# Flash News: Audi TDI Power Reigns Also in St Petersburg



## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

*- Audi’s Diesel sports car claims tenth consecutive victory
- R10 TDI proves to be worthy “street fighter” in St Petersburg*
The Audi R10 TDI has immediately proven to be a first class "street fighter” by claiming first and second positions on the pioneering Diesel sports car’s street course début. Dindo Capello (Italy) and Allan McNish (Scotland) led home the "sister” Audi Sport North America R10 TDI of Emanuele Pirro (Italy) and Marco Werner (Germany) by just 0.426secs after 114 dramatic laps in the second round of the American Le Mans Series in St. Petersburg (US state of Florida).

Allan McNish started from the second row of the 24-car grid with Marco Werner (Germany) on row four for the 2:45 hours, inaugural St Petersburg race on Saturday evening. McNish snatched the lead immediately at the green light on the 1.8-mile temporary track in the city located beside the Florida city’s habourside but organisers deemed the manoeuvre a jump start, the Scotsman serving a stop-go penalty on lap four.

McNish charged back in to the lead after 21mins and after 47mins, Werner made it an Audi 1-2. Capello took over from McNish in the leading #1 Audi after 80mins during a full course yellow, Werner not stopping to inherit the lead from Capello. Pirro resumed in fifth place when Werner made a scheduled full service on 1:50hr while Capello, who went back into the lead after Werner pitted, made a "splash and dash” for diesel with 45mins to run without losing the lead. A final caution period produced a nail-biting and tense "five-minute race” to the chequered flag between the two Audis.

*Note: A complete St Pete race report with quotes of all Audi drivers will follow.*


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## Quattroplay (Dec 19, 2004)

Domination!


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## .:RDriver (Oct 4, 1999)

*Re: (Quattroplay)*

Good thing they made all that hooplah before the race "preparing" us for a loss.
They basically ran away with it. Do they really expect us to believe they had such a hard time and that P2 cars are _really_ going to challenge them for overalls this year? Audi is still faster (just as they were last year under the SAME rules), they've made their point, now hopefully they go out and race.


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## 16v (Aug 4, 1999)

*Re: Flash News: Audi TDI Power Reigns Also in St Petersburg ([email protected])*

I'd be interested to hear an opposing view point on this
watching the race last night it seems to me that the R10s are short shifting - a lot. The incar views of the tach lights and the onboard audio make it out such that the drivers aren't really using all the power on tap, just what they may need at the time.
Case in point, after McNish was penalized early on he certainly turned up the wick. Even Dorsey and Lee noted that McNish was hot under the collar and might be showing more of the cars speed than he is supposed to.... as he proceeded to blast pass the entire field.

hmm


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## .:RDriver (Oct 4, 1999)

*Re: Flash News: Audi TDI Power Reigns Also in St Petersburg (16v)*

Can you say "sandbag?"
I have no doubt that is happening and I wouldnt be surprised if that is what happened in qualifying as well....to try to prove a point.
The R10 has huge potential and to this day I'm sure we havent seen it.
On the other hand, they are running the smaller fuel cell this year per ACO rules and as long as they have the speed, short shifting will put them back on the same pit strategy they may have had before. 
Also, they were complaining all weekend about the cars having TOO MUCH torque for the small circuit, so short shifting could be helping them put the power down better without getting the turbos spun up too much and getting those rear wheels spinning.
However, I do think that McNish did start to show what the cars could do and the fact they pretty much had their way with the field during the race tells me that they are in as much trouble this year as they would like us to think.
Congrats to them though, they obviously have an excellent car. I'd just like to see them simply go out and race it rather than complain how unfair everything is.


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## InTTruder (Mar 28, 2006)

A good driver only uses the car as much as he or she must. Case closed.


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## 16v (Aug 4, 1999)

*Re: (InTTruder)*


_Quote, originally posted by *InTTruder* »_A good driver only uses the car as much as he or she must. Case closed.

ya think?


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## Tanner74 (Jul 28, 2003)

I'm with RDriver. Watching the race (today) they were definitely short shifting but seems to be in spots where the revs were a lot lower through the corners because of the abundant torque of that engine.
At any rate, it was good one to watch. A lot of close calls and unfortunate accidents. McNish was pouring on the speed after he got black flagged. Couldn't believe how much of a gap he put between him and the other sister car.


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## chernaudi (Oct 6, 2006)

*Re: (Tanner74)*

I'm personally getting to the point where this is gettin' kinda freakin' old and boring. I mean, Ullrich complains about getting the thing he wanted last year-rules stability. And notice that he's the only one really complaining. Granted, the drivers and team bosses know that the LMP2s are a threat if they're not careful. But none of them have complained nearly as much as Dr. Ullrich has. The big thing McNish made a thing of was the move that Dumas made on the start.
I think that the R10 is more suited for street racing than Audi Sport is letting us believe. I mean, from watching the race, it seemed to handle much better than even the LMP2s. Even the R8-the king of the streets-porposed and bounced around more than the R10. And all that the drivers had to do was wait for some practice laps and get some rubber down.
And the Audi guys were probably short shifting at times to either save fuel. Or more likely, conserve their usage of their power and torque, as they probably didn't need all of it on the slick streets. And it may've made up for their usage of the '06 cars, which-like the R8- doesn't have a usable traction control system. The Porsches(for sure) and Acuras(probably) use it. But I don't think that Audi(even on the '07 R10s) really use the TCS.
I just want to see a race. Yeah, it would suck if an LMP2 car would win a race over the R10 as it's in a supposidly higher class, but it's not the end of the world, and the R8(unless you count LMP900 class wins in '03) never had a perfect full season. So why should the R10, especally if decent competition is at hand?


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## Tanner74 (Jul 28, 2003)

*Re: (chernaudi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *chernaudi* »_I'm personally getting to the point where this is gettin' kinda freakin' old and boring.

Sorry, these posts are getting a little redundant. If you're getting tired of the politics in ALMS or Audi's whining, or what not, then you have a choice and not watch the races right?

_Quote »_I think that the R10 is more suited for street racing than Audi Sport is letting us believe. I mean, from watching the race, it seemed to handle much better than even the LMP2s.

The R10 handles well - yes. Audi has the know how on this. Recall the R8? Announcers on television were commenting on how the R8 handled well at Sebring compared to anything else back then. R10 is just an advancement of the R8 so nothing surprising here I say.


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## chernaudi (Oct 6, 2006)

*Re: (Tanner74)*

I've heard that the R10's wheelbase has a lot to do with how it handles the bumps at St. Pete and Sebring. Is that the case, or is it something else?
And I will(hopefully) say no more about the ALMS vs Audi vs ACO vs LMP2 crap. Last year, I could understand why Audi complained about IMSA's rules. It was kinda unfair. The motive wasn't unfair-IMSA wants to sell tickets, and although the R10 brought new fans and media attention to the ALMS, Scott Atherton and Don Panoz knew that the R10 dominance was starting to get kinda old, especally with long time fans. So IMSA had every right-and were blessed by the ACO(to which degree will never be known, as IMSA and the ACO didn't see eye to eye on this late last year) to make rules changes as they felt neccesary.
But I don't agree with how IMSA did it. In other words, IMSA's race by race rules changes PO'd most of the teams and above all else the fans.
So, in an attempt to try to somewhat appease everyone, IMSA approved 3 adjustment periods(1 before Sebring after the test, and 2 more later). And IMSA declared rules stability for LMP1 and LMP2 for at least this first cycle(and said that they won't make way out of whack rules changes to try to make uncompetitive cars competitive). The R10 had no problem for the most part kickin' the crap out of LMP2s as far as speed was concerned. So why b... when everything's the same for this year? 
I mean, Audi had everyright to whine when the ACO put restictions on the R8 at Le Mans in '05(5% smaller restictor, 50 kgs of ballast, and as we saw in the race, was basically unfair) and, albeit to a far(and I do mean far) lesser degree, in the ALMS last year with the R8(35 kgs of ballast, which was far more fair than what the ACO did to handycap them at LM). 
But instead of complain, the did something about it(pressure Pescarolo's cars until they broke at LM in '05, and pressure the Porsche guys in to breaking at Houston, and taking advantage of the R8 having more power and torque to beat the Porsches in traffic at Lime Rock).
Why change their attitude now, as they still have the best car out there, some of the best drivers in the world, and the best team to back them up?
There, I've said my piece. Thank you and good night.















_Modified by chernaudi at 1:55 PM 4-3-2007_


_Modified by chernaudi at 2:00 PM 4-3-2007_


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## InTTruder (Mar 28, 2006)

*Re: (16v)*

Da!


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