See that blurry race car behind the Peugeot 908HDi in the above image? That's the new Audi R15, and when the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race gets underway this weekend, don't expect these two cars to be in this order very often. After Monday's first full day of official testing at Sebring, Audi's third-generation Le Mans racer, the R15, proved that it was the car to beat. Audi is fielding two R15s this year, and the No. 2 car driven by dream team Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello scorched the field yesterday with a fast lap of 1:43.596. That was a full half second quicker than the other Audi R15 driven by Marco Werner, Lucas Luhr and Mike Rockenfeller, and 1.406 seconds quicker than the fastest Peugeot. Acura is also joining Audi and Peugeot in the top LMP1 class this year, though its cars fielded by two private teams were another 0.1 and 0.8 seconds slower than the Peugeots.
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Besides the gradual thawing of most of the country, March means the beginning of the Formula One season as well as Sebring, the Geneva Motor Show, the Amelia Island Concours, and NASCAR ramping up to full speed. Those events alone would be enough to sate even the healthiest automotive appetites, but there's plenty more going on in the motoring world. As always, we tried to list the highlights as well as a few smaller events that we hope will be of interest to you. Feel free to use the comments section to add or modify listings.
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Besides the gradual thawing of most of the country, March means the beginning of the Formula One season as well as Sebring, the Geneva Motor Show, the Amelia Island Concours, and NASCAR ramping up to full speed. Those events alone would be enough to sate even the healthiest automotive appetites, but there's plenty more going on in the motoring world. As always, we tried to list the highlights as well as a few smaller events that we hope will be of interest to you. Feel free to use the comments section to add or modify listings.
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It really is a shame that Audi has pulled out of the American and European Le Mans Series, choosing only to run its new R15 TDI Le Mans Prototype racer at this year's 12 Hours of Sebring in March and 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. All that money, effort and time to develop a replacement for one of the winningest cars in all of motorsports seems like a waste on just two races, even if they are the sport's biggest. This image released by Audi shows the design of the new R15 TDI ahead of its track debut in March. The new diesel-powered prototype car is much more radical compared to the R10 that it replaces than that car was to the R8. The most noteworthy difference is a new front end with an elevated nose that features two supports extending down to the pavement-scraping front chin spoiler. There's clearly some F1 influence up front, though Audi opted not to switch to a closed cockpit design like Peugeot uses for its 908 HDi.
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Despite losing Audi for the 2009 season, the American Le Mans Series still has a lot to celebrate. For one, as we told you yesterday, Acura is on hand this week at the Winter Test event for the 57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with its new LMP1 racer. The good news is that midway through the second day of on-track testing, one of the two Acura racers has the fastest lap time so far of 1:44:814 (126.723 mph) around Sebring's 3.7-mile circuit. Despite the good first showing of these ARX-02a prototype LMP1 race cars, the ARX-01b cars that raced last year in the LMP2 class were still turning in lap times that were often just as fast as their bigger brothers.
Also of worthy of celebration during the first two days of winter testing is the emergence of the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team and its M3 GT2 car. This is the first track outing for the M3 GT2 since it was announced less than a year ago at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show. The 12 Hours of Sebring, which also kicks off the 2009 ALMS season, will be its first contest against the likes of Porsche, Ferrari, Viper, Aston Martin, Panoz and even a Ford GT in the GT2 class. The 57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring takes place March 18-21 and, along with the above new competitors, will be the only time that Audi races on North American soil this year with its brand new R15 TDI.
An epic battle is shaping up for this weekend's running of the 12 Hours of Sebring. Audi versus Peugeot. The R10 TDI versus the 908 HDi. Diesel versus diesel. This will be the first and perhaps only time that these two teams race on American soil, though the contest will be repeated many times in the European Le Mans Series this season. Since Monday, Audi and Peugeot have been battling for the best lap times during practice sessions in preparation for this weekend's endurance race at Sebring Raceway, and Peugeot got the upper hand on both Monday and Tuesday. Audi, which is fielding two cars to Peugeot's one, finally fought back today posting the fastest lap time of the week thanks to driver Dindo Capello, who ran a 1:45.491, just 0.017 seconds faster than Stephane Sarrazin in the Peugeot 908.
But Audi and Peugeot in the LMP1 class should be wary of focusing too much on each other, as there are other entrants that could spoil their fun. Marco Andretti, for instance has been blisteringly fast in his Andretti Green Racing Acura ARX-01b, setting the second fastest lap time overall on Tuesday. As we learned from watching the LMP2 class beat up on Audi last year, Le Mans racing is anyone's game. The nature of endurance racing, however, favors fuel economy, and therefore the diesel-powered R10 TDI and 908 HDi should have the advantage. There will be plenty of great racing in the GT1 and GT2 classes as well, with Aston Martin squaring off against the Corvette Racing Team and Porsche taking on Ferrari, respectively.
Race on Sunday, sell on Monday. That's the time-honored, though oft-refuted mantra used by motorsport's patrons to justify the enormous expense of top-class motor racing. It might be a bit of a stretch for Peugeot, however, who announced today their US debut at this year's 12 Hours of Sebring, the first race in the 2008 American Le Mans Series, now entering its tenth season. Peugeot doesn't even import to the United States, but this just goes to show how single-minded the French team is in its pursuit of victory over its diesel rivals at Audi.
According to ALMS chief Scott Atherton, "It is no secret that Peugeot's ultimate goal for 2008 is to once again claim victory at Le Mans, and there is no better proving ground than Sebring." Peugeot evidently agrees. The decision to compete at Sebring comes after last month's test session where Stephane Sarrazin set a record 1:42.801 lap time at the Florida track behind the wheel of the Peugeot 908 HDi, beating the previous lap record set by Audi's Marco Werner last year by a full two seconds. It warrants repeating in case you missed it: two full seconds. That ended up being motivation enough for Peugeot to ship the car on over again to compete in the actual race, where Sarrazin will share driving duties with Nic Minassian and Pedro Lamy. We'll see how Peugeot does against Audi and the rest of the field when the 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring gets underway on Saturday, March 15.
