Audi Le Mans line-up completed.

Audi's driver line-up for the 2002 Le Mans 24 Hours has been completed, as expected, by the addition of three German speaking drivers to drive its third R8 prototype.

Michael Krumm and Marco Werner will form a trio with Austrian Philipp Peter at the sportscar season highlight on 15-16 June, forming a team to be supported by Auto Motor und Sport, the special interest magazine sponsoring the third Infineon Audi at Le Mans.

Werner and Peter will start at Le Mans for the first time, but are no newcomers to sportscar racing. Werner won the 24 Hours at Daytona in 1995, while Peter was runner-up in the 2000 Sportscar World Cup. Krumm, meanwhile, has competed at Le Mans twice, and won the drivers' title in the 1997 Japanese GT Championship.

"To be successful at Le Mans has always been one of my major goals," Krumm explained, "With Audi, I now have a unique chance - I can't wait for June to come."

His colleagues were equally euphoric to have been named to the team which has won the past two runnings of the French classic.

"To do Le Mans with Audi is a dream," admitted Werner.

"The Infineon Audi R8 has won at Le Mans twice already - a driver couldn't wish for better pre-requisites," Peter, an Audi works driver in the mid-nineties, added.

In April, Krumm, Peter and Werner will gain their first experience of the Infineon Audi R8 in a 30-hour test, when the Audi works team begins its Le Mans preparation in earnest. The official practice session at La Sarthe takes place on 5 May.

Audi will start the 2002 event with three silver Infineon Audi R8 sportscars, denoted by flying the additional colours of black, red and yellow resembling the German flag. Krumm/Peter/Werner will drive the 'black' R8. The winning trio of the last two Le Mans races, Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro, share the 'red' car, while Rinaldo Capello, Johnny Herbert and Christian Pescatori - the winners of the 2002 Sebring 12 Hours - compete in the 'yellow' version.

"With this strong driver team, we have the best chance to claim a hat-trick at Le Mans," commented Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, head of Audi Sport.

A fourth Audi sportscar will be run at Le Mans by a customer squad, Audi Sport Japan Team Goh. Japanese drivers Seiji Ara and Hiroki Katoh start, together with four times Le Mans winner Yannick Dalmas of France, in an 2001-spec R8.