McNish: “We are on the right track”

If questions remained about the performance of the new Audi R18, the Test day removed the last doubts. The new weapon from Ingolstadt proved to be very fast, as two R18s finished the session in the lead. An encouraging result for 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“We had prepared a complete test program for the three cars, the weather conditions allowed us to complete this program, emphasizes Dr. Ullrich, Director of Audi Motorsport. We achieved very good results, I think we can make good use of all that in the Le Mans race. It was important to do a lot of kilometers here with the brand new car before the June weekend. »

Allan McNish sets a time of 3:27:815, just ahead of the n°1 of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller. « ll n’y a aucun autre circuit où vous trouvez d?aussi longues lignes droites dans le même tour, mais il y a aussi les tronçons à grande vitesse dans les virages Porsche et les Esses, explains the Briton. It was very important for us to understand how the car would react on this type of track. We found good settings. We found a good foundation and level of confidence. The car has been pretty consistent, the tires have been very good. We are on the right track, but until the race in June we won't see where the others are. »

Find the report from the Test Day of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, from Wednesday, in AUTOhebdo, on sale at all newsstands.