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By Tarek Ramchani
Audi has just clinched its tenth outright victory at Sebring. A great 1-2 win for Audi Sport Team Joest at the 60th edition of the Florida classic.
The winning car is the #2 Audi R18 TDI with drivers Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen. In a strong second place was the sister #3 Audi driven by Loic Duval, Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard. Bad luck for the #1 Audi which faced problems earlier in the race while it leading outright. The car finished in 6th place in LMP1 class and was shared by 2011 Le Mans winners Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer.
Audi Sport Team Joest entered the Sebring event with last year’s specification Audi R18 TDI and the cars raced with an extra +15kgs weight penalty. Audi faced a very big field with a +60 car grid from both WEC regulars and ALMS teams. The race saw too many crashes and full course cautions, making it very hard for the Audis in the traffic. Opposition only came from the privateer HPD Honda teams. Despite the opposition the Audi cars were dominant during the whole race. The #2 Audi R18 and the sister #3 car switched positions for the overall lead during every pit stop. In the end it was the #2 car crossing the finish line victorious, and the #3 car in second with 4 laps down. The # 44 HPD ARX-03b of team Starworks Motorsport got third overall winning the LMP2 class.
This is the sixth outright victory for Mr. Le Mans Tom Kristensen, the fifth for Dindo Capello and the fourth for Allan McNish. The "Old Warriors" have already won the 12 Hours of Sebring together twice before, in 2006 with the Audi R10 TDI and in 2009 with the Audi R15 TDI.
This Sebring victory is the first for Audi Sport Team Joest since the year 2009. A historical victory as well, being the first ever race of the brand new FIA World Endurance Championship. The next round of the WEC will be the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, where the brand new Audi e-tron quattro will debut.
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| 12 Hours of Sebring 2012 podium : Audi Sport Team Joest 1-2 victory |
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| Start of the 12 Hours of Sebring 2012 |
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| #3 Audi R18 TDI into the night at Sebring |
