Aug 9, 2008
Lucas Luhr has captured the pole position for Audi in the seventh round of the American Le Mans Series with a record lap at Road America. The German beat the previous track record held by Allan McNish by 0.730 seconds. With an average speed of 136.277 mph, the Audi "factory” driver also recorded the fastest ever qualifying lap in the history of the American Le Mans Series.
It is the first overall pole position for the German in the US-based sports car series and the first for him at the wheel of the over 650-hp strong Audi R10 TDI which also started from pole at Road America in 2006 and 2007. Luhr was fastest in Friday afternoon’s qualifying session right from the start improving his time with each of his following three laps. The 29-year-old was the only driver to dip under 1m 47s. Second placed Franck Montagny (Acura/Honda) was 0.410 seconds slower.
Emanuele Pirro set the third fastest time with the "sister car”. This means both Audi R10 TDI prototypes will start Saturday’s race from the first two rows of the grid. Pirro shares the cockpit for the first time with Swiss Marcel Fässler who is driving his début race with the diesel-powered sportscar at Road America.
The start at Road America is scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m. local time (11 p.m. in Germany). The race-distance is four hours and thus longer than most other rounds of the American Le Mans Series. Lucas Luhr and his team-mate Marco Werner enjoy a commanding lead in the LM P1 Drivers’ Championship prior the race at Road America.
The starting grid at Road America
1 Luhr/Werner (Audi R10 TDI) 1m 46.935s (1st in LM P1)
2 Rossiter/Montagny (Acura/Honda) 1m 47.345s
3 Fässler/Pirro (Audi R10 TDI) 1m 47.579s (2nd in LM P2)
4 Fernandez/Diaz (Acura/Honda) 1m 47.639s
5 Dumas/Bernhard (Porsche) 1m 47.736s
6 Brabham/Sharp (Acura/Honda) 1m 47.774s
7 de Ferran/Pagenaud (Acura/Honda) 1m 48.160s
8 Field/Field/Berry (Lola-AER) 1m 48.371s (3rd in LM P1)
9 Maassen/Long (Porsche) 1m 48.492s
10 Franchitti/Leitzinger (Porsche) 1m 48.586s
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