Audi has scored the pole position, its first since 2006 and sixth in total, in the qualifying session for the 79th endurance race of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Benoit Treluyer set a time of 3m 25.738s to claim the pole position, followed by his team-mate, Romain Dumas, who was only 0.061 seconds behind.
This marks an impressive debut for the Audi R18 TDI and shows that Audi’s commitment to lightweight racers and diesel engines has paid off. Audi was, after all, the first ever to win the world’s most prestigious endurance race with a diesel engine, in 2006, and has nine wins overall. Since the first row went to Audi, arch-rival Peugeot was content with filling the second row with its (also diesel-powered) 908s, followed by the third Audi and two other Peugeot racers.
The race will start on Saturday at 3 p.m. by FIA President, Jean Todt.
Qualifying results
1 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 TDI) 3m 25.738s2 Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller (Audi R18 TDI) 3m 25.799s3 Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud (Peugeot) 3m 26.010s4 Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian (Peugeot) 3m 26.156s5 Capello/Kristensen/McNish (Audi R18 TDI) 3m 26.272s6 Gene/Wurz/Davidson (Peugeot) 3m 26.272s7 Lapiere/Duval/Panis (Peugeot) 3m 30.084s8 Jani/Prost/Bleekemolen (Lola-Toyota) 3m 32.883s9 Collard/Tinseau/Jousse (Pescarolo-Judd) 3m 33.066s10 Belicchi/Boullion/Smith (Lola-Toyota) 3m 34.573s
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