Mosport GP Preview

Bowmanville, August 10,2001

After the drama in Portland, where Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro
battled fiercely to finish second, Audi Sport North America has no
time to catch its breath. The team is already on its way to a �double-
header� in the ALMS (American Le Mans Series). On 19 August,
both Infineon Audi R8 contest the Canadian Mosport race, with the
ALMS round in Mid-Ohio just one week later. The target is clear:
After being beaten for the first time this season, the Audi drivers
want to strike back.

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich knows that this is not an easy task. �I am sure,
the Panoz team will also be strong in Mosport. Had they not
experienced technical problems there last year, things would have
been extremely tight for us,� he said. However, the Head of Audi
Sport remains confident. �We are familiar with the circuit, so the
qualifying session should be enough to find a winning set-up for
our cars.� Team director Reinhold Joest agrees: �Last year we
competed in wet and dry weather, so we are prepared for all
situations.�

The Audi drivers unanimously describe the 2.459 mile circuit south
of Toronto as very quick. �This track features just one very narrow
corner, however it has many other difficult bends where you can´t
afford to make a mistake,� says Frank Biela, who last year captured
the pole position at Mosport, setting a new track record.

The Champion Team would like to challenge the Audi Sport North
America squad for the pole position. At the last round in Portland,
the Audi customer team achieved a partial success: Johnny
Herbert secured his first podium finish in the ALMS in the 2000-
spec R8 together with Andy Wallace. �With every mile we become
more and more familiar with ourselves and the car,� says Johnny
Herbert. �So it´s great that we now compete two races back to back.
In this way we hopefully can reach our target sooner � to beat the
works cars.�

The great unknown is the race just six days later in Mid-Ohio. None
of the Audi drivers has competed on the circuit in the US State of
Ohio before. Only Rinaldo Capello will get a first impression during
this weekend´s ChampCar event. The ALMS points´ leader will
drive several demonstration laps: �I´ll try to take note of all the
track´s peculiarities and pass them on to my team mates.�

Reinhold Joest, who knows the 2.258 mile circuit from contesting
several races there in the early nineties, expects a tough weekend.
�The track layout is unique and is certainly more difficult than Sears
Point or Portland. The twisty rollercoaster passages are particularly
challenging,� he says. Tom Kristensen, who has visited Mid-Ohio
as a spectator, agrees: �It´s a typical American race track -
extremely narrow with uphill and downhill sections.�

Drivers and engineers face special challenges in Mid-Ohio. They
have only one testing session and one free practice to optimally
set-up the Infineon Audi R8 for the track. �For this reason we have
to utilise every second and concentrate totally on our work. We can´t
afford to waste time discussing details in the set-up, but work
quickly and effectively,� explains Head of Audi Sport Dr Wolfgang
Ullrich.