SEBRING, Fla.—Audi’s three turbodiesel R18 TDIs were the fastest cars on the track when it came to qualifying for the 60th Anniversary Sebring 12 Hours.
André Lotterer put the #1 Audi on the pole with a lap of 1:45.820; Tom Kristensen and Romain Dumas followed in the #2 and #3 cars. Audi seemed destined to return to Victory Lane at Sebring; the only question is, how many of its cars can the team get to the end of the race? If 2012 is anything like last season (or practice this week,) bet on fewer rather than more.
Sebring will be the final race for the R18; the new hybrid and Ultra models will replace the current 2011-spec car for the next race at Spa in May. Lotterer said having a new each year was normal for Audi, but the drivers and team were a little attached to this one.
“It is nothing new for the team but for us drivers, it is very emotional—we won Le Mans in that car so it’s nice to come to a legendary race like Sebring to compete once more with it.
“We know the car very well, the team has done a great deal with it, and hopefully it will end up very nicely tomorrow.
Lotterer chuckled as he described the only stressful moment in qualifying: when he got penalized for speeding on pit lane because the pit lane rev limiter wasn’t switched on. “We are just so used to that the pit limiter is on when we step into the car, and it was just not on. It was my mistake, but it didn’t really affect my lap. The lap went well, the car ran great, and I am really satisfied.
“It is really nice for the staff, for the guys—for us drivers it really doesn’t mean too much because we know we are all fast, and tomorrow is another day with so many cars on track, but it is a nice reward for the mechanics who work hard for us.”
Lotterer also said that one of Audi’s strengths was that the three teams of drivers, although they were all competitors, still worked together for the good of the team. “We are all aware of the difficulty of this race, so we should not get caught up in the game. The guys have a lot of experience so we will keep all that in control. The most important thing is that Audi is in front.”
Lotterer said with so many cars on track, he planned to do most of his racing in the final hours. “If we are in a position ot attack and give everything that’s what we‘ll do if not we’ll just have to live with what we have. At the beginning we just have to survive. So many cars out there, and if you try to win it in the first two or three hours I think you might get in trouble very quickly.”
