Audi draws first blood at Petit test day

For seven years, Audi simply has dominated Petit Le Mans with an undefeated record in the American Le Mans Series’ cornerstone event. Make that eight years if Wednesday’s first test session for the 10th running of the annual endurance classic at Road Atlanta is any indication.

The two diesel-powered R10 TDIs sat first and second following a two-hour test for the 1,000-mile/10-hour classic. The first Audi of defending race champions Allan McNish and Dindo Capello were quickest on the day at 1:08.777. Capello set the time, which was 1.6 seconds better than McNish’s track record from 2000 in an Audi R8. That was the year Audi debuted in the American Le Mans Series and saw McNish, Capello and Michele Alboreto claim the manufacturer’s first Petit win.

Wednesday marked the first time that the full field got its first laps on the repaved Road Atlanta surface

The other R10 TDI of Marco Werner and Emanuele Pirro, LMP1 winners at the previous Series round at Detroit, sat second overall at 1:09.256