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A POWERFUL AND WEIGHTY ISSUE.(Marco Andretti comes fourth at Indy Racing League's test)(Tony Schumacher was defeated by Melanie Troxel at NHRA event at Firebird International Raceway)
It appears not all competitors in the American Le Mans Series are happy as the series aims to provide fans with close competition. Audi Sport boss Wolfgang Ullrich is again displeased with the series' attempt at performance balancing.
Ullrich said a decision by the ALMS and its sanctioning body, IMSA, not to impose a 5 percent power reduction for LMP2 cars implemented by Le Mans rule makers (Competition, Feb. 26) will negatively affect the class. He said it will dissuade other manufacturers from joining Audi's turbodiesel R10s in the top prototype category.
"If the gap between LMP1 and LMP2 is maintained, there will be interest in LMP1 from other manufacturers in the future. If they do not [maintain the gap], LMP1 will die [in the United States],'' Ullrich said. "You are the biggest idiot in the world if you make an investment in an LMP1 and-because of the rules-a cheaper LMP2 has the same performance.''
"We believe that LMP1 is an extremely valuable category,'' said Tim Mayer, IMSA's chief operating officer, "and should be the premier category in terms of performance. We do not believe that has changed [as a result of this performance balance decision].''
The ALMS and IMSA want to maintain a situation that last year allowed Porsche's LMP2-class RS Spyders to race with and, on one occasion, beat Audi. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest, which writes Le Mans rules, opted this year to cut the size of the engine air restrictors on LMP2 cars to maintain a gap between its two prototype classes.
Ullrich admitted concern with the latest adjustments from the ALMS, which include weight reduction for the only other LMP1 cars confirmed for the series, the Creation CA06/H and the Lola-AER B01/60. Ullrich insisted that he thought the ALMS season would start off running to pure Le Mans rules.
"After what has been announced for the Sebring 12 Hours [next month's season opener], you can be sure that IMSA knows that we are not happy and there is even a risk to our ALMS program,'' said Ullrich, who would not speak more about a possible withdrawal. "I do not want to ring that bell [any further].''
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