Audi and Team Kolles Complete Successful Test at Paul Ricard Test Facility in Provence

Level 5 Motorsports drivers Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut are taking a break from their record-setting season racing in the American Le Mans Series. However, that does not mean that the champion drivers are relaxing. In fact, the two are getting set for perhaps the biggest challenge they will face all year: the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Tucker and Bouchut just completed an intense test session with Audi-backed Team Kolles at Circuit Paul Ricard in France where they put the now legendary Audi R10 TDI race cars through two thousand kilometers of grueling practice runs. The cars have a stellar track record with three wins in the historic endurance race (2006-08).

"These cars are fantastic," Tucker said. "Knowing we have the tradition of Audi and this great group of engineers at Kolles getting them ready is a great feeling for a driver. We did a lot of work this week to simulate race conditions and the cars performed perfectly."

The Audi Le Mans race car is similar to the American Le Mans Prototype that Level 5 campaigns in the American Le Mans Series, but the car is slightly larger and has traction control - meaning the drivers can go all-out to reach the incredible speeds that are typical at Le Mans.

"The speeds here at Circuit Paul Ricard can reach 240 mph - which is comparable to Le Mans," Tucker said. "When you consider that they are doing 227 mph at Indy this week, you realize how fast we are running and how sharp you have to be in the cockpit."

On hand is "Mr. Le Mans" Tom Kristensen. With eight victories under his belt - including six with Audi - Kristensen is a valuable resource for the team at this vital test session. Combined with two-time winner Bouchut (1993, 2002), the team is stacked with experience.

"Having a two-time Le Mans winner like Christophe Bouchut is a great incitement for our team," team owner Dr. Colin Kolles said. "All in all, we have a strong team and our aim is to tie in the great results from last year when we finished in seventh and ninth positions. We are all looking forward to the race in Le Mans and working hard to a make a step forward and overcome last year's achievements."

Rounding out the two-car driver line-up for Kolles will be Dutch driver Christijan Albers and Danish driver Christian Bakkerud who already ran very successfully for Kolles in the Le Mans Series in 2009. Both shared a cockpit at Le Mans and finished ninth.

Also on the roster are Audi factory driver Oliver Jarvis, who joined Kolles last year for the Asian Le Mans Series in Okayama, and Manuel Rodrigues, an experienced endurance racer with FIA GT series credits to his name.

The legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place June 12-13. Television coverage of the 24-hour classic will be provided by SPEED Channel in the Unites States with extended coverage available on SPEEDTV.com.