Audi Motorsport Newsletter 24/2016

Three wins at Hockenheim

The Audi Sport customer racing teams enjoyed a successful race weekend in the DMV GTC at Hockenheim, the fifth race weekend of the 2016 season. Land-Motorsport led an Audi R8 LMS 1-2-3 in qualifying and won the first race with “Ronny C’Rock”, ahead of the HCB-Rutronik Racing duo of Fabian Plentz and Tommy Tulpe in second and third respectively. Tulpe won the second DMV GTC race of the weekend from pole and his teammate Plentz finished third. HCB-Rutronik Racing’s success continued in the Dunlop 60 race, where Plentz and Tulpe started from pole position and piloted their Audi R8 LMS to victory.

Podium in Australia

Jamec Pem Racing celebrated a podium finish during the fifth race weekend of the Australian GT Championship, which was held on the street circuit in Townsville. Christopher Mies, on his first return to the Australian championship since March, clinched pole position. Mies and teammate Tony Bates then finished runner-up in the one-hour race on Saturday, wherein Mies set the fastest lap of the race and also broke the lap record.

Audi driver Benoît Tréluyer not at Nürburgring

While training on his mountain bike three-time Le Mans winner Benoît Tréluyer fell and injured his spinal column. The injury will heal without surgical intervention and have no further consequences. As the recovery period will be several weeks, the 39-year-old Frenchman has to skip round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). As a result, his teammates, Marcel Fässler and André Lotterer, will be contesting the race at the Nürburgring on July 24 as a team of two in the number “7” Audi R18. “On behalf of Audi Sport, I wish Benoît a speedy and full recovery so that he’ll be ready to race again in the subsequent event in Mexico,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich.

Audi R18 drives through Neckarsulm plant

The Audians at the Neckarsulm plant experienced Le Mans flair at their place of work on Thursday. The Frenchman Loïc Duval who had taken third place in the Le Mans 24 Hours in June with his teammates, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis, did a lap in the Audi R18 on the plant premises. Subsequently, the former Le Mans winner signed autographs for the workforce and met with employees of the race engine department as well. The near-514-hp V6 TDI engine of the Audi R18 is produced in Neckarsulm.

Tom Kristensen in Audi RS 5 DTM

Ten years after his victory in the DTM race at Zandvoort, Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen will again be at the wheel of a DTM race car on the Dutch dune circuit. On July 16 and 17, the Dane will be driving guests around the challenging race track in the Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM race taxi. Kristensen competed for Audi in the DTM from 2004 to 2011 and celebrated a total of four victories. Subsequently, he concentrated on Le Mans prototypes before announcing his retirement from active racing at the end of 2014.

Slotcar Challenge at Zandvoort

The DTM at Zandvoort will see a revival of the Audi DTM Challenge. Three Audi drivers from the DTM will be pitted against three drivers from the Audi Sport TT Cup – on a slot car race track. The “big little race” will be held at the Audi Team & Media Hospitality on Saturday, July 16, 10 AM and covered live on Facebook.

A word from ... André Lotterer

For André Lotterer as the only German driver in Audi’s lineup, the race at the Nürburgring is his home round.

On July 24, you will be competing in the Audi R18 in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). It’s Audi’s home round as well as yours. Are you excited?

Absolutely! I still remember well what kind of a wonderful welcome we received by the crowd a year ago. More than 60,000 fans turned out for the German debut of the FIA WEC in the Eifel. It would be great if this year an equal number or even more spectators would support us at the Ring.

In sporting terms, this season is very challenging. What are your aims?

Our season has been less than perfect so far. In fourth place of the standings, my teammates and I have scored 35 points up to now, so the gap between us and the top is large. However, we’ve only contested three races to date, with six more to follow. We’d like to make up as much ground as possible. That’s particularly difficult this year because all three manufacturers in the LMP1 category are on a similarly high level. Plus, at the Nürburgring Marcel Fässler and I will only be racing as a team of two because our teammate Benoît Tréluyer isn’t fit again yet after a mountain bike accident. But he’ll be in the car with us again starting in Mexico.

What does the challenge at the Nürburgring consist of?

The profile of the track is varied. There are relatively narrow turns such as the section after the start and finish or the chicane, as well as many semi-fast sections. So, the track is completely different from the past two at Spa or at Le Mans. And sometimes the weather in the Eifel is not as nice as it was a year ago when we had 30 degrees centigrade there – the weather has influenced a number of race decisions at the Nürburgring. We’re looking forward to all the challenges.

Coming up next week

14/07 Mattias Ekström’s 38th birthday
15–16/07 Red Bull Ring (A), round 3, GT3 Le Mans Cup
15–17/07 Zandvoort (NL), races 9 and 10, DTM
15–17/07 Le Castellet (F), round 5, International Endurance Series, 24h race
15–17/07 Mugello (I), races 7 and 8, Italian GT Championship
15–17/07 Fuji (J), races 7 and 8, GT Asia
16/07 Nürburgring (D), round 5, VLN