Home » Blog » Allan's Blog » A SWEET, SWEET LE MANS SERIES VICTORY ON HOME SOIL... AUDI TAKE DESERVED CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES...
22 September 2008 | Posted in Allan's Blog
Well it has taken me a week or so to gather my thoughts after the last round of the Le Mans Series at Silverstone which was absolutely unbelievable. I don’t think anyone would have thought anything other than a Peugeot 1-2. I don’t think anyone would have not believed Marc Gene and Nic Minassian were going to win the Driver’s title and Peugeot to win the Manufacturers’. Let’s be honest, they’ve had a very, very fast car with Peugeot heading to Silverstone having won four out of four LMS races. So going into the final round we knew we had nothing to lose. But we also knew that while we weren’t the bookie’s favourites to take any title never mind a race victory.
The weather forecast was suggesting rain throughout the weekend, which was nice to hear, but as we got close to the weekend, it became pretty obvious that rain wasn’t going to be an issue. In fact the clouds disappeared and revealed blue sky and nice sunshine on Sunday which was fantastic for the 53,000 crowd – a record attendance for an LMS race by the way.
After our below-par performance at the Nürburgring, the team did a lot of work to determine the reason behind it and did some testing to nail it down. And in typical fashion thanks to Audi Sport and the Joest guys, we started the weekend with a lot more confidence and understanding of the R10 TDI which was making its race début in Britain. That ultimately allowed me to set the third fastest time in qualifying – six-tenth’s of a second behind the pole-sitting Peugeot – a lot closer than we’d been to them before. Qualifying had been a real gamble into the dark because my first lap in qualifying had been only my fifth ‘dry’ lap since 2005, when Stéphane Ortelli and I won in the Audi R8, so Copse Corner on my opening qualifying lap was a venture into the unknown.
But Dindo and I both felt very good about the car for the race believing we could hustle it along. Our performance had been closer to our standard position comparing our gaps to the Peugeot and the ‘sister’ Audi behind us. We knew we had only one job in hand and that was to go out and win the race. Alex and Rocky had a chance of taking the Driver’s title so they needed to keep one eye on that, however in my opinion, the best way that they could achieve that was for Dindo and I to push.
So when it came to the green light and the first corner at Copse, I had a little run around the outside and had a look at Nic Minassian. Unfortunately I don’t think he saw me, we touched and he spun and I went wide onto the ‘apron’ without losing too much time. But that allowed us to focus on the attack. The first stint was difficult because the tyre pressures were a little bit askew and created a lot of oversteer. But as we got into the second stint things became more normal. I was able to catch the leading Peugeot and just about to mount an attack when the race went full course yellow.
Championship leader Minassian had collided with a backmarker and suffered a huge accident which not only put him out of the race but title contention which effectively handed the initiative to our ‘sister’ crew. I pitted and Dindo took over in the lead because the Audi Sport Team Joest guys did a superb job in getting us serviced. The sole Peugeot was second with the other Audi third. But at the race re-start Stephane Sarrazin decided to attempt a manoeuvre similar to the one I did at the start of the racing, trying to go around the outside at Copse. However, he didn’t quite make it and there was a big shunt. I think Stephane just misjudged it, attempting to do something that wasn’t really on, but probably in the frustration of knowing that Peugeot’s title chances were slipping down the drain.
But with that incident and the damage to his car which ultimately took many laps to repair, within one hour Peugeot had gone from looking total favourites for race victory and championship success in both Driver’s and Manufacturers’ titles, to having lost the race victory, lost the Driver’s title, lost the Manufacturers title – assuming Alex and Rocky finished sixth or higher. So it wasn’t a particularly good moment for Peugeot Sport but for Audi Sport it was an extremely good moment. Dindo extricated himself from the gravel at Copse after a delay and the only thing that needed doing when he got the Audi back to the pits was to replace a punctured tyre. We’d lost a lap and a half and so it was a case of focussing on reducing the gap to the ‘sister’s car which was now in the lead.
We pushed like absolute mad and gradually the gap came down, to a lap, a minute, 48secs, then down to around 10secs with 40mins to go. When the ‘sister’ car pitted for fuel, I pushed very hard indeed, before changing over to Dindo, and as he went back into the race, Alex had a technical problem. But the drama didn’t stop there. With Alex in the pits sorting a suspension issue, they needed to finish in the top-six to get the championship title but the Audi Sport Team Joest guys did a sterling job in making repairs to get them back out. Ultimately Dindo and I took, what I believe, was a very, very well-deserved win. And I think that Audi Sport took a well deserved championship, both Manufacturers and Drivers, because I don’t think you win championships by accident. We have certainly not had the fastest car this year but we’ve definitely had the best team and I think they did an extremely good job to get this success.
Just a final note on Silverstone. The support I got there was amazing. Lots of Saltires, the DBT McNish Racing team were down from Dalbeattie School, many fans, family and friends, it was absolutely superb to see everyone and ultimately it was the best way possible to sign off in front of you all with a victory!
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