News bits from the Audi DTM team
- Audi Q7 motorcade precedes start of DTM race
- Markus Beyer visits Christian Abt
- “a-ha” in the pits of Mattias Ekström
A motorcade just before the start of the DTM finale gave fans the chance to witness the new Audi Q7 “live” for the first time. A total of ten Q7 cars lapped the Hockenheimring. At the wheel were employees of AUDI AG involved in the Q7 project. The motorcade was led by the Audi RS4 Safety Car.
Roughly 600 guests attended the Race Party at Audi’s VIP Lounge Saturday night. One of the highlight’s of the evening was a performance by singer Carla Vallet, who appeared on Sunday’s ARD Chart Show as well, presenting her Audi Q7 song, “Streets of Tomorrow”.
Carla Vallet had a real “hands-on” experience of the DTM at Hockenheim: on Saturday, the singer climbed into the hot seat alongside SEAT factory driver Peter Terting in the Audi A4 DTM racing taxi. On Sunday, Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen revealed the secrets of the DTM to the singer during her visit to the Audi team garage.
Mattias Ekström also received visitors from the world of music: after the warm-up, the Norwegian cult band, a-ha, popped in for a visit with the Audi factory driver.
Christian Abt was another recipient of prominent support: world boxing champion Markus Beyer crossed his fingers for Abt at Hockenheim and even showed him the pit board during the warm-up session. At Audi’s VIP Lounge Beyer met his former boxing colleague, Darius Michalczewski, as well.
Other guests seen at the Audi VIP lounge included Florian Kehrmann, “handball player of the year” and captain of the German national team, Dieter Thoma and his ex-ski jumping colleague Sven Hannawald, beach volleyball players Andreas Scheuerpflug, Christoph Dieckmann and Julius Brink, who are supported by Red Bull, swimmer Antje Buschschulte as well as actors Fritz Wepper and Bruno Eyron (“Balko”).
Prof Dr Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of AUDI AG, would not miss the opportunity of witnessing the DTM finale at Hockenheim, and neither would his fellow board members, Dr Jochem Heizmann (Production), and Ralph Weyler (Marketing and Sales).
The private charity organisation, “Herzenswünsche e.V.”, arranged a get-together with Audi factory driver Mattias Ekström for a little boy suffering from a terminal illness, thus making a dream come true for the child.
Howden Haynes and Ed Turner proved that they are true English gentlemen: the two race engineers of Audi Sport Team Joest bought all the flowers available from Audi’s Team & Media Hospitality and presented them to the ladies working there – to express their thanks for the good service provided by the Käfer team from Munich during the 2005 season.