Speaking of Audi: R15 wins Sebring, as if you didn't know

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Audi's new Pièce de résistance, the R15 TDI, won it's racing debut at this year's 12 hours of Sebring. Considered by pretty much everyone with a heartbeat and a brain between their ears considers this race to be the most important of the year for the run up to the LeMans 24 hours, this win is extremely important. If Audi wants to win at LeMans this year, they've got their work cut out, as the Peugeot 908 HDi seemed to have the ability to outpace the R15 when needed.



Still, a win is a win, and chances are with the Audi engineers fully aware of what the 908 can still do (it was quicker than the old R10 was, but in 2008 LeMans still went to the Germans) they will up the ante a bit over the coming months. The 2009 Sebring race was a bit of a disappointment other than the battle between the R15 and 908. The Acuras were hopelessly left behind in the LMP1 class, and the overall field was as thin as a middle-level AIG executive's hairline. 28 cars. Ouch.

A lap onboard with the R15. Sure these diesels are fast and "clean" but am I the only one who finds them a bit boring?


Luckily, we have the big dance to look forward to which can perhaps salvage this season for us. Hopefully the 2009 LeMans will sport a slightly better field, with a higher number of cars in Europe able to make the trek over there, compared to the air-freight nightmare than Sebring must be for a European team.

The thin field didn't mean a lack of close racing. As we can see in this clip, the drivers were not afraid to put it all on the line, so the racing was at least exciting, if not constant. May LeMans 2009 be at least as interesting.

Until next time, _WRS