Audi were suitably satisfied following qualifying for the Generac 500, round eight of the American Le Mans Series, after securing their first front-row lockout for some time at Road America.
Taking advantage of the Wisconsin's circuit's unique attributes of being long and sweeping, compared to the majority of tighter American tracks, the powerful R10 TDI was in its element as it snaked around Elkhart Lake, capturing the first two positions by a comfortable margin.
Still, there remained a tussle for the top spot between the two rival Audis, pole position eventually falling to Allan McNish, whose lap of 1min 47.465 managed to smash the lap record by 1.5secs.
That put them almost half a second up on Emmanuele Pirro and Marco Werner, who had to recover from a last minute gearbox change, although the gap of eight tenths back to the leading Penske Porsche was perhaps the most significant statistic for the team.
The first time an Audi has sat on pole position since the season-opener at Sebring, McNish was delighted to see the reigning champions back on top, even if he wasn't surprised at the result.
"I'm delighted that Audi Sport North America plus McNish and Capello are back in the number one position. From a team and personal perspective, I'm very happy with the results of qualifying.
Road America is a track I love and enjoy and after claiming a second consecutive record pole here, is obviously a circuit well suited to the Audi R10 TDI. We've worked hard setting up the car over the past two days. The engineers did a very good job. I had a very good car for qualifying and one I believe will be excellent for the race too."
However, while Capello too was thrilled to see Audi at the front, the Italian points out that this is only a minor achievement compared to the race where they will still have to contend with the regulations that have demanded a smaller fuel tank than their LMP2 rivals.
