"When on the next lap he arrived on the outside of the end of the start-finish straight again, I defended the inside line once more. But he simply turned in and hit me, damaging my rim in the process. I had to pit and that meant my race was lost. Of course that was a shame because it could have been our first victory. At least we're now leading the championship. Still, I didn't think this action was right. We'll be defending ourselves and will really attack next time."
Head of Audi motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich admitted that the there was disappointment at missing out on a first win of the LMS campaign but said the fact that his drivers now lead the championship standings was some consolation.
"The race was a real thriller," he said. "In terms of pure lap speed, as had been the case in practice as well, we had a slight disadvantage. Thanks to the pit crews working swiftly, a very good strategy and the lower fuel consumption of our TDi engine, we always managed to get within striking distance of the Peugeots. Ten laps before race end, we were leading before the collision occurred between the two cars fighting for victory. This robbed us of the possibility to win.
"Considering that this car had to start from the pit lane and was even leading the field up until the dying laps of the race it is clear that our performance on the whole was good. We were able to put pressure on our rivals but, unfortunately, the tables turned against just before the end. We take a little consolation from the fact that we're now leading the drivers' standings – with the car driven by our two youngsters. That's a great achievement. Unfortunately, car #1 was involved in an accident at a very early stage and lost time in the pit lane. Still, it was able to make up ground, improving to sixth place. That was a great feat as well."
![Rockenfeller/Premat - Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 TDi [Pic credit: Audi]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/433556.jpg)
