Sears Point, July 22, 2000

With the fastest lap ever driven at Sears Point Raceway Allan McNish conquers pole position for tomorrow’s race on the famed Californian raceway. Teammate Emanuele Pirro also improved Friday’s time and completed the triumph with second position on the grid for the fifth round of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS).

Pos

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Allan McNish (#77)
„The circuit is about eight-tenths faster than yesterday. My second lap was the fastest, I was able to get a clear lap. We need to be on the front row, first for the championship with the BMW behind us and second for track position, especially with the traffic we will see in the race tomorrow.”

Rinaldo Capello (#77)
„Racing in the USA is completely different compared to Great Britain or Germany. You won’t find a track like Sears Point anywhere and you certainly won’t find the American way of life which I really like a lot.”

Frank Biela (#78)
„This track is extremely strange and difficult. It’s very hard to find your line in the close corners. Having very little run off areas you must not make any mistakes.”

Emanuele Pirro (#78)
„I’m quite happy. We did some modifications since this morning. We had three different options and I thought I’d chosen the best one. But with new tires I had a little bit of understeer. Anyway, the car looks good for the race.”

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Sport
„A very important thing will be to go first and second into the first corner and then gain some space. Because once we get stuck behind other cars we cannot play out our strength in certain parts of the circuit.”

Reinhold Joest, Team Director Audi Sport North America
„For some reasons I’m very satisfied with this result: Everybody but Allan has raced at Sears Point for the very first time, we found a good setup very quickly and the drivers got used to this difficult track within just one day. Race day will of course be another story.”

After this excellent qualifying effort Audi Sport North America is preparing the two Audi R8’s with a lot of respect for the circuit and competition. “We need a very good start because obviously overtaking is very difficult. But I think we did everything we could to be well prepared” says Team Director Reinhold Joest.

The 2.45 hour race starts on Sunday at 12:00hrs. Qualifying drivers Allan McNish and Emanuele Pirro will begin the race, Rinaldo Capello and Frank Biela will take over.

Dr. Ullrich „Important go first and second into the first corner.”

Dr. Ullrich „Gain some space.”

Rinaldo Capello „American way of life which I really like a lot.”

First and second at Sears Point

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1 Bonus Point
Lead Lap (only one)
Most Lead Laps
Fastest Lap