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From YourSITE.com Miscellaneous Features The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) is based on the rules of the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, but no race on the ALMS schedule can rival the 24-hour duration of the legendary event that takes place each summer in France. The longest race in the American series is the 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida, and though it may only last half as long, it is perhaps just as grueling as the French race. With five different types of pavement on a course that still utilizes section of the World War II-era landing strip, Sebring abuses both cars and drivers.
Sebring is like Le Mans on crack. Okay, the 24 Hours may have its partying car clubs in the infield, but the French are more about the pageantry of it all. With their driver parades in the city center, race fans pitching tents by their Ferraris, Hermes boutique with event tie and Grand Marnier Crepes, the 24 Hours has a decidedly different feel. Sebring has more of a Mad Max flair, complete with an in-field cruising boulevard lined bumper to bumper with pickups sporting makeshift seating, sometimes from airliners, welded atop the rear bed and loaded down with drunken fans making their way to the legendary ‘Green Park’ where we were told ‘they don’t like corporate types’. Mental note: hide press pass under T-shirt when entering the 'Green Park' and stuff the expensive camera in a brown paper bag.
At Sebring, you’re more likely to find a buxom girl serving drinks to ogling fans while someone lurking behind the tent makes off with some of the stock. No kidding. We saw both happen, though not at the same tent. Grand Marnier crepes are the last things on anyone’s mind. Okay, so Sebring may only be half as many hours as Le Mans, but like the crowd, the racecars fit 24 hours’ worth of raucousness into a 12-hour package. Race teams with eyes on Le Mans see Sebring as the perfect shakedown run for June’s 24-hour race, so it was no surprise that the new diesel-powered Audi R10 would make its first showing here. In fact, starting a new car at Sebring might be considered a bit of a tradition for Audi. The first iteration of the R8, the matte black and livery-free R8R made its first race debut at the 1999 running of the 12 Hours, where the two entries placed third and fifth.
At the time, Audi was new to sports car racing. Even though they’d completely dominated touring car and rallying series, no one expected the four rings to dominate right out of the gate in 1999… except for maybe hopeful Audi loyalists. Expectations had changed rampantly by 2006 with the maiden voyage of the R10. While the car was unproven in the face of strong competitors like Porsche, Audis have proven near bulletproof in the past; the R10 was still the favored pick for odds makers. Beating the new racecar from Audi this time might not be so easy. Arriving in Florida, Audi looked good. By race weekend, things looked even better. If you can fault Allan McNish, it’s that he made the acquisition of pole position look so darn easy. McNish’s team sat on pole, while the other Audi, piloted initially by Frank Biela, helped hog up the front row by nabbing grid spot #2. This was no small feat, as some troubling electronics issues meant the car would get only one flying lap from which to qualify. McNish didn’t need much more than that, netting pole position in just three laps. Not bad. Not bad at all. Going into the race, Audi was looking strong. If Ingolstadt was sandbagging during qualifying, you wouldn’t know it by looking at the starting grid listing. At the Audi Sport pre-race press conference, there was a tone of understated confidence. With a whole new car, Audi was reserved in their presentation, but obviously proud of the pre-race success at the same time. Audi drivers shared some nuances of the R10 during the conference. For one, the R10 has loads of torque with almost immediate availability. In as much, it’s easy to break the rear wheels loose by giving the car too much throttle. While Audi is working to find some sort of traction control that will both fit ALMS/ACO regulations and take the torque of the awesome diesel V12, no such design has yet been fitted and Audi’s team of pilots would need to be wary of this.
Still, Audi’s group of drivers are all amongst the top sports car pilots in the world, with plenty of media mentions going to seven-time 24 Hour of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen. The Dane’s credentials are a mile long, so perhaps it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise when Kristensen announced with nary a worried look from the Audi Sport staff in the room that his only practice in the R10 prior to Sebring’s race week had been driving the car down the Champs-Elysées during the car’s presentation near the Eiffel Tower. There were laughs all around, though the seven-time Le Mans winner was perfectly serious. On the morning of raceday, a chink in Audi’s armor began to show. Though pole had been seemingly won with ease by Audi’s flying Scot, it was also easily lost as the #2 R10 sat in the garages too long to make it onto the grid. Just when you thought the 2006 12 Hours of Sebring was going to go down as a page out of Audi’s motorsport dominance textbook, the fates threw a wrench into the mix. The morning deadline for cars to take to the track came and went and still the pole-winning R10 that had set such a blistering pace the day before hadn’t rolled out onto the tarmac. The car’s absence didn’t stop race fans from crowding around or striking a pose near the single #1 R10 that had been wheeled out onto the front straight. As the ALMS officials began to corral fans out of the starting area for the beginning of the race, the second R10 finally made its appearance in pit lane.
Fortunately for Audi, the #1 R10 (#2 on the grid for those keeping track) made it to the starting line on time. Frank Biela in the #1 would lead the pack onto the first warm-up lap behind the RS 4 safety car while McNish’s teammate Dindo Capello would have to sit and hopelessly wait for the field to pass until he could take to the track. That warm-up lap took painfully long, but finally the cars rounded the final bend, blasting up the front straight (10:43AM). It was then that I first heard, or rather didn’t hear, the car’s whispery engine note - what everyone had been talking about in regards to the new Audi racecar. With the car’s copious amounts of torque, Biela was able get a quick jump on the pack, almost silently gliding down the front straight past my vantage point in an Audi box just above the team’s pits. Biela’s silent-running R10 virtually rode a wave of sound, as it passed the blast of its raucous and baritone competitors that shocked spectators back into reality - most racecars are still plenty loud. Perhaps if all racecars were as silent as the R10, then races like the ill-fated, once-and-done National Grand Prix in Washington, D.C. might have survived to see a second season. It sounded like exaggeration when Jim Sykes, photographer for sister title SpeedArena.com, called me from the Sebring winter practice a few weeks earlier and told me photographers were annoyed at the R10 because they couldn’t hear it coming. But, that’s just what it was like. Bringing TDI diesel technology to endurance racing is a big deal to Audi. Sure, it’s a huge endeavor technologically, but maybe even more so from a public relations standpoint. Ingolstadt has gone further than they’ve had to in order to make sure the R10 is both quiet and smokeless in an effort to change the perception of consumers who see both dark clouds and loud clatter as the two most identifiable identifiers of the term ‘diesel’. About to flip the switch for a mighty bright spotlight on their TDI technology, Audi went to great lengths to make sure they were in the driver’s seat when it comes to perception.
Biela’s #1 R10 passed, with the Porsche LMP2 cars close behind. Only when the last of the cars to make the grid passed the exit Pit Lane were the Porsche, the #2 R10 and the Spyker able to hit the track. Finally into the mix, Dindo Capello went straight to work in his attempt to regain the ground he’d lost by missing that morning deadline. It was readily apparent Dindo was making short work of his slower competitors. Most of the field was passed without a problem, and even the mighty Porsche prototypes had fallen behind, leaving Dindo in the #2 position after an astonishingly short 36 minutes (11:19AM). Two hours into the race, the #1 R10 was forced to pit for body repairs after making contact with a slower car (12:43PM). At that point, Capello took the lead in the #2 R10, one that he and his teammates Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish would not give up – the #2 R10 dominating the field.
Regretfully for Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner, the day wasn’t a complete show of dominance for Audi and the new R10. By 2:35 PM, not quite four hours or one third of the way through Sebring’s 12 grueling hours, #1 was forced to pit from “an overheating engine due to telemetry failure”. Rumors from sources at Audi say the car might have continued on, but had it, the R10’s V12 engine might also have completely failed. Rather than making the egotistical move of running the R10 literally ragged trying to match the R8’s perfect performance record of zero DNFs or race withdrawals, Audi Sport bit the bullet, pulling the car out of the race in order to learn as much as they could about the failure prior to June’s 24-Hours of Le Mans. Evening fell, and the remaining R10 continued to dominate. The Porsche prototypes would both retire as the day turned to night, but #2 soldiered on in a silver and yellow blur. An hour and a half before race end (9:10PM) the R10 came in for its second-to-last pit and its final driver change. Capello handed the wheel over to Tom Kristensen who would go the final leg. As the clock ticked closer to the 12-hours’ end Audi staff and journalists gathered in the company’s corporate box above the stands until there was standing room only, the excited buzz getting louder and louder as the minutes ticked down. In the Audi Sport driver’s hospitality tent, the company’s top management stood in silence watching the television positioned in a corner. Dr. Martin Winterkorn stood with his hands on his young son’s shoulders and a concentrated look on his face. Other company leaders stood too, holding their breath, hoping the R10 would pull off this near perfect performance in its maiden race. Then, at 10:43, each got his wish. Tom Kristensen rounded the final curve to bring the R10 home. I left my perch in the Audi box with several friends from Audi of America in an attempt to make it to the winner’s circle ahead of the throngs of fans who were just now trying to do the same.
As the mob pushed up against the line of security at the back entrance to the pits, my friends from Audi were able to get me past and into the fray ahead of the crowd. Over the loudspeaker, Radio Le Mans streamed loudly. The correspondent gushed in a British accent and for everyone to hear, “The Audi R10 has won the 12 Hours of Sebring. The diesel revolution has begun.” You could sense an electricity to it. Last year’s seventh win of Le Mans by Tom Kristensen and final win for Audi’s R8 were so incredibly significant in the annals of motorsport, yet this seemed no less important. We made our way first to the front straight to see Kristensen exiting the race-winning R10, then back again to the podium to watch the winners accept their trophies and bathe in the gratuitous shower of champagne. By now I’d lost most of my Audi compatriots in the crowd and stood only with Jennifer Cortez, head of Audi’s media relations.
As we stood watching the winners of each class make their remarks, there was a tap from behind on Jennifer’s shoulder. I turned my head as did she, and was surprised to see the tall gentlemanly Emanuele Pirro standing there in a long grey Audi Sport jacket worn over his racing suit, a smile on his face and maybe just a hint of remorse in his eyes. Jennifer turned and hugged the touring car legend. “I’m sorry,” she said somewhat quietly over the boom of the gathering crowd. “Don’t be,” Emanuele said, “It is time to be happy.” Jennifer smiled back. She then quickly introduced me to Pirro. I’ve been around Audi’s team of driving aces enough that perhaps I’m beyond the natural star-struck reaction, but the awe never leaves. These drivers are modern-day greats just as Rosemeyer, Nuvolari and Stuck were for Auto Union so long ago. Despite their legendary status they’re surprisingly down-to-earth and as tight-knit as a small family perhaps forged by all those hours on the road together. So what do you say when you are formally introduced to someone like this under such circumstances – ecstatic for Audi’s success, yet empathic for the three drivers whose car did not finish? To be honest, I don’t recall what I said exactly. It was nothing memorable, perhaps something like, “It’s a pleasure to meet you” or just as insignificant. Still, at least I kept my bearings enough to know that I should keep my camera in its case and give the guy as much privacy as he could get in the middle of a growing crowd.
The Audi team members on the podium took the mic and we turned to watch. As the ceremony continued, you could see fans walking by recognize Emanuele. One couple introduced themselves. The woman popped her cowboy hat on Pirro’s head and they posed for a picture. Even in this emotionally charged situation, Pirro still smiled and posed, sharing in the enjoyment. Then, in a whirlwind, it was over. I was finding my way back to the Audi Corral to get a ride back to the hotel. The growing bonfires from the ‘Green Park’ began to glow in the distance. “They’ll burn anything, that’s why they don’t allow the rented golf carts over there” I was told earlier in the day by a Sebring regular. “The heat gets pretty intense.” For an Audi enthusiast, this must certainly have been one of THE runnings of the 12 Hours of Sebring to attend. I’m thrilled to have been witness to it. Still, even if it weren’t the year that marked the beginning of the “Diesel Revolution”, or even 1999 with the debut of the very first R8Rs, those Audi owners you might catch up with in the Audi Corral will be the first to tell you over a beer that it’s something you’ve got to do… at least once. Whether it’s the spectacle of the human condition in the ‘Green Zone’ or the show of high technology in the rows of race teams who come out to compete each March, this is certainly something to experience. Like Le Mans, I will return to Sebring as many times as I am able to.
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