[LM24] Christijan Albers - Factory Driver?

[Albers Fan]

I am already very long time fan of Christijan Albers.
This year he showed a very good performance in the old Audi R10.
His best lap was 2 seconds faster then his teammates Bakkerud and Oliver Jarvis.
He drove 2008 for Audi in Lagune Seca and drove onto the podium. And last year he was in the Le Mans Series for Kolles and showed strong performances.

I understand not why he was not taken by Audi under contract. He is one of the best touringcar driver of the world and must drive in the DTM actually. But Audi preferred Molina and Legge.
And also after his strong performances at Kolles in the Prototype he was not taken. Lotterer, Treluyer and Fässler were taken under contract instead.

I find Audi should give him a chance.
or not?

[WapFlap]

I think he did a solid job in DTM. Too bad he didn't had the patience to wait for a Mercedes / Mclaren testjob but instead took the Minardi drive. That made him a paydriver (he did pay quite a lot for his seats in F1). Too bad for him he couldn't get rid of the paydriver image and after he took the fuelpump for a ride in Magny Cours it was over.

I think he can be lucky that Kolles still seem to believe in him (or his €€€) and let him drive the R10. Why Audi doesn't hire him is up to Audi ofcourse, but I guess his image is not that good anymore.

[cmk]

I am sure the budget crunch going into 2009 did not help with respect to Audi bringing on board those drivers they were trialing in 2008. I suppose the team was more happy with what they had seen from Fassler in sportscars in general or the R10 in particular? Fassler certainly has greater endurance experience and once it became clear the position they were looking to fill was a sportscar endurance one, that would likely come into play.

I think the fact that Lotterer and Treluyer have also been racing sportscars for many years has helped. The latter had experience in the Peugeot 908 which, I'm sure, made him an attractive person to have on the inside. Lotterer was more impressive on stepping into the Kolles R10 than, I would argue, any other single pilot - and his ironman performance on his Le Mans debut was a thing of legend. I think Albers is good, but I can also see why Audi made the decisions they did.

[nobster]

Originally Posted by cmk

I am sure the budget crunch going into 2009 did not help with respect to Audi bringing on board those drivers they were trialing in 2008. I suppose the team was more happy with what they had seen from Fassler in sportscars in general or the R10 in particular? Fassler certainly has greater endurance experience and once it became clear the position they were looking to fill was a sportscar endurance one, that would likely come into play.

I think the fact that Lotterer and Treluyer have also been racing sportscars for many years has helped. The latter had experience in the Peugeot 908 which, I'm sure, made him an attractive person to have on the inside. Lotterer was more impressive on stepping into the Kolles R10 than, I would argue, any other single pilot - and his ironman performance on his Le Mans debut was a thing of legend. I think Albers is good, but I can also see why Audi made the decisions they did.

Lotterer was nothing more special then Charles Zwolsman last year! Charles deserved another chance at Le Mans with a good car and 2 co-drivers instead of only one co-driver last year.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by nobster

Lotterer was nothing more special then Charles Zwolsman last year! Charles deserved another chance at Le Mans with a good car and 2 co-drivers instead of only one co-driver last year.

Yet, Jo(achim) Hausner of Audi Sport, who helped Kolles out in 2009, was more impressed by Lotterer. Maybe Lotterer was faster and/or more consistent than Zwolsman.

Lotterer has a lot more experience in endurance racing. He was Super GT champion in 2006 and 2009 and he is leading the GT500 class at moment. BTW Benoît Tréluyer won Super GT in 2008. So there is a correlation between winning endurance championships and becoming an Audi LMP factory driver

Perhaps the fact that the father of Charles was a drugs dealer also does not help.

[Dunlop Corner]

Together with Duval in the Oreca, Andre Lotterer was the big surprise for me. He was at times the fastest driver for Audi, and he did some very long stints as well. That #8 car was always closing in on the #9 when Lotterer was behind the wheel. Particularly with Fassler driver, it was dropping back slightly. Of course it was Andre's mistake that cost the #8 car a shot at victory. But i have a feeling that the #9 car would win anyway, since Bernhard was due to get in, and he was the best driver in that car.

Andre Lotterer really impressed me, and did a top top job. I was a bit surprised to see him chosen ahead of Werner and Premat, but he showed that he deserved it. I thought the Audi lineups had taken a step backwards this year, but those three cars really were the closest lineups Audi has ever had. The last 3 years, the Kristensen/McNish/Capello car had blown the other Audis apart by several laps. This time they were only slightly faster, and not even close to regain the two laps Priaulx cost them. Very good job by the #8 and #9 car, and until some of the old guys retire, i feel Audi should keep these drivers.

[cmk]

Originally Posted by nobster

Lotterer was nothing more special then Charles Zwolsman last year! Charles deserved another chance at Le Mans with a good car and 2 co-drivers instead of only one co-driver last year.

Except for the fact that Zwolsman had been testing and racing the car all spring and Lotterer, I believe, only got in it for the first time at Le Mans - or maybe ran it up and down a runway a couple of times beforehand. Zwolsman went above and beyond expectations, sure, but they were rather low ones to start!

Fassler was the slowest of the #8 drivers in testing too, but Audi may also feel he was the most consistent and like his endurance experience and influence on the younger drivers in the car. Audi clearly seeks personality balance in their trios nowadays, not just pace.

[supermario21]

I agree about the personality balance. Every press release that Lotterer put out when he was first linked to drive the Audi with Benoit showed that the two of them have basically been best friends through their racing in Japan. So with the 3 Audi's you had the Capello/McNish/Kristensen team who needs no explanation, the Rockenfeller/Bernhard/Dumas team that is basically a Porsche factory drivers club, and the JGTC drivers with Lotterer/Treluyer as well as the experienced endurance/GT driver Fassler.

[chernaudi]

It also may not help that Albers has limited sportscar experience. Lotterer and Treluyer have Super GT GT500 experience, which are basically now front engined LMP cars with roofs and siloette bodywork, and enough road car unitbody on them to be called "GT" cars. Fassler has also raced in the DTM series in the past, and those cars are the same-front engined LMP cars with faux-road car bodywork.

All 3 also have extensive GT car and multi-class racing expeirence, something you don't really get in open wheel racing, which Andre and Benoit also compete in with the Formula Nippon series.

I think that Albers has been sent to Kolles because they needed a resonalbly fast professional driver to complete a one car all-pro line up.

Fassler had little testing in the R10 in 2008 before Road America, and was fast after an adjustement period, Lotterer had less time in an R10 at LM last year and was quickly on the pace, while it took Albers a bit longer to come to terms it seems, so even though he was an Audi factory driver since after Laguna Seca in '08, he doesn't seem to have the experience yet to be with the factory team right now.