I changed from third to fourth gear and the engine suddenly dropped a cylinder so it was game over. Mike had immediately pitted at the start of the race to switch from wet tyres to “slicks” so that dropped us down and in the subsequent opening six hours, we encountered tyre issues and a wheel nut problem. Nevertheless we were seventh at one stage but then a steering arm broke and then lost more time when we tangled with a GT car.
We had not expected this end result but the Daytona race and Grand Am is different these days. From a Scottish point of view, with Dario [Franchitti] taking the victory to earn the Ganassi team a third consecutive victory – the “Audi Sport” team of Grand Am prototypes if you like – I was very happy for him to win if it wasn’t going to be me. He seems to have the Midas touch at the moment.
From Daytona Beach, I drove down to Sebring on Sunday evening ready for the three-day IMSA/ALMS “Wheels Down” test. Most of the teams, including Acura and Porsche were present, as were Peugeot. They gathered together on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week for their first proper, serious runs of 2008 and get a sneak preview for the opening Sebring 12 Hours race. Sebring itself is a unique track – very bumpy, fast and flowing but tight and twisty in other sections. A compromise for the chassis and the way that you drive it.
I was joined in the Audi by Mike and Tom Kristenson, the “Great Dane” having flown in on Saturday to watch us at Daytona – however I was just retiring from the race as Tom drove into the track [he did come back on Sunday to have a stroll around the paddock as he’d never previously been to Daytona] plus Dindo who didn’t fancy a Daytona visit.
Dindo and I drove on Monday and Tuesday with Tom and Mike taking over the car on Wednesday – I fly home to Monaco later today.
Audi confirmed earlier this week that it will contest the Le Mans Series in Europe and that I will drive one of the R10 TDI sportscars with Dindo. I’m personally very pleased to be racing in Europe again. Having won the ALMS title for the last two years, and three times in total, it will be really good to attack a new championship. I raced in Europe in 2004, with Audi UK Team Veloqx, with Pierre Kaffer who, incidentally, also raced at Daytona so it was good to meet up with him again. Pierre and I started the final race leading the championship but unfortunately my German co-driver tangled with GT car at the “bus stop” chicane, the resulting damage causing us to retire and miss out on the title so I’m doubly determined to add this trophy to my cabinet.
Peugeot, as you probably know, were dominant in LMS last year and while they’ve yet to make an announcement for 2008, I imagine that they will race in LMS again and I’ll look forward to their competition while they may even do Sebring for the first time – it was certainly interesting to see them out in Florida this week. That would make the race in March very interesting with another ultra-competitive LM P1 car alongside Audi with the additional threat from Porsche and Acura.
Assuming the French car will be in LMS, that will make things difficult for us. There will be a Porsche Spyder in LMS for the first time plus Oreca with their new Courage project which could well be strong during the latter half of the season. Plus you can never discount Pescarolo. So there is a really deep mix of LM P1 cars in the LMS and I can’t wait to get stuck in. The championship begins in Barcelona in April while I want to see all you fans out at Silverstone in September.
Next month Audi has its annual fitness training week. Physical fitness is obviously very important, especially with g-forces in a sportscar rising, so we do a lot of training but it’s also the one time in the year where all of Audi Sport’s drivers, from the sportscar programme and DTM, get together for a bit of male bonding. This is also an important factor.
LMS stage an official test/press gathering at Paul Ricard in France soon – just like what we’ve been doing at Sebring – so we’ll get a sniff of how competitive we are on European soil. At the moment, I don’t know whether I’ll be driving at Sebring in March. Audi has entered two cars for Sebring but the line-up is undecided because Audi’s participation in the remaining 11 races after Sebring has not been confirmed. Must dash, off to Miami to catch my flight home...
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I'm a little disappointed that you'll be in Europe this season as seeing you drive is one of the spoils of being here in the U.S.