# Audi R15 Plus Crashed During Sebring Testing



## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

AutoHebdo France has confirmed rumors that surfaced on Planet Le Mans yesterday regarding a rumored accident with Mike Rockenfeller at the wheel that put Audi's sole R15 plus sent over for testing at least temporarily out of commission.
According to AutoHebdo, the accident occurred when Rocky backed the car in to the stack of tires in Sebring's turn 17 (Sunset Bend), the last turn before the pit straight. Whether or not it was driver error or equipment failure has not been determined. We also don't know whether Audi will return to the test session planned for today with a repaired car or end its Sebring test session. We do know Allan McNish posted early this morning on Facebook that he was just home from testing and would be making a post on his blog soon, however whether this is a signal for the entire team isn't yet known.
The AutoHebdo story includes a photo of the crashed R15 plus that appears to have pretty extensive damage. You can see it after the jump. Thanks Tommy for the tip.
* Full Story - AutoHebdo.fr*
* Full Story - AutoHebdo.fr - Google Translated to English*


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## chernaudi (Oct 6, 2006)

*Re: Audi R15 Plus Crashed During Sebring Testing ([email protected])*

A photographer at the track said that the R15's damage was fairly extensive but not mortal-the tub seems OK and he was told after the team looked at the car that the Monday Session was done for but Tuesday's test was still on. Wether Audi as a precaution brought a spare tub and built a new car around that as a precautionary measure, or the damaged car had it's rear end rebuilt isn't known. 
Appearantly, the damge was stuff that could be thrown away/repaired overnight, but since Audi has only one car at Sebring right now(what happened to the second that was said to exhist-stuck at Homestead or Germany?), all that can be hoped for is that the tub isn't damaged beyond immediate repair and that they have enough spares to get the car back out.


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## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

*Re: Audi R15 Plus Crashed During Sebring Testing (chernaudi)*

Thanks for the update.


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## chernaudi (Oct 6, 2006)

*Re: Audi R15 Plus Crashed During Sebring Testing ([email protected])*

Mike Fuller from mulsanne'scorner.com got confirmation that the R15 was repaired and was back out on the track this morning. No explanation for what caused the accident yet, but he said that his source said that the tub was fine and the car did a full day of testing today without major incident.
Mike also has obtained from a friend in Sebring a shot of the only thing on the new R15's bodywork that hasn't been seen as of yet-the rear of the car.
http://www.mulsannescorner.com/newsmarch10.html


_Modified by chernaudi at 9:00 PM 3-23-2010_


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