While victory on the streets of St Petersburg was accepted, Long Beach should have been a different matter when it came to Audi taking on - and beating - the massed ranks of LMP2 rivals in the American Le Mans Series.
While it is hard to remember a time when an Audi victory in the ALMS was considered a surprise, that's just what happened on Saturday as Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr scored an unlikely win in the Tequila Patrón event in Long Beach. To make matters 'worse, both R10 TDIs finished ahead of the LMP2 cars to claim an unexpected 1-2. Werner crossed the finish line 1.964secs ahead of Emanuele Pirro in the sister Audi as the German manufacturer claimed its first podium sweep since St Petersburg last season.
"From the beginning, the car was good so we didn't make many changes," Werner said, "I was never fastest, and free practice and qualifying are never the same thing, so you can guess we are quite happy with Michelin at the moment. The car set-up is really helping us a lot this year, especially in the street circuits. We are in max lock trying to make the turns, especially in the hairpins. But the Michelins are keeping the car where it should be and helping us deal with all the corners."
Werner got around Penske Racing's Romain Dumas with eleven minutes remaining, taking the overall lead from the best of the Porsche RS Spyders and using the torque and power of the R10 TDI to pull away after a late caution period. Pirro did the same to claim runners-up honours with fellow veteran Frank Biela, as Audi added to its win last time out in Florida. On that occasion, it was Luhr who drove the closing stint and passed Dumas with three minutes remaining.
"Marco got to do the same thing I did last race at St Pete," Luhr said, "Now I know how it feels. I couldn't watch it. The team said it would be okay, but I said 'I'm too old, I can't watch'."
