Filed under: Motorsports, Audi, Racing

Audi invited us to warm and sunny Florida for the 59th annual Twelve Hours of Sebring, the opening round of the 2011 American Le Mans Series that was held this past weekend. While the French racing team Oreca took the surprise win in the LMP1 class (beating the factory Peugeot 908 HDi team in their older first-generation Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP), Audi held on through punctured tires and collisions to deliver both the fourth and fifth spot in matching R15++ diesel-powered prototypes (Audi will run its brand-new R18 prototype at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June). In the GT class, BMW proudly nailed first and second place with its hot M3 GT.

Spending time behind-the-scenes with a race team offers a completely different perspective, especially when it comes to an endurance event. While huge crowds of spectators down cold beer and blister from sunburn at Sebring’s huge infield and midway (with some seriously creative camping accommodations), dozens of Audi Sport Team Joest crew sweat out the long hours working on the minute details – everything from track concrete composition to atmospheric barometric pressure is taken into account. During our glimpse into a whirlwind 48-hour period (encompassing qualifying and the race), the pace was maddening whether the drivers were attending signing events or the crew was rehearsing pit stops.

Check out our extensive photo gallery with coverage of the 56-car field. Note the amount of race telemetry delivered in real-time to the team engineers in the hot pits, and the exhaustion of the crew in the 85-degree ambient temperatures (who capture shut-eye only while the car is running well). A special shout-out to Xander Walker, who we bumped into hanging with the folks in Turn 10 – see you guys next year!

Audi’s Sebring drivers (Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller) signed a flag for us before the race. While it looks great on our wall, we’re going to give it to one of you (official rules). Leave a comment on this post to enter (only one comment or else you’re disqualified), and we’ll choose one lucky recipient for the win.

How to Enter:

• Leave a single comment on this post (if you leave two or more, all of your comments will be disqualified)
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
• Limit 1 entry per person during entry period
• This entry period begins 7:30 PM EST on Friday, March 25 and ends at 7:30 PM EST on Saturday, March 26. We’ll randomly select 1 winner at that time to receive an Audi flag signed by the team’s 2011 Sebring drivers.
• For a list of complete rules, click here

Photos copyright (C)2011 Michael Harley / AOL

Win an autographed Audi flag from this year’s Twelve Hours of Sebring originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Europe, Audi, Racing

Audi has officially put its new R18 Le Mans racer and all nine of its factory drivers through their paces. The pair of closed-cockpit Audi bruisers and one last-generation R15 TDI spent some time lapping Sebring as part of preparations for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Each of the cadre of pilots was able to get some seat time in all three vehicles. Interestingly enough, Audi has made it clear that the R15 “Plus Plus” will campaign alone at this year’s 12 Hours of Sebring. Audi typically uses the venue as a dry run for new hardware before showing up in France.

At this point, it appears that he R18 will enjoy its race debut at Le Mans instead. Audi motorsport boss Wolfgang Ullrich said that Sebring offers up a unique test of any race car’s mechanicals, and that the warm, dry weather in Florida is more conducive to testing than European venues. Hit the jump for the full press blast.

[Source: Audi]

Continue reading Audi R18 tests successful at Sebring

Audi R18 tests successful at Sebring originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Autoblog

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Filed under: Motorsports, Acura, Audi, Chevrolet, Porsche, Ferrari, Peugeot, Diesel, Racing

The first of nine races that comprise the 2010 American Le Mans Series is now in the history books, as the 12 Hours of Sebring came to a conclusion under the cover of darkness Saturday night. For those of you who still have the race on your DVRs, you can come back here later. For the rest of you, read on to find out who got a jump on the rest of the ALMS field.

Continue reading 2010 12 Hours of Sebring goes into the books [SPOILER ALERT]

2010 12 Hours of Sebring goes into the books [SPOILER ALERT] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 14:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Lion roars at Sebring
Peugeot ran away with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh From Florida as expected Saturday, scoring a solid 1-2 finish that gave the French manufacturer a three-race winning streak in the world’s top sports car races and its historic first victory at Sebring International Raceway.

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JaguarRSR’S CAT READY TO ATTACK IN SEBRING; 2010 ALMS SEASON OPENER
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