New Audi scores debut Paul Ricard win

Allan McNish, Audi, Paul Ricard, 2010The new Audi R15 plus claimed a dominant victory on its debut in the Paul Ricard 8 Hours.

Audi drivers Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello led all but two and half laps of the opening round of the Le Mans Series on the way to a five-lap victory over the Aston Martin Racing Lola driven by Stefan Mucke, Adrian Fernandez and Harold Primat.

The ORECA Peugeot 908, the only car capable of challenging the Audi on pace, finished fourth after losing nine laps early in the race with a problem with the rear airjack system.

"It is nice to chock up another victory for the Audi marque and a first victory for a new car is always something special," said McNish.

Ralf Juttner, technical director of Audi Sport Team Joest, added that vital lessons had been learned for the Le Mans 24 Hours in June, which was the primary reason for Audi contesting this race with a solo R15 plus.

"This was the idea of coming here, to see how the changes between the R15 and the R15 plus have worked," he said. "We are taking a long list of things to work on away with us, but the fundamentals seem good."

The Strakka Racing HPD/Acura staged a remarkable comeback to claim LMP2 honours after the car driven by Danny Watts, Jonny Kane and Nick Leventis lost four laps to bodywork repairs. Watts, who had qualified the car on pole position by 2.2 seconds, led the fightback and retook the lead in the penultimate hour.

The Briton fell behind the best of the OAK Racing Pescarolos when he stopped with just over an hour to go, but moved back to the front when Richard Hein brought the Judd-powered OAK Pescarolo he shared with Guillaume Moreau into the pits with half an hour to go.

"Spending 12 minutes in the pits early on wasn't the plan, but the team showed fantastic spirit to fight back," said Watts.

The GT2 class was won by the Felbermayr Proton Porsche driven by Richard Lietz and Marc Lieb. The two Porsche factory drivers battled with the Imsa Performance Porsche shared by Patrick Pilet and Raymond Narac early in the race and then fought off a challenge from the AF Corse Ferrari driven by Toni Vilander, Giancarolo Fisichella and Jean Alesi later on. The latter ultimately dropped back to third behind the second Felbermayr entry.


Pos Driver Class/Team/Car Laps
1. Capello/McNish P1 Audi 266
2. Fernandez/Primat/Mucke P1 Aston Martin 261
3. Belicchi/Boullion/Smith P1 Rebellion Lola 261
4. Panis/Lapierre/Sarrazin P1 ORECA Peugeot 258
5. Ayari/Andre/Duval P1 ORECA 258
6. Ragues/Mailleux/Ickx P1 Signature Aston 256
7. Leventis/Watts/Kane P2 Strakka HPD 250
8. Hein/Moreau P2 Oak Pescarolo 250
9. Erdos/Newton/Wallace P2 RML Lola 249
10. Lahaye/Nicolet P2 Oak Pescarolo 249
11. Prost/Jani P1 Rebellion Lola 248
12. Ojjeh/Greaves/Ebbesvik P2 Bruich. Ginetta 248
13. Geri/Piccini/Piccini P2 Racing Box Lola 246
14. Mansell/Mansell/Mansell P1 Beechdean Ginetta 243
15. Toulemonde/Zollinger/Zampatti LC Formula Le Mans 237
16. Beche/Pillon/Capillaire LC Formula Le Mans 237
17. Barlesi/Cicognani/Chalandon LC Formula Le Mans 235
18. Lieb/Lietz GT2 Felbermayr Porsche 233
19. Zacchia/Moro/Kaufmann LC Formula Le Mans 231
20. Ragginger/Ried/Long GT2 Felbermayr Porsche 231
21. Fisichella/Vilander/Alesi GT2 AF Corse Ferrari 231
22. Ehret/Quaife/Kaffer GT2 CRS Ferrari 231
23. Companc/Russo GT2 AF Corse Ferrari 231
24. Gardel/Goueslard/Canal GT1 Larbre Saleen 229
25. Muller/Werner GT2 BMW 225
26. Schell/Metz/da Rocha P2 Pegasus Courage 219
27. Narac/Pilet GT2 IMSA Porsche 219
28. Dumbreck/Coronel/Bleekemolen GT2 Spyker 215
29. Pourtales/Noda/Kennard P2 KSM Lola 188

Not classified

39. Farnbacher/Simonsen GT2 Farnbacher Ferrari 204
21. Stirling/Hines/Piscopo LC Formula Le Mans 203
41. Kutemann/Basso/Hartshorne LC Formula Le Mans 203
12. Amaral/Pla/Hughes P2 Quifel Ginetta 200
22. Kraihamer/de Crem/Delhez LC Formula Le Mans 195
17. Salini/Salini/Gommendy P2 WR-Zytek 168
33. Bruni/Melo GT2 AF Cornse Ferrari 152
30. Kirkaldy/Mullen GT2 CRS Ferrari 123
16. Cioci/Perazzini/Pirri P2 Racing Box Lola 116
19. Frey/Meichtry/Dueck P2 Race Perf. Radical 66
34. Bell/Turner GT2 JMW Aston Martin 65
35. Holzer/Westbrook