Audi R10 Spa Wings--the real where, when and where?

[chernaudi]

On the advise of an admin, I'm starting this thread here (due to the age of the other places I wanted to place this post), though if it's better for the dedicated IMSA or ACO areas (or even a historical forum), feel free to place this thread there if you're a mod or admin.


Anyways, the meat of this post is that I got an ALMS Audi R10 media guide I purchased yesterday, and though I saw these photos before, they were in high resolution on the info CD that was contained within.


On two of the photos, it showed first the areas where the holes cut in the rear deck that the "wings" covered being sealed up by glued on or bolted on panels that seemed to be removable. Also, another photo showed holes in the rear deck area where the outboard section of the wings would be bolted to.



The photos were apparently from the 2008 Le Mans Series test at Paul Ricard. Which was held about 2 months before the Spa LMS round where the wing devices were debuted in competition. This suggests to me that Audi were working on them dating back to early 2008.



Thus, were Audi hiding them until they felt like using them, or were they waiting for full IMSA and ACO homolgation before debuting them?