Difficult conditions during the warm-up session for the Le Mans 24 Hour race: after rain showers last night, the track was still slippery in the warm-up this morning. As a consequence, several drivers had to use the run-off areas.

Apart from a harmless half-spin for Dutchman Tom Coronel in the Johansson R8 at the Indianapolis corner, Audi Sport Team Joest and the Audi customer teams Champion and Johansson enjoyed a trouble-free warm-up. “Everything okay“ was the common statement of all three teams.

Quickest driver was Audi newcomer Christian Pescatori. The Italian managed a 3m40.497s lap on the drying circuit shortly before the end. His team-mate Emanuele Pirro set the second fastest time in the other Infineon Audi R8 (3m41.567s).

After the warm-up, the drivers that will take the start at 16.00 hours in their four Audi sportscars have been named. Additionally, the order of the following stints has also been defined:

Infineon

Infineon

Champion

Johansson

The weather forecast predicts changeable conditions and rain showers for the race which will start at 16.00 hours, more >>>

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Le Mans, 16 June 2001, 19.30

The initial phase of the 2001 Le Mans 24 Hour race was nothing for the faint-hearted: Heavy rain showers caused turmoil for the 48-car field which eventually led to a 30-minute safety car period.

The Audi drivers had been surprised by the sudden rain as well: Laurent Aiello, who led initially in the Infineon Audi R8, had to pit. The Frenchman slid off the slippery track and required new rear bodywork and a trackrod.

Stefan Johansson (Johansson Motorsports) touched the barriers and lost three laps during a pit stop for repairs. Ralf Kelleners (Champion Racing) also spun on the flooded track. Only Frank Biela, who started extremely carefully and dropped to fourth position as a consequence, managed to stay out of trouble in this critical phase.

During the second hour Biela, in his Infineon Audi R8 with starting number one, moved ahead of the field and continued to extend his lead. Laurent Aiello, who had dropped back to 29th position after his small off-track excursion, sliced through the field with quick lap times. Shortly after 18.30 hours, he passed the second-placed Bentley.

After two and a half hours, both Infineon Audi R8 sportscars led the field for the first time before torrential rain caused another safety car phase. “Conditions were extreme“, explained Audi driver Laurent Aiello. “I could hardly manage to keep the car on the track with slick tyres in the rain. Even in the pits, we had aquaplaning!“

The weather forecast predicts changeable conditions for the night and into Sunday.

22h49

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23h49

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Le Mans, 17 June 2001, 08:00 h

The two Infineon Audi R8 cars completed a very tough night in the Le Mans 24 Hour race without significant difficulties. Last year’s winners Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro extended their lead over the sister car of Laurent Aiello, Rinaldo Capello and Christian Pescatori to three laps. The third-placed Bentley was already ten laps down as dawn broke.

The rain which was torrential at times and caused extremely difficult conditions stopped only after midnight. “There was so much water on the track that even on the straights we could only use half throttle and even that was still an adventure“, explained Audi driver Rinaldo Capello.

The track, which dried only slowly, caused many retirements during the night and by half distance, only 28 out of 48 cars were still in contention. The Audi works drivers had big moments too: Laurent Aiello spun at the Mulsanne corner as did Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello on oil at the Dunlop corner. After his spin, Capello even slid into the gravel and lost nearly five minutes.

The entire rear part of the car had previously been changed on the Infineon Audi R8 with starting number two in a record time of less than six minutes as Laurent Aiello suffered from gearshift problems – possibly a consequence of him touching the barrier early in the race.

In these difficult conditions, Audi Sport Team Joest left nothing to chance at night. At midnight, both Infineon Audi R8 sports cars received two new sets of front and rear body parts with more downforce. In terms of tyre choice, the team went for a conservative option as well: whereas many opponents dared using slicks on the drying track early, the Audi drivers trusted their safe intermediate tyres in these conditions.

The 2001 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans ended for both Audi customer teams before midnight: Stefan Johansson retired his R8 in the third hour due to an electrical failure. Team Champion Racing was third until a clutch problem forced them out of the race after six and a half hours.

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