Audi’s GT3 customers lead the standings in Europe and China
Audi privateer drivers lead the DTM and GTSC in China Strong performance of the Audi RS 3 LMS on three continents Dakar prototype from Audi at special MAN exhibition
While Kelvin van der Linde and ABT Sportsline remain at the top of the standings after a challenging weekend in the DTM, the Audi customer teams claimed all the podium places in both races at the GT Sprint Challenge season opener in China.
Audi R8 LMS GT3 A spectacular race to catch up in the dunes: Kelvin van der Linde defended his lead in the DTM standings on the third race weekend at Zandvoort. Starting from sixth place, the South African in the Audi R8 LMS from ABT Sportsline improved to third position on Sunday. He made up a place at the start, and an efficient pit stop brought a further improvement in position. In the second half of the race, an overtaking maneuver finally helped him to his third podium result of the season. The 27-year-old professional leads the championship standings by eight points ahead of Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti, with team-mate Ricardo Feller in third place. ABT Sportsline maintained a nine-point lead at the top of the team standings in Zandvoort. Audi’s customer teams got the season off to a perfect start in the Chinese GT Sprint Challenge in Shanghai. The Climax Racing team won the first sprint race with the Chinese amateur racing driver Lu Wei. Professional driver Andy Deng crossed the finish line first, but dropped back to second place with his team Winhere Racing by HAR after a penalty for a mistake at the start. Third place went to the driver duo Li Dongsheng/Li Donghui from Climax Racing, who won the Master class. All of these drivers, as well as the fourth and fifth-placed teams, relied on the GT3 version of the Audi R8 LMS. Andy Deng won the second race ahead of Li Dongsheng/Li Donghui. Third place went to the amateur driver combination of Liu Hangcheng/Hu Haoheng from Climax Racing ahead of another Audi from this racing team.
Audi RS 3 LMS with first-class touring car results worldwide
Victories in Belgium, Germany, France, Italy and the USA for Audi Class title successes for Audi RS 3 LMS in new endurance racing series Trophies for the Audi R8 LMS in the GT3, GT2 and GT4 versions
The Audi RS 3 LMS once again proved its performance with five victories in five series in the middle of the season. Winners’ trophies and podium successes with the three homologated variants of the Audi R8 LMS rounded off a successful penultimate weekend in June.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR) Convincing results in the middle of the year: The Audi RS 3 LMS underlined its capabilities with five victories and three titles on a single race weekend. In the TCR European Endurance, Texaco Team AMS celebrated its first titles of the year. At the third event of this new racing series, Franco Girolami/Sandro Pelatti achieved a surprise victory at Misano. The Argentinian-Italian driver line-up secured their first win of the season in the PMA Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS ahead of Zekai Özen/Barkin Pinar from Texaco Team AMS. Their team-mates Eric Brigliadori/Turgut Konukoglu had retired but were still classified in fifth place. While the championship decision in the overall standings has been postponed until the final in Slovakia on August 25, three other classifications have been decided. All of them went to Texaco Team AMS. The Turkish squad won the team classification early, the DSG title for racing cars with dual-clutch transmissions with Seda Kaçan/Ibrahim Okyay in the Audi RS 3 LMS and the classification for Gen1 models of the first TCR vehicle generation with Zekai Özen/Barkin Pinar in another Audi. The Audi customer team Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports continued its best performances in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. After three TCR victories in the first three races, the team had to admit defeat for the first time two weeks ago with third place. They now celebrated their fourth win of the season at Watkins Glen.
Audi customer racing drivers at the top on three continents
Audi R8 LMS victorious in GT World Challenge Asia and GT Open Audi R8 LMS GT4 leads the standings in France Ten victories for the Audi RS 3 LMS
On the second weekend in May, the Audi Sport customer racing teams impressed with top performances worldwide. Following their successes in GT and touring car racing, some customer teams are at the top of their championships.
Audi R8 LMS GT3 Strong performance in Asia: The Audi customer teams in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS also presented themselves in strong form at the second event. After the victory of Congfu Cheng/Adderly Fong in the season opener, Ruo Han Huang/Markus Winkelhock were unbeatable in the second round in the first of two races in Thailand. The Chinese-German driver combination won the one-hour race in Buriram in an Audi R8 LMS with a lead of 5.9 seconds. Second place went to Yu Kuai/Akash Nandy, their teammates in Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute and winners of the Silver classification. Winkelhock had taken the lead from Nandy with 14 minutes to go. Congfu Cheng/Adderly Fong from the FAW Audi Sport Asia Racing Team completed the one-two-three. Audi Sport customer racing Asia thus achieved a convincing result in a field of 33 GT3 sports cars from eight manufacturers. Cheng/Fong are second in the overall standings after the first third of the season and lead the Silver Cup on equal points with Kuai/Nandy. In addition, The Spirit of FFF Racing team won the Am classification in the first race with Japanese drivers Hiroshi Hamaguchi/Mineki Okura. In the International GT Open, last year’s championship-winning team Eastalent Racing celebrated its first win of the season at the second event. Christopher Haase and Simon Reicher won Sunday’s race in Hockenheim from pole position with a commanding 15.9-second lead. Saintéloc Racing achieved a remarkable third place with the Audi R8 LMS at the third round of the 24H Series powered by Hankook despite a clutch problem.
Audi customer team ABT Sportsline new leader of the DTM standings
Three podium finishes for Audi R8 LMS GT3 in the DTM Class success for Audi in International GT Open Trophies for the Audi R8 LMS GT4 in Spain and Portugal
Thanks to the first win of the season at the Lausitzring, Kelvin van der Linde, ABT Sportsline and Audi are at the top of the three DTM standings. Three different teams contributed six podium finishes to the weekend result with the Audi R8 LMS GT4.
Audi R8 LMS GT3 Top performance under difficult conditions: Team ABT Sportsline enjoyed a convincing second race weekend in the DTM at the Lausitzring. Kelvin van der Linde celebrated his first win of the season in the Audi R8 LMS in Saturday’s race in chaotic weather conditions. The South African had started from first place and was not deterred by the heavy rain or two interruptions to the race. Unlike his pursuers, he had a clear view on the wet track and won by 2.5 seconds ahead of Mercedes driver Maro Engel. His number 3 Audi R8 LMS was also absolutely competitive on Sunday, although it had to carry 20 kilograms of extra weight due to the previous day’s success. Van der Linde finished second, 1.44 seconds behind. Teammate Ricardo Feller followed in third position. Kelvin van der Linde now leads the standings by eight points, with Feller in third. ABT Sportsline is in first place in the team standings, while Audi is currently the best of seven brands in the manufacturers standings. In the International GT Open racing series, the Olimp Racing customer team achieved its first class win of the year on the third race weekend at Spa. In the 500-kilometer race in Belgium, Karol Basz/Marcin Jedlinski in the Audi R8 LMS were the best of 20 Pro-Am driver teams. As a result, the two Poles moved up to second place in the respective standings. They are now only three points behind the leading Ferrari drivers Eddie Cheever/Marco Pulcini.
Impressive victory for Audi customer team in Asia
Audi R8 LMS with GT3 podium results on three continents Good weekend for the Audi customer teams in the GT4 and TCR classes Audi RS Q e-tron to be admired up close in Wolfsburg
At the opening round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS, the FAW Audi Sport Asia Racing Team set an exclamation mark with its first win of the season in difficult weather conditions. The GT4 and TCR models from Audi Sport also won several trophies in the hands of customers.
Audi R8 LMS GT3 Successes in Asia, America and Europe: Audi’s customer teams collected a total of six podium results in overall rankings on three continents. In the Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS, Congfu Cheng/Adderly Fong won the first race of the season in Sepang. They had qualified for pole position in the Audi R8 LMS from the FAW Audi Sport Asia Racing Team. A heavy downpour delayed the start by an hour. The Audi customer team then made a bold tire choice and opted for slicks. Cheng initially dropped back to fourth place on the wet track in the early stages, but subsequently made up two positions. Fong took over the cockpit at the pit stop, was initially in second place and, after an overtaking maneuver, ultimately prevailed by 2.1 seconds. As a result, the duo also won the Silver class and leads this category of the standings. In the second race, a team from Japan celebrated victory in the Am class. Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Mineki Okura won the amateur classification in an Audi from The Spirit of FFF Racing. They now lead the Am Cup. At the second GT America powered by AWS event, four podium results went to Audi customers. On the streets of Long Beach, Johnny O’Connell in the Audi R8 LMS from SKI Autosports was beaten by the winner by just 0.298 seconds in the first race. The Audi privateer driver had secured pole position ahead of James Sofronas and led for a long time until he lost his position in lapped traffic shortly before the end.
Audi customer teams celebrate touring car successes on two continents
Audi RS 3 LMS with victories in Belgium, Italy and Canada Class successes for the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Podium results of the GT2 and GT4 versions of the Audi R8 LMS
A total of 13 podium finishes were achieved by the Audi RS 3 LMS last weekend. The Audi R8 LMS GT sports car also contributed numerous trophies to Audi Sport customer racing’s tally on the Whitsun weekend.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR) Winning streak in Europe: The Audi RS 3 LMS won five international races on the third weekend in May. Nicola Baldan had every reason to celebrate in the TCR Europe. At the second event in Zolder, the Italian clinched his first victory in six years. In the cockpit of the Baldan Group by Comtoyou Audi RS 3 LMS, he started from pole position and crossed the finish line in the first sprint with a lead of almost eight tenths of a second. After the first third of the season, he moved up to third place overall in the championship standings and also leads the Diamond Trophy standings. In the TCR European Endurance, Turgut Konukoglu and Eric Brigliadori secured their second victory in a row. The Turkish-Italian driver combination prevailed in Vallelunga in an Audi RS 3 LMS of Texaco Team AMS with a 47-second lead. Second place went to Sandro Pelatti in an Audi from PMA Motorsport after 64 laps. Barkin Pinar/Zekai Özen and Ibrahim Okyay/Seda Kaçan, two other Audi privateer teams from Texaco Team AMS, followed in the next two places. The new season in the Sports Car Championship Canada powered by Michelin began with two multiple victories for Audi. Richard Boake won the first race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with a lead of more than 26 seconds ahead of Anthony Martella. Ron Tomlinson completed the 1-2-3 victory. Boake came out on top again in the second race. Second place went to last year’s champion Dean Baker, 3.1 seconds behind. In the Belcar Endurance Championship, Audi customers celebrated a one-two class victory at the season opener in Zolder.
Marc Lichte: “Good design and true progress can only come from real passion”
After ten years as Head of Audi Design, Marc Lichte is seeking new impulses outside the VW Group His design language will continue to shape the model range for a long time to come Marc Lichte: “The most important project is always the next one”
He stands for reduced shapes, courageous thinking, and untiring passion, traits with which he designed more than 150 vehicles over the past 28 years. For an entire decade as Head of Design at the premium manufacturer Audi, Marc Lichte (54) was responsible for exterior and interior design and designing the brand’s racecars as well as for UI/UX design, which is becoming increasingly relevant for connected vehicles. During his tenure, Audi Design was honored with numerous international awards. On June 1, Massimo Frascella is slated to succeed Lichte, who will leave the VW Group to seek new creative impulses elsewhere. His design language will continue to shape the model range of the manufacturer from Ingolstadt for a long time to come.
As Head of the Exterior Studio at Volkswagen, Marc Lichte designed the epitome of automotive functionality with the Golf series V, VI, and VII. In 2014, he gave the brand with the four rings a preview of his design vision with his first concept cars, the Audi prologue and the Audi Q8 concept. Whether elegant classic cars such as the luxury sedan Audi A8 or sporty vehicles such as the RS 6 and RS Q8 – ten years later, all model generations embody Lichte’s clear vision of a reduced design language with its timeless and long-lasting impact. In February 2021, the premium brand introduced a fully electric Gran Turismo, the Audi e-tron GT – to Lichte it is “the most beautiful car I ever designed.”
Audi Hungaria sets new standards in the production of electric motors for the PPE
Audi builds the electric motors for the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) at the world’s largest powertrain plant in Győr, Hungary. The drive systems will initially be used in the Audi Q6 e-tron series, which is produced in Ingolstadt. Győr manufactures the PPE drive systems on an area of around 15,000 square meters (approx. 160,000 sq ft), in addition to producing stator and transmission components and assembling the axles. Csaba Imre Benke, Head of the Electric Drive Systems Product Segment in Győr and responsible for the production of the PPE drive systems, explains how Audi is setting new standards with the production of electric drive systems for the PPE.
Can you give us an idea of the scope involved in producing the PPE drive systems? Csaba Imre Benke: To produce the electric motors for the PPE, the brand with the four rings has installed three new production lines. The production line for stators has 28 work steps, the one for transmission components has 15. Assembling one axle requires more than 190 individual steps. How many employees are involved and how many electric motors do you produce? Csaba Imre Benke: All told, around 700 employees are involved in producing the PPE drive systems. In Győr, three shifts are able to mass-produce 2,000 electric motors for the PPE every day. The electric drive systems we produce here are for the PPE models from Audi and Porsche. What previous experience does the Győr plant have in producing electric motors? Csaba Imre Benke: Producing for the PPE naturally meant we had to learn a number of work steps at the new production stations. It took our employees around 20 days of training each to learn everything. But we are not starting from scratch! We have made more than 500,000 electric motors since 2018. It goes without saying, our experience benefits us. Especially since we will be gradually increasing our vertical range of manufacture for electric motors.