Audi Press Release (Before revised results)
Second consecutive victory for Audi at Daytona
- New U.S. version of the Audi R8 LMS wins 24-hour race
- Perfect debut for the new Audi customer team Flying Lizard
- Spectators experienced dramatic finale in the GT Daytona class
Perfect debut for the new U.S. version of the Audi R8 LMS and the new Audi customer team Flying Lizard Motorsports: Nelson Canache jr. (YV), Tim Pappas (USA), Spencer Pumpelly (USA) and Markus Winkelhock (D) decided the inaugural race of the new Tudor United SportsCar Championship (TUSC) in their favor in a photo finish.
With 29 GT sports cars running, the GT Daytona (GTD) category featured the largest number of entrants in the field and was the most fiercely fought class in the iconic U.S. endurance race. The positions at the front kept changing and the customer teams of Audi, Porsche and Ferrari had chances of taking class victory up to the very end.
“This was an incredible race, I’m absolutely speechless,” said Romolo Liebchen, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “I can understand the disappointment of the Ferrari team. But I share the opinion of the race stewards that Alessandro Pier Guidi went a bit overboard in his defense on the last laps. Markus was simply faster. On the whole, it was a great entrance for the new U.S. version of the Audi R8 LMS. We put a fast and reliable car for the new GTD class into the hands of our customer teams. Flying Lizard and the four drivers of the winning car made the best of it. Many thanks to all who made this fantastic success possible.”
Following a restrained start and a few minor issues in the beginning, the new Californian Audi customer team launched an impressive recovery during the night that made the red-silver #45 R8 LMS advance position by position and rewarded the squad with its first lead on Sunday morning.
Filipe Albuquerque (P), Alessandro Latif (GB/I), Seth Neiman (USA) and Dion von Moltke (USA) showed a similarly strong performance as their team-mates and in the team’s sister car captured fifth place in class. After 24 hours, the quartet was trailing its victorious team-mates by only one lap.
The two Audi R8 LMS cars of the Fall-Line Motorsports and GMG Racing teams did not make it to the finish. After just five laps, Charlie Putman (USA/Fall-Line Motorsports) on braking into Turn 1, lost control of his Audi in the fastest section of the track and spun backwards into a concrete wall. The rear-end section of the R8 LMS was irreparably damaged in the incident.
James Sofronas (USA/GMG Racing) was touched by an LMPC sports car in Turn 1 at the beginning of the seventh hour. The American spun off track and hit the wall of the pit lane exit head-on. Sofronas, like Putman, sustained no injuries but his R8 LMS was so heavily damaged that a trackside repair was impossible.
Nelson Canache jr.: “Flying Lizard Motorsports gave us four drivers a fantastic car. We weren’t the quickest in qualifying but all along we felt we had a fast and reliable car for a 24-hour race. We were really tight on fuel at the end. It was a magnificent team performance.”
Tim Pappas: “I was a late addition to the driver squad, so I’m literally stunned to have scored my first Daytona victory. It was a privilege for me to watch Markus (Winkelhock) and Spencer (Pumpelly) as team-mates. Nelson (Canache jr.) and I did what was required of us in keeping safe and bringing the Audi back in one piece in our stints.”
Spencer Pumpelly: “This will always be the most memorable of my three Daytona wins. Watching the final 20 minutes was nail-biting and Markus (Winkelhock) did a fantastic job. Daytona was an enormous challenge for the Flying Lizard team with the new car and they did a phenomenal job. We had a fantastic car which allowed us to score an important win.”
Markus Winkelhock: “It was an incredible last lap. I left plenty of space for him to turn in at the kink but on the exit he left me no space and pushed me into the grass. I think the officials made the correct decision. Last year, I fought for the GT class win but ran out of fuel on the last lap, so it’s great to come back twelve months later and win.”
1 Canache jr./Pappas/(Pumpelly/Winkelhock (Audi R8 LMS) 662 laps in 24h 01m 19.953s
2 Snow/Heylen/Seefried (Porsche) + 0.159s
3 Rotenberg/Zlobin/Mediani/Salo/Aleshin (Ferrari) + 13.919s
4 Tucker/Sweedler/Bell/Segal/Pier Guidi (Ferrari) + 1m 43.707s
5 Albuquerque/Latif/Neiman/von Moltke (Audi R8 LMS) - 1 lap
...
16 Bell/Haase/Miller/Rast (Audi R8 LMS) - 36 laps
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Audi Press Release (After revised results)
IMSA revises Daytona result
- Audi R8 LMS #45 relegated to second place
- Organizers ask to excuse confusion caused
Ingolstadt/Daytona,
January 27, 2014 – About four hours after the end of the race, the organizers
of the 24 Hours of Daytona (USA) have issued a revised result for the GT
Daytona class.
The IMSA revised their original decision to impose a time-penalty on the #555 Ferrari. The #45 Audi R8 LMS of Audi customer team Flying Lizard Motorsports, which had originally been declared as the winner of the race, was moved back to second place. The organisers have pleged all participants to excuse the confusion they have caused.
The Team Flying Lizard Motorsports reserves further action against this decision and would like to comment not before Monday.
Romolo Liebchen, Head of Audi Sport customer racing: “It is unfortunate that the events after the race cast a shadow on a really great race in the Daytona GT class. Probably this race deserves two winners.”
The IMSA revised their original decision to impose a time-penalty on the #555 Ferrari. The #45 Audi R8 LMS of Audi customer team Flying Lizard Motorsports, which had originally been declared as the winner of the race, was moved back to second place. The organisers have pleged all participants to excuse the confusion they have caused.
The Team Flying Lizard Motorsports reserves further action against this decision and would like to comment not before Monday.
Romolo Liebchen, Head of Audi Sport customer racing: “It is unfortunate that the events after the race cast a shadow on a really great race in the Daytona GT class. Probably this race deserves two winners.”
Photo credit: Audi Communications - Motorsport
