The diesel sportscar Audi hopes to use to win Le Mans has set a blistering pace on its track debut in the United States.
The R10, which features 5.5-litre twin-turbo V12 diesel producing 650bhp and 811lb ft of torque, went almost a second inside the track record at Sebring in Florida to set the benchmark during three days of testing for next month’s 12-hour race at the circuit. Despite a few glitches, it still racked up over 260 laps.
Rinaldo Capello, who drove for Audi last year in the German touring car series, was the pacesetter. ‘I felt at home in the car straight away,’ he said. ‘But at Sebring, conditions keep changing all the time. Therefore, the results are difficult to judge - especially as our strongest competitors did not run anymore on the last day.’
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