Audi Confirms Two R15 TDI Cars for Petit Le Mans

The upcoming Petit Le Mans endurance classic at Road Atlanta on October 2 will see two Audi R15 TDI cars lining up the grid. The cars, fielded by Audi Sport Team Joest will be driven by Dindo Capello/Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish and Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Treluyer.

The brand with the four rings holds the track record at the U.S. counterpart of the Le Mans 24 Hours: from 2000 to 2008, Audi crossed the finish line as the winner nine consecutive times.

The two Audi R15 TDI cars to participate in the Petit Le Mans race (chassis numbers 202 and 203) have already taken a two-day testing at Road Atlanta. The team hopes to optimally set up the R15 plus with the new aerodynamics package for this circuit.

This year’s Le Mans winners will contest the “Petit Le Mans” race as well: Timo Bernhard will drive a Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid together with Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller.

The track at Road Atlanta has a length of 4.088 km (2.540 miles) with a race distance of 394 laps (equaling 1,610.672 km). The fastest lap in 2009 was completed by Allan McNish behind the wheel of an Audi R15 TDI with a time of 1: 08.063.

“I love Petit Le Mans! 100,000 fans in such a compact arena as Road Atlanta – that’s simply great. And there’s hardly a track that suits me as well as this. It’s very fast and fluid. It demands an aggressive driving style. Every moment is a very intense experience. Although the race is 1,000 miles long and lasts almost ten hours, tenths of a second can be decisive in the end,” stated McNish.