Friday, 30th November 2007

Diesel rivals set to do battle through 2008 as Audi heads to Europe.

Sportscar fans look set to be treated to a season long battle between Audi and Peugeot after Audi confirmed that it intends to enter the Le Mans Series for the 2008 season.

The two diesel-powered outfits only raced against each other on one occasion last season at the Le Mans 24 Hours after Peugeot elected to campaign the 908 HDi in the Le Mans Series and Audi continued to chase success in the American Le Mans Series, although rumours persisted that Audi was considering a return to racing on the European stage.

Now, the German marque has confirmed that it plans to run two cars in the Le Mans Series through the Joest Racing team while also continue to run two cars through Audi Sport North America in the USA.

“Stable regulations with the clear positioning of the LMP1 sportscar as top category and good TV marketing in Europe are conditions for Audi's factory involvement in both of the Le Mans series,” head of Audi Motorsport Wolfgang Ullrich said, making a veiled dig at the current ALMS rules which sees the smaller LMP2 cars regularly fighting with the LMP1 machinery.

Joest will also be responsible for the three car entry into the Le Mans 24 Hours, with Audi confirming it will utilise the same drivers as in 2007. Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner will look to successfully defend their title while Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish will aim to dethrone their team-mates and take the win they were unlucky to miss out on last season.

Lucas Luhr, Alexandre Prémat and Mike Rockenfeller will again drive the third car, while Luhr will move up from the DTM into an R10 for the full season – joining Capello, McNish and Werner as the regular factory drivers for the 2008 sportscar project.

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