Audi Motorsport Newsletter 33/2015

Audi customer teams clinch two titles in Blancpain Endurance Series

The Audi customer team Belgian Audi Club Team WRT finished the 2015 season in the Blancpain Endurance Series as the champion in the teams’ classification. Laurens Vanthoor, Jean-Karl Vernay and Robin Frijns finished the season finale at the Nürburgring in the best Audi R8 LMS ultra, designated as car number 1, in fourth place. In the final stage, title defender Laurens Vanthoor fought a hot battle for third place with the new champion Alex Buncombe up to the checkered flag. His teammates Stéphane Ortelli and Frank Stippler, who had traveled to the Nürburgring as the leaders of the standings, lost their title chances due to a collision with another vehicle. With a one-point advantage, Ian Loggie and Julian Westwood secured the title in the AM category in the finale. With a class victory in the Spa 24 Hours, the two Britons in their Audi R8 LMS ultra of Team Parker Racing had laid the foundation for winning the Gentlemen Trophy.

Haase/von Moltke one point away from championship lead after fightback

Christopher Haase and Dion von Moltke received a reward for their toil in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship: The Paul Miller Racing driver line-up started from pole position in the GTD class at Austin in their Audi R8 LMS, but collected a 60-second penalty early on after von Moltke had missed a pit exit red light. Then, a fightback began which netted the team third place. “I drove every lap over the limit,” said Haase. “Many teams had problems today, but we probably had the fewest.” In the championship, the German and his American teammate are one point shy of the GTD lead. On the first weekend of October, the finale will be staged at the Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta – an event that Paul Miller Racing won last year with Audi.

Three podium places in ADAC GT Masters

On the penultimate race weekend of the ADAC GT Masters at Zandvoort, Audi customer teams celebrated three podium successes. In Saturday’s race, Florian Stoll and Marc Basseng in the Audi R8 LMS ultra of Team kfzteile24 MS RACING finished in second place. Behind them, Rahel Frey and Philip Geipel in the R8 LMS ultra of Team YACO Racing took third place. In a thrilling final sprint, Geipel had bumped the #7 Bentley to fourth place. In race two, Nicki Thiim and Jordan Lee Pepper in the Audi R8 LMS ultra of Team C. Abt Racing advanced from fourth to third place after the winner had been excluded from the classification.

Andreas Schmidt on podium twice

A double podium for Andreas Schmidt at the wheel of the privately fielded Audi R8 LMS ultra in the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy (STT). In rounds nine and ten of the season at Zandvoort, he took second place in his class in both races and finished the second one in fourth place overall.

Customers drive new Audi R8 LMS

Audi provided its customers an opportunity at the Nürburgring on September 15 and 16 to drive the new R8 LMS themselves for the first time. About 60 drivers and team bosses used it to get to know the GT3 race car. “The fact that in addition to existing customers many potential new customers that have so far been driving other brands accepted our invitation was particularly positive,” said Romolo Liebchen, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock assisted the customers during the test on the tradition-steeped circuit in the Eifel. Sales of the new model have been launched and production of the race car at quattro GmbH, a subsidiary of AUDI AG, will start before the end of September as well.

DTM Champions in the World Rallycross Championship

The two Audi DTM drivers Mattias Ekström and Timo Scheider competed in the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Barcelona this weekend. At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Ekström with his privateer team EKS qualified for the semi-final but in fifth place missed the final race. On making his debut in a rallycross supercar, Scheider immediately competed among the world’s top contenders and in 16th place even scored a Championship point. The 36-year-old drove an Audi S3 RX quattro of Team ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport and drew a positive conclusion: “This is a mega car that’s incredible fun. I’d like to thank everyone involved for this special experience.”

Meeting of the Audi Sport TT Cup drivers at Barcelona

At round ten of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Barcelona, three drivers from the Audi Sport TT Cup met up with each other. Christoph Hofbauer used his free weekend to visit his one-make cup rivals Anton Marklund and Nikita Misyulya at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Besides contesting the Audi Sport TT Cup, both drivers are on the grid of the World Rallycross Championship as well. “It’s great to also get some insight into other motorsport series and there’s really a lot of action in rallycross,” Hofbauer said. Next weekend, the three young drivers will be climbing into the cockpits of their cup race cars again. On September 26 and 27, the fifth of six race weekends in the Audi Sport TT Cup will take place at the Nürburgring.

Art and motorsport at Audi museum mobile

A view of racing from a different perspective will be offered by the Audi museum mobile from September 23, 2015 to February 28, 2016. The exhibition titled ‘Pit Stop – The Art of Motorsport’ will present 22 works of the artist Stephan Quenkert from Landshut, Germany. His ‘Concrete Art’ objects refer to photographs from racing, but reduce their forms and contents, while featuring concentrated colors. In addition to the three-dimensional wall sculptures, the exhibition attracts visitors with a display of real-world race cars. Fans can look forward to seeing a 1939 Auto Union Type D, a 2001 Audi R8, a 2012 R18 e-tron quattro, a 2011-generation A4 DTM and a 2009 R8 LMS.

Jamie Green visits Hoffmann Group

Audi DTM driver Jamie Green and Arno Zensen, Team Director of Audi Sport Team Rosberg, attended the ‘DTM Racing Day’ hosted by the Hoffmann Group’s branch in Achim. In front of more than 1,100 guests, Jamie Green, who in the DTM represents the colors of Europe’s leading system partner for quality tools, gave interviews and was busy signing autographs. The visitors had an opportunity to catch a whiff of DTM air as well, trying out their driving skills on simulators set up at the event, showing their adeptness at changing tires and doing some laps on a kart track.

René Rast at Frankfurt Motor Show

Visitors of the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) had the chance to meet Audi driver René Rast at the Akrapovič stand. The 28-year-old race driver signed many autographs and gave interviews regarding his first Le Mans race for Audi last June at the display of Audi Sport’s partner.

Reinhold Joest presented with Golden Pin of Honor

Reinhold Joest, the founder of Audi Sport Team Joest, has received an award. County Commissioner Matthias Wilkes presented the businessman and former race driver with the Golden Pin of Honor of the Bergstraße County for his achievements and commitment to his native Odenwald region. “Reinhold Joest is both rooted in his native soil and active on a world-class level,” the county commissioner said in justifying the award. With his team based in Wald-Michelbach, Reinhold Joest has won the Le Mans 24 Hours an amazing 15 times, including eleven victories with Audi. In addition, the squad from Germany’s Odenwald region has achieved success on numerous other occasions in international racing. Reinhold Joest is an ambassador of the Bergstraße County as well.

Audi drivers from two race series at Austin

The FIA World Endurance Championship WEC was not the only series racing that the Austin track hosted this weekend. Audi drivers Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer, Lucas di Grassi, Loïc Duval and Oliver Jarvis met the drivers from the Audi Sport customer racing teams in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, too: Christopher Haase/Dion von Moltke (Paul Miller Racing), Jason Hart/Mike Vess (Flying Lizard Motorsports) and Pierre Kleinubing/Ray Mason (Compass360 Racing) were happy to accept the invitation to visit the WEC pit garages and to come together for a joint photo.

Audi drivers visit Audi South Austin

Audi drivers from WEC and from the Paul Miller Racing customer team visited the Audi South Austin dealership on Wednesday. Dindo Capello, Loïc Duval, Marcel Fässler, Oliver Jarvis and André Lotterer, together with Audi Sport’s Head of LMP, Chris Reinke, answered all questions centered around round 5 of the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC in front of 100 invited guests and wrote many autographs. Christopher Haase and Dion von Moltke, the drivers from the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, were guests in demand as well. Apart from the Paul Miller Racing Audi R8 LMS, the visitors saw another race car up close: for the first time in the US, Audi showed the second-generation R8 LMS.

Audi drivers attend Mayor’s reception

Before the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in Texas, the Mayor of Austin held a function in the City Hall. Audi drivers Lucas di Grassi, Benoît Tréluyer as well as Allan McNish accepted the invitation of Steve Adler and together with other guests from motor racing spent Wednesday night with the ruler of the city.

Motorsport art for a good cause

Artist Bill Patterson did a painting at the Austin race track in the Audi VIP lounge. In front of the guests, a motorsport artwork of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro was created. The Audi FIA World Endurance Championship drivers signed the painting. The artwork was auctioned off afterwards and the proceeds were donated to the Austin Hatcher Foundation, a charity for pediatric cancer.

A word from ... Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich

The Head of Audi Motorsport following the double podium success in the FIA WEC at Austin.

Dr. Ullrich, in round five of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Austin, both Audi driver squads were on podium for the first time this year. How do you rate this result?

We’re happy that Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer in a tough race have retained a ten-point advantage in the standings. The first podium success of the season for Lucas di Grassi/Loïc Duval/Oliver Jarvis is another positive. They had to cope with a lot of setbacks this year, although in the qualifying sessions and the races they repeatedly showed that a lot more is possible. As far as this goes, I’m happy about the double podium. However, in the battle for overall victory, we had to admit defeat for the first time in an FIA WEC race in the United States.

The conditions in Texas were particularly tough. What were Audi’s strengths?

As a matter of fact, air temperatures of 34 degrees centigrade and 42 degrees on the tarmac made for the toughest conditions we’ve seen this year. A simple detail illustrates our strengths: we were the only manufacturer in the LMP1 class to actually cross the finish line with both cars. This reliability, coupled with the performances of the drivers, earned us the trophies. Even though our first practice day was anything but optimal, our drivers and the team continued to work undeterred and kept a cool head in the race.

How intense will the next weeks be in terms of work?

We’re now facing the most exciting weeks of the whole season. The FIA WEC and the DTM are turning onto the finish straight and in both championships we’re battling for the title. All employees, the drivers and the teams are working toward these goals. At the same time, the race cars for the coming season are being created. I’d be remiss not to mention our customers in racing: at Austin, an Audi customer sport team has come within one point of leading the standings in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship and in other GT racing series the title race is still going on as well plus, the first champion will soon have been determined in the Audi Sport TT Cup.

Coming up next week

26–27/09 Shanghai (CN), rounds 8 and 9, GT Asia
26–27/09 Nürburgring (D), rounds 15 and 16, DTM
26–27/09 Nürburgring (D), rounds 9 and 10, Audi Sport TT Cup
26–27/09 Misano (I), rounds 11 and 12, Italian GT Championship
26–27/09 Navarra (E), rounds 11 and 12, French GT Championship