Sunday, May 5, 2013
3 FUSIONS FINISH TOP 10 IN DOVER SPRINT CUP RACE
GREG BIFFLE – NO. 16 NEXCARE/3M FORD FUSION (FINISHED THIRD)
“The Nexcare Ford Fusion car was really, really good and it’s unfortunate. We lost that race because of that caution flag and got stuck in the back. We had to work our way back up and really didn’t know how our car was and adjusted it and adjusted it out and then back again. Once I got out front, I was just way too loose there at the end and couldn’t hold off the 20 or the 48. If I would have been a little bit tighter, I know I would have been able to drive off pretty good, but, it’s unfortunate. We were back in traffic all day and had our car freed up and then we got out front and was just a little bit too loose. It was a good day—a top three. I’ve got to argue with the people that are critics of these cars that they put on good races.”
WHAT ABOUT THE CAR TODAY?
“We had a great setup from last fall that I think a lot of our cars ran here today. I know some guys had little bit different versions of it, but, overall, this was a good race track for us. I’m glad that we came back. I know we were all worried about coming here and running good.”
MATT KENSETH – NO. 17 DEWALT FORD FUSION (FINISHED FOURTH)
“It was a good run for the whole DeWalt team. We were kind of up and down all day. We didn’t have anything that could compete with Jimmie. He had everybody covered, but we had a pretty good car and came home fourth. We couldn’t quite get it right, but it was pretty decent.”
HOW WAS YOUR TIRE WEAR TODAY?
“It seemed all right. We ran a couple of full fuel runs it seemed like, so it didn’t seem like many people had problems. If you ran up high, where it was gray, we chorded a couple of right rears, but that’s kind of normal here, so I thought everything turned out pretty good.”
A BIG BOUNCEBACK FOR FORD AND ROUSH TODAY.
“Yeah, I don’t know how everybody else did, but we were able to be pretty solid and got a good finish. The last three or four weeks we’ve kind of been on the upswing a little bit. We had a top 10 at Charlotte and were maybe 10th at Darlington, so we’ve been doing a little bit better here. It was good for us to get a good finish.”
DO YOU FEEL THIS TEAM IS GETTING ON A ROLL?
“Yeah, we have all the tools there to win, it’s our job to figure out how to put it all together into a winning effort. We were closer today, but we were just a little off. I just couldn’t get it. Jimmie had everybody covered, kind of like the Roush cars did last fall here—they were just quite a bit better. We seemed to miss it just a little bit and this car is very, very sensitive and it’s easy to miss it by a little bit. It gets frustrating because you don’t know how to adjust it. One run you’re pretty good and you barely change it and you’re no good.”
DAVID RAGAN – NO. 6 UPS FORD FUSION (FINISHED 24TH)
“At times we made good adjustments and at times we didn’t. As a team we’ve got to build on the good ones that we made because at periods during the race I thought we were a top 15 car. We were never great, but our UPS Ford showed some promise. We just couldn’t make the right adjustments to keep it going fast.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY – NO. 26 CROWN ROYAL FORD FUSION (FINISHED 14TH)
DID THAT CAUTION WHEN YOU HAD PITTED UNDER GREEN SPOIL YOUR DAY?
“No, actually we had a really good car. When we got our lucky dog they all checked up getting on pit road and I tore the fender off of it and it pulled the splitter up and from there on out our car just was not very good. I really think we should have finished sixth or seventh, even after getting caught a lap down pitting too early. I thought I had a tire down is why we pitted, so it was just a tough day.”
SOME PROMISE WITH THE WAY THE CARS PERFORMED?
“I know that Greg and Carl and Matt—I don’t know how good the 6 was—but it looked like everybody else ran really good today. Our cars are good, we just have to put it together.”
GREG BIFFLE PRESS CONFERENCE
“We had a great car. What really probably screwed our day up was getting caught on pit road. We were running second and I was catching the 48 and we went through the green flag pit cycle and I ended up a lap down at the tail-end of the lead lap and the 48 was still the leader with four new tires. So I’m not sure how that all played out, but we spent the rest of the day getting back all the way to the front. We ran in traffic all day and once I got back toward the front, the car started getting loose and then once I got out front with two tires it was just so loose I couldn’t drive it. It was just really tough to drive out front. I saw the guys coming and I was just doing all I could do. I was afraid if Tony got up behind me in the corner that the car would probably spin out, so I figured my only hope was to go to the top, but I was so loose up there that I couldn’t get the gas down, either. I got a pretty good run at the top, but just needed a little adjustment and I think I would have made it more interesting. I think it would have been a three-way battle, possibly, instead of two. But, overall, a great day for us in the points and happy to come home third.”
DID YOUR HEART SINK WHEN THE 48 GOT PAST THE 1 AND 24 SO FAST?
“I couldn’t take my eyes off the road, so I didn’t see anything. If I would have looked anywhere but forward or out the side window I think I would have wrecked.”
WEC Audi Three Hybrid Race Car At Le Mans
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| Audi Puts In Le Mans with Three Hybrid Race Car |
Audi is now officially at Le Mans and in the WEC on the 2012 successfully introduced hybrid technology. The flywheel storage system is more powerful, without too much to put on weight and size. From the outside, the Audi R18 is e-tron quattro differ little from this years winning car. Under the ultra-light carbon fiber skin stuck yet again a number of technical innovations. Parallel Audi Sport has been working intensively on a successor to the valid from 2014 new LMP1 regulations.
The Audi driver squad for the WEC and Le Mans 2013 consists of the reigning world champions Marcel Fässler (Switzerland), André Lotterer (Germany) and Benoît Tréluyer (France) as well as new signing Lucas di Grassi (Brazil), Loïc Duval (France), Marc Gené (Spain), Oliver Jarvis (UK), Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen (Denmark) and Allan McNish (Scotland).
Strong line-up at the 24-hour race at Daytona
Works driver from the WEC and DTM play in customer sport program of AUDI AG, a role the 24-hour race at Daytona (Fla.), 26-27. January Filipe Albuquerque, Oliver Jarvis and Edoardo Mortara start with an Audi R8 GRAND-AM the team Alex Job Racing. Two other R8 are also studded cast: Marc Basseng, René Rast and Frank Stippler go for APR Motorsport, Frank Biela, Christopher Haase and GT1 World Champion Markus Winkelhock for Rum Bum Racing. Add to that one American driver.
Increased involvement in the GRAND-AM series in the U.S.
With the 24-hour race at Daytona, and increased involvement in the GRAND-AM series heralds Audi will make his return to the U.S. racing. In the United States, the brand with the four rings is growing faster than the overall U.S. market, especially in the prestigious upper class. The racing activities in the United States should support this trend in the long term.
Therefore, is a use of the e-tron quattro Audi R18 at the 12-hour race on 16 March at Sebring (Florida) in the pipeline, which Audi has won ten times. "Its probably the last chance with an LMP1 car to compete at Sebring," said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "This is an opportunity we would use a lot and say goodbye to the fans after our great success story of recent years with a beautiful appearance."
And it need not be a final farewell: the 2014 GRAND-AM Series and the American Le Mans Series merge into a new North American sports car championship, which could be interesting for Audi. In addition, the U.S. fans 2013 is another opportunity to the Audi R18 e-tron quattro experience in action: On 22 September the FIA World Endurance Championship has appeared in Austin (Texas).
Evolution version of the Audi R8 LMS Ultra
But the customer sport market in Europe and the rest of the world neglected Audi not: delivered an evolution version of the GT3 sports car Audi R8 LMS Ultra, which differs mainly in the rear area of the current model is, by quattro GmbH in February 2013, customers .
At the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring (Germany) and at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) in 2013 with the support of customer teams Audi Sport customer racing go live. Rounding out the increasingly diverse customer sport program of AUDI AG is the continuation of the successful launch of 2012 Audi R8 LMS Cup in China.
"With the more advanced versions of the R8 GRAND-AM and the R8 LMS ultra and the Cup in China, we have a very attractive proposition for our customers," says Romolo Liebchen, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. "We expect in the course of 2013 to deliver the 100th customer vehicle."