Pirro heads early testing times

The Italian driver lapped the 3.7-mile Sebring International Raceway at 1m48.489s in the first of two testing sessions for American Le Mans Series cars on Monday. A driver for the factory Audi team the past three seasons, Pirro is joining with fellow ex-Formula 1 pilots JJ Lehto and Stefan Johansson for the privately-owned Champion team at Sebring.

The two-car factory Bentley team posted the second and third fastest laps of the day. The car driven by Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello and Guy Smith was second at 1m48.550s, with the Johnny Herbert, David Brabham and Mark Blundell car third at 1m48.649s.

Rounding out the top five for the day were the Infineon Team Joest Audi R8 (Frank Biela, Phillip Peter and Marco Werner) at 1m49.235s and the Audi UK Audi R8 entry (Mika Salo, Perry McCarthy and Jonny Kane) at 1m50.377s. Kane spun off at Turn 7 but was able to continue. The new Lister Storm LMP entry stopped in turn 16 due to an onboard fire, but damage was minor and the car was towed to the paddock. It was 14th fastest on the day.


1 Pirro, Lehto, Johansson Champion Audi R8 (LMP 900) 1m48.489s
2 Kristensen, Capello, Smith Bentley Speed 8 (LMP 900) 1m48.580s
3 Brabham, Herbert, Blundell Bentley Speed 8 (LMP 900) 1m48.649s
4 Biela, Werner, Peter Joest Audi R8 (LMP 900) 1m49.235s
5 Kane, McCarthy, Salo Audi UK Audi R8 (LMP 900) 1m50.377s
6 Theys, van de Poele, Lienhard Dallara-MG (LMP 900) 1m51.297s
7 Magnussen, Matthews, Goossens R&S MkIIIC-Yates (LMP 900) 1m51.998s
8 Dyson, De Radigues, Block Lola EX257-MG (LMP 675) 1m52.292s
9 J Field, Durand, Dayton Lola EX257-MG (LMP 675) 1m53.114s
10 Nielsen, Shimoda DBA4-03S-Zytek (LMP 675) 1m53.256s