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Audi Test Successful at the 12 Hours of Sebring

22 March 1999

Audi Test Successful at the 12 Hours of Sebring

    SEBRING, Fla., March 21 -- In its first test, under actual
race conditions at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Audi took third and fifth place
with its R8R LeMans prototypes.  After twelve hours, 310 laps and 1,147 miles,
the team of Michele Alboreto (Italy), Rinaldo Capello (Italy) and Stefan
Johansson (Sweden) gave a flawless performance to finish third at 10:15 p.m.
EST.
    "The first endurance test under race conditions was extremely satisfying,"
said Stefan Johannson, two-time Sebring winner, after crossing the finish
line.  "But to compete at LeMans, the first thing we need to work on is
increasing the speed."
    The R8R of the team Frank Biela (Germany), Perry McCarthy (Great Britain)
and Emanuele Pirro (Italy) finished six laps behind their teammates, taking
fifth place.  Frank Biela, the only German driver, said, "Everything went well
apart from one problem with the clutch, which kept us in the pits for nearly
fifteen minutes."
    After following the race action from the Audi pit area, Member of the
Board of Management for Audi AG responsible for technical development, Dr.
Werner Mischke said, "This endurance test under race conditions showed that we
are on the right track with our development efforts, but we have a lot of work
left to do before LeMans."
    At 10:15 a.m. EST, the two R8Rs started on this historic and grueling
racetrack from grid positions 11 and 12, proving their reliability in the
following twelve hours.
    Audi Sport Director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich said, "We did reach our goal of
finishing this twelve hour race with both cars.  I am also happy about where
we placed with our R8Rs, but this weekend showed that we have much to do
before LeMans."

    The final results were:

    Position  Drivers                     Car                     Result

    1.        Kristensen/Lehto/Mueller    BMW V12 LMP             313 laps
    2.        Forbes-Robinson/            Reilly & Scott MkIII/
              Leitzinger/Weaver           Ford                    + 9.292 sec
    3.        Alboreto/Capello/
              Johansson                   Audi R8R                - 3 laps
    4.        Boutson/Mueller/Wollek      Porsche 911 GT1         - 5 laps
    5.        Biela/McCarthy/Pirro        Audi R8R                - 9 laps