Road
America, 24th August 2003
Race
Second
vicory of the season for Johnny & JJ
Audi Sport UK, 24th August 2003: Team ADT Champion Racing
bounced back in to American Le Mans Series title contention
when Johnny Herbert and JJ Lehto swept their Audi R8 to a dominant
victory at Road America today (24 Aug). Seven
days after being forced off the track when dicing for the lead
in the closing stages at Mosport, “lady luck” for once smiled
on the Florida-based outfit when its rivals encountered problems
at Elkhart Lake enabling Dave Maraj’s squad to chalk up a second
ALMS win.
Herbert, who had qualified the ADT Champion Audi R8 third fastest
the previous day, started the 165-minute race behind the pole-sitting
Frank Biela/Marco Werner (Joest Audi) and James Weaver/Butch
Leitzinger (Lola MG) in the 36-car field. Leitzinger led Werner,
with Herbert third and Olivier Beretta/David Saelens (Panoz)
a close fourth from the green light. But after 13mins, Leitzinger
tagged a backmarker under braking and although he remained in
the lead, the lost momentum allowed Werner to snatch the lead.
Herbert
grabbed second place from Leitzinger on the next lap while moments
later Leitzinger’s race came to an end when his Lola and Saelens’s
Panoz touched under braking for Turn 5 - an identical clash
to Leitzinger’s earlier contact at the same turn. With 30mins
run, Werner led Herbert by less than a second with Saelens third
- a further 8-secs adrift - and Gunnar Jeannette/Ben Leuenberger
(Panoz) fourth almost a minute back.
Five
minutes later, third-placed Saelens went off in to the gravel
trap and although he got back in to the race, he was given a
one-minute penalty for the earlier contact with Leitzinger and
dropped to seventh.
Werner
headed for the pits for a scheduled pit-stop with a 2.643-secs
lead over Herbert, who also pitted on the same 28th lap after
55mins, but it was Johnny, after a fuel-only stop, who left
the pits first when the Joest Audi failed to fire-up due to
a malfunctioning starter motor. Herbert therefore completed
the first hour with a near 2-lap lead over Chris Dyson/Andy
Wallace (Lola MG) - who had started from the back of the grid
- and then used a full course caution period on 68mins to hand
over to Lehto.
The
ADT Champion Audi was given a full service with fuel and tires
as Biela resumed, seven laps down in 30th overall and sixth
in LMP900 class. With an hour to run, Lehto was pacing himself
well at the front of the field and held a near one-lap lead
over the Beretta/Saelens (Panoz) with the Dyson/Wallace (Lola
MG) third five-seconds back. Lehto made a stop for fuel with
27mins to go, comfortably ahead of the Dyson/Wallace (Lola MG)
and duly cruised unthreatened to the checker as Biela recovered
to seventh overall (third in class).
The
Herbert/Lehto Audi completed 79-laps, over 316-miles, in the
sixth round of the series.
Johnny
said: "I was happy with the start and I just tried to
keep up with Marco [Werner] without using too much fuel which
I managed to do easily in the early stages. We knew that it
would be a tight race on fuel so we ran on a ‘lean’ fuel setting
from the start in case there were no cautions. We [Marco Werner]
came in to the pits together but they had starter problems
which handed the race to us. Our car was superb and never
missed a beat."
Team-mate
JJ Lehto added: "When I took over from Johnny it was
difficult to keep my concentration as there was nothing to
race. I just tried to keep out of trouble and cruise home
to the finish. It’s not my greatest win because of that fact
but it was nevertheless vital. We really needed a maximum
points score today to keep our championship hopes alive with
just three races remaining. The car and the team are getting
better with each race - that’s the way it must be in this
series."
Race
Result
1
Herbert/Lehto (ADT Champion Audi R8), 79 laps (2hrs 46mins 21.273secs)
2 C. Dyson/Wallace (Lola-MG), -1 Lap
3 Beretta/Saelens (Panoz), -19.480secs
4 Magnussen/Brabham (Ferrari), -4 Laps
5 Fellows/O'Connell (Corvette), -0.531
6 Kox/Enge (Ferrari), -5 Laps
Driver’s
Standings (after 6 races)
1=
Frank Biela/Marco Werner, 115
3 JJ Lehto, 104
4 Johnny Herbert, 102
5 Olivier Beretta, 76
Qualifying
Herbert
claims second in class
Autosport,
23 August: Marco Werner continued his recent strong run
of form in the American Le Mans Series by taking pole in Team
Joest's Audi R8 for Sunday's race at the classic Road America
circuit. Werner, who shares his machine with sportscar ace Frank
Biela, lapped the track in 1m52.265s to provide a further boost
to his championship hopes following the pair's win at Mosport
Park last weekend.
Johnny
Herbert claimed second in class in the Champion Racing Audi
he shares with JJ Lehto, but the Briton will start from third
on the grid after being edged for second overall by the rapid
LMP675 class Dyson Racing Lola of James Weaver. His fastest
lap of 1m52.442 shattered the lap record for the class by over
two seconds.
Oliver
Gavin was another to break a lap record in the GTS class. The
Briton claimed his fourth pole of the year with an impressive
lap of 2m01.969s in his Chevrolet Corvette, knocking almost
two seconds off the previous best time.
Herbert
& Lehto look to make up ground
Audi Sport UK, 23rd August 2003: An outright victory,
two overall runner-up positions plus further second and fourth
LMP900 class placings would be considered a creditable “roll
call” from five races for most but not for Team ADT Champion
Racing. The “privateer” Audi team has its sights set firmly
on American Le Mans Series title honors and after last Sunday’s
cruel luck at Mosport, Johnny Herbert and JJ Lehto are especially
pumped up for a top finish at Road America tomorrow (SUN).
Lehto
and Herbert start the 165-minute race placed third and fourth
in the Driver’s standings with Team ADT Champion Racing second
in the Teams’ division. But with only three races remaining
after tomorrow’s sixth round encounter and with an 18-point
deficit, Dave Maraj’s Florida-based squad needs a maximum points
haul.
Herbert
qualified the 2002-specification ADT Champion Audi R8 in third
position on the 37-car grid during today’s 20-minute time trial.
His fastest time was a 1:52.472, an average speed of 129.568mph.
Road America featured on the ALMS calendar for the first time
last July and Herbert, on his Elkhart Lake track début, brought
the ADT Champion Audi R8 home third with Stefan Johansson.
Herbert’s
2003 co-driver, fellow ex-Formula One single-seater ace Lehto,
is also testing his skills around the sweeping 4-mile Road America
track for only the second time, JJ having driven a CART race
here in 1998.
Johnny
said: “I locked-up the front left tire on my first flying
lap - the tire pressure was not up to temperature - and then
had to abort my last quick lap when I hit traffic. It’s disappointing
to get bumped off the front row right at the end of the session
- especially by just two-hundredths of a second - but we’ve
got ourselves a well-balanced car that can be driven aggressively
and which should be mighty strong for the race.”
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