Audi 2008 Annual Report Download - page 98

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Copy Carole Capitaine
Photos Anke Luckmann
car’s potential. They don’t want to spoil the surprise for us
sports journalists. Things are calm at Audi. While they
won’t be able to wrestle the pole position from their com-
petitors, it still remains to be seen whether the French
diesel engines can really deliver such sustained power for a
full 24 hours. Wednesday evening is the first qualifying
session. In pit row, everyone is staring at the monitors as
the first significant lap times are measured. Astonishment
spreads rapidly. Even the officials of the event organizer,
the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, can’t hide their amaze-
ment. 33-year-old Stéphane Sarrazin blasts around the
track in the 908 HDi FAP and takes the pole position with a
record time of 3:18.513 minutes! Peugeot also takes sec-
ond and third spots on the grid. The Audi R10 TDI driven by
Capello/Kristensen/McNish can only manage fourth place –
5.5 seconds behind the leader. It is an unparalleled display
of power.
The French camp is euphoric. The media are tripping over
themselves with superlatives, while the French soccer team
is taking some hefty criticism for its 4-1 defeat against the
Netherlands. So French sports fans turn their wounded
national pride to Peugeot. Back at the Audi motor home,
the team remains unperturbed. Official statements can be
summed up as follows: “Yes, we expected it; no, we are far
from accepting defeat; by Monday, nobody will remember
who was on pole.” Only the race matters: 24 hours, 75 per-
cent of which is driven at full speed.
Dark clouds begin to form shortly before the 3 p.m. start
and it looks like rain. The meteorologists’ predictions make
the competition even more charged. When, how hard and
how long will it rain? On the starting grid, a few minutes
before the warmup lap, nerves are taut to the point of
snapping. The drivers eye each other critically and size up
their opponents’ cars one last time, while the race engi-
neers hurry to their respective command posts. They won’t
see each other again until the same time tomorrow – at the
foot of the podium. And, in between, an afternoon, a long
night, a dawn and another half a day – roughly 5,200 kilo-
meters at an average speed of 216.3 kilometers an hour.
had been looking forward to this weekend for an en-
tire year! To be more precise, ever since the late after-
noon of June 17, 2007, when the defeated Peugeot
team announced that it planned to end Audi’s dominance
the next year. They wanted nothing more than to finally
bring the Le Mans trophy back to France. The 76th running
of the 24 Hours of Le Mans had every chance of going down
as one of the most exciting in history. A promising stage
was set. On the one side, multiple champion Audi with the
R10 TDI, which scored a historic victory in 2006 as the first
diesel-powered winner, but whose technology had
already been pushed to its limits. On the other side, the
Peugeot team hoping to rekindle the glory of the early
1990s with a well-engineered 908 HDi FAP. As if that
were not enough, both teams sent top drivers from the
world of auto racing to compete: The “King of Le Mans”
Tom Kristensen was driving alongside Rinaldo Capello,
Allan McNish and others for Audi, while Peugeot had se-
cured Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve and other
talents such as Stéphane Sarrazin. To make a long story
short: On June 14 and 15, 2008, there was no place on
earth a motorsports fan would have rather wanted to be
than Le Mans.
The race week traditionally begins a few days prior with a
technical inspection at the Place des Jacobins. Hundreds
of spectators have gathered to cheer on the teams. Excite-
ment fills the air. Even the modest performance of the
French national soccer team at the European Soccer Cham-
pionships fades into the background. The number one topic
of conversation is the tough duel expected between Audi
and Peugeot. Some actually believe that the fast cars bear-
ing the four rings will win again this year. The team is ac-
customed to success and is supposedly too well-practiced
for Peugeot to actually offer any serious competition. Even
so, most people are convinced that the German team’s
winning streak will finally come to an end.
Behind the scenes, there are wild rumors flying about the
Peugeot 908’s expected lap times. It is supposed to be
incredibly fast, needing only 3:21, 3:20 minutes to com-
plete a 13.629 kilometer lap. Isn’t that wildly exaggerat-
ed? The managers of the French team are keeping a low
profile and smile cryptically when I ask them about their
I
01 Victory! After a hotly contested 24 hours,
the Audi team wins the world’s toughest race.
02 Ready for a tire change.
03 Each pit stop is an adrenaline rush for the crew.
Every second counts.
Every move is perfectly orchestrated: A top team takes care of both
car and driver.