Audi Motorsport Newsletter 06/2016

Audi drivers particularly busy at DTM test in Spain

From Tuesday to Thursday, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz prepared for the new DTM season in a joint test at Monteblanco (Spain). Audi Sport deployed two test versions of the Audi RS 5 DTM that were driven by Jamie Green and Mattias Ekström. Audi Sport’s test team reeled off about 3,200 kilometers on the three days in optimum external conditions. On Wednesday alone, the two Audi drivers combined did more than 400 laps: Ekström 206 and Green 200. On two of the three test days, Ekström set the day’s best time as well. From April 5 to 8, another pre-season test will be held at Hockenheim in which all eight Audi drivers are going to participate.

Ambitious GT racing program for Belgian Audi Club Team WRT

Longtime Audi Sport customer racing team Belgian Audi Club Team WRT announced its 2016 GT racing program at a press conference on Friday: With no less than five Audi R8 LMS cars, the team from Badour (Belgium) will compete in the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup. Four of the new GT3 sports cars from Audi will be entered by the team in all of the Endurance Cup races. An additional fifth car supported by Audi will also be entered at the Spa 24 Hours. In total, 14 drivers are part of the full-season line-up of team manager Vincent Vosse, which includes: The reigning Blancpain GT Series champion Robin Frijns and Audi drivers Laurens Vanthoor, Christopher Mies, Filipe Albuquerque and Pierre Kaffer. In addition to the Blancpain GT Series commitments, Belgian Audi Club Team WRT will also be fielding two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars in the GT Sports Club.

Land Motorsport with several programs

The new Audi customer racing team Land Motorsport is planning two programs plus individual endurance races in its debut season. The team’s Audi R8 LMS debuted in the Dubai 24 Hours in January. In May, Wolfgang Land’s squad will be contesting the Nürburgring 24 Hours as well. In addition, Marc Basseng (D) and Connor De Phillippi (USA) will be on the grid for the outfit based in Niederdreisbach in the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring. In the ADAC GT Masters, Land Motorsport is fielding two Audi R8 LMS cars. The driver pairings are Christopher Mies/Connor de Phillippi (D/USA) and Marc Basseng/Peter Hoevenaars (D/NL).

Audi Team Hitotsuyama with new Audi R8 LMS

Audi Team Hitotsuyama will be competing in the Japanese Super GT Championship with the new Audi R8 LMS for the first time. In its driver lineup, team owner Mikio Hitotsuyama’s squad has opted for continuity. As in the past two years, the Japanese Tomonobu Fujii and the Briton Richard Lyons are going to share the cockpit of the Audi in the GT300 class. The season encompasses eight events and will open at Okayama in the southwest of Japan on April 10.

Leena Gade at English Institute of Sport

Briton Leena Gade was a guest at the English Institute of Sport in her native country. The race engineer who has won the Le Mans 24 Hours for Audi three times to date spoke to an audience of invited guests as part of a workshop in Birmingham. Together with physicians, sports scientists, coaches from other sports and sports psychologists, she shared experiences from her work at Audi Sport on the topic of debriefing.

Dindo Capello at Audi Malta Motorsport Awards

Audi Sport legend Dindo Capello attended the Audi Malta Motorsport Awards on Friday. At the awards ceremony, the Malta Motorsport Federation (MMF) honored the best drivers and teams of its country. Three-time Le Mans winner Capello was in Valetta as a guest of honor and visited a dealers’ event hosted by the local Audi importer on Saturday.

A word from ... Dieter Gass

The Head of DTM at Audi Sport about the three-day DTM tests in Spain.

Audi reeled off more test kilometers at Monteblanco than its two competitors. How did the test go from your perspective?

It was a very good test. We drove a lot of kilometers without any major issues. We had an extensive test program and completed our homework in Spain to the extent we’d been planning.

What’ll be next now?

We gathered a large amount of data with both cars on the three days that we’re now going to merge and analyze in Neuburg. Our task is to find out what’s best and to pass that on to our teams for the ITR pre-season test at Hockenheim at the beginning of April. At Monteblanco, we intensively worked on the “tool box” that’s available to our teams. It’s about having the right setup options for always being optimally prepared in varying conditions. This is crucial in view of the extreme competitiveness in the DTM.

Audi Sport only used two drivers at Monteblanco – Jamie Green and Mattias Ekström – who reeled off a particularly large number of test kilometers. Why only these two?

In order to achieve the best possible test results, we prefer using only one driver per car in a development test. That proved to be the right choice again this time. Jamie and Mattias held up well. On Wednesday alone, they drove 200 and 206 laps, respectively. I don’t know if the DTM has ever seen anything like this before. For me, that looks like a new record.

On two of the three days, Mattias Ekström and thus Audi, was the front runner and in the end, the best time of the test went to BMW driver Timo Glock. How relevant are the lap times?

Obviously, it looks to be at the top of the time sheets. But, as always, lap times in tests aren’t really conclusive. We can’t judge the new Mercedes-Benz after these three days yet either. Like every year, we’re only going to know where we stand in the first qualifying session of the season opener at Hockenheim. But that’s what makes the DTM so thrilling.

So, what can the DTM fans look forward to when the season starts at Hockenheim on May 7/8?

I think they’re again going to see a very well-balanced field. Efforts are underway to add more variety and reduce the formation of blocks within the manufacturers’ lineups. The performance weights obviously play a part in this, as well as the DRS (Drag Reduction System) that is to be used more intensively for overtaking than in the past instead of being able to follow a faster car.

Coming up next week

03-06/03 Austin (USA), round 1 & 2, Pirelli World Challenge
03-06/03 Adelaide (AUS), round 1, Australian GT Championship

– End –