Search

ADAC has been organizing the GT Masters sports car racing series since 2007. Audi drivers have already won the overall title five times in the popular GT3 competition. Pictures and videos

American Le Mans Series season opener at Sebring (USA) Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen complete driver line-up Audi drivers facing difficult task The 2007 Audi R10 TDI, which was unveiled to the world’s public on Monday evening in Munich, contests its first race on Saturday (17 March) at Sebring (USA). The 12-hour race in “Sunshine State” Florida is the opening race and one of the highlights of the American Le Mans Series, and also dress rehearsal for the Le Mans 24 Hours for Audi Sport’s team. It is not only the new design that distinguishes the further developed Audi R10 TDI from its successful predecessor that started its winning streak exactly one year ago and remains unbeaten since then. To ensure that it remains the car to beat in 2007, innumerable details were optimised on the LM P1 Prototype. The Audi R10 TDI will certainly not have things all its own way its second year of competition. The 150 kilogram lighter LM P2 cars are allowed to race in the American Le Mans Series with more engine power than at Le Mans. At the same time, diesel powered cars must manage with a nine-litre smaller fuel tank in the future – as stipulated by the Automobile Club de l‘Ouest (ACO) regulations. Reducing the fuel-cell volume from 90 to 81 litres – realised by mounting a partition in the tank – was not the only modification made to the latest R10 TDI model by Audi Sport over the winter. The complex electronic system associated with the V12 TDI engine was optimised together with partner Bosch. The majority of the other modification targeted an improvement in efficiency, consumption, durability and drivability. The maximum power is unchanged at around 650 hp, but the power curve was noticeably improved. The R10 TDI carbon-fibre monocoque is identical to last year’s design. Minor aerodynamic modifications, which are only visible to the trained eye, were made to the exterior surfaces. The friction and weight levels of the entire powertrain were reduced.

Its “older brother”, the Audi TT clubsport quattro, was developed from the 2007 show car, and as bronze medallist has also been selected for the exhibition. The remaining cars in this “hit parade”: the Audi A1 Hot Rod, the Q5 Custom Concept, the Audi Fox Wagon, the DKW Meisterklasse Universal Type F 89 S, the Audi Front 225 roadster, the Audi RS2 Avant, the R8 Spyder “Iron Man 2” and the Q7 Pickup.

A year later on the debut of the Audi R8, Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro, took Audi’s first victory in a sports car race. Another 62 wins would follow and make the R8 one of the most successful LMP1 sports cars in history. On March 18, 2006, Audi wrote another new chapter in motorsport history: Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish scored the first victory for a diesel racing sports car in an important international endurance race on the debut of the Audi R10 TDI. The trio, which was victorious at Le Mans last year, remains in the same formation for the debut of the new Audi R15 TDI. Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Werner drive the “sister” R15 TDI. The six Audi factory drivers have the opportunity to gain experience with the new LMP1 racing sports car under race conditions for an entire week – and this on one of the world’s most difficult race tracks in temperatures expected to reach some 30 degrees Celsius in the shade. These are entirely new conditions for the R15 TDI which until now tested almost exclusively in cool temperatures and was often running in the rain at the tests in Europe. The 12-hour race at Sebring is also the first event in which the new technical regulations for Le Mans prototypes are valid. In contrast to last year, the width of the rear wing is reduced by 40 centimeters. Furthermore, the diesel powered cars must compete with smaller engine air intakes and less turbo pressure and, as a consequence, less engine power. Audi Sport has attempted to compensate as much as possible with many technical innovations for the restrictions imposed by the new regulations. Comments before the race at Sebring Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “Sebring is an important test for the 24 Hours of Le Mans for us. Experience shows that the track is very hard and mercilessly reveals any problem a car has. Therefore it’s particularly important to compete with a newly developed car here.

Audi R8 LMS GT3 Number 1 is back in the lead: On the fourth race weekend of the International GT Open, Christopher Haase/Simon Reicher achieved a breakthrough with the number 1 car: after four second places in the individual races of the first half of the season, the German-Austrian driver duo recorded their first win of the season at the Hungaroring. Haase laid the foundation for this with the fastest time in the second qualifying session, which was a clear 0.543 seconds ahead. The Audi R8 LMS led all 34 laps of Sunday’s one-hour race and ultimately won by 10.580 seconds at the gates of Budapest. Haase was the starting driver, Reicher took over the cockpit at the pit stop. The team from Upper Austria has thus won the 300th race of this Europe-wide series at the halfway point of the season. Former racing driver Jesús Pareja originally launched the competition in 1999 as the IBER GT. Last year’s champions Haase/Reicher turned a two-point deficit in the standings into a four-point lead in Hungary. Two other Audi customer teams also clinched trophies: Saintéloc Racing achieved third place in the Pro-Am classification with Michael Blanchemain/Marcus Påverud in the first race. Second place in this class went to Team ISR with Libor Milota/Filip Salaquarda in the second race. At the second round of the Thailand Super Series, B-Quik Absolute Racing put in a convincing performance in front of a large crowd. In the first race on the Bangsaen street circuit, Akash Nandy started from pole position in the team’s Audi R8 LMS. He immediately built up a lead, which was of great importance in view of the regulations. As his teammate Deng Yi has FIA Silver driver status and the driver pairing was competing in this racing series for the first time, an extended mandatory pit stop time of 156 seconds applied. With a 13-second lead, Nandy handed his Audi over to his Chinese teammate at the stop, who initially maintained the lead but then dropped back to second place.

Four teams, eight Audi R8 LMS: Sixth ADAC GT Masters title as target Audi RS e-tron GT underlines sustainability goals as Leading Car ADAC Racing Weekend with ten GT sports cars from Audi The ADAC GT Masters and its support series on the same platform are already entering their 16th season in 2022. Audi Sport customer racing has been involved in the top-class GT3 series since the beginning of the customer racing program and has already won it five times with its teams, most recently last year. With the ADAC Racing Weekend there is a second attractive motorsport stage of the Munich-based automobile club. No fewer than ten GT race cars with the four rings are competing in the current season. “The success story of ADAC platforms in national racing is and remains unrivaled,” says Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “Eight customer teams are fielding a total of 20 race cars from Audi in the ADAC racing series this year, from the RS 3 LMS to the R8 LMS GT4 and the R8 LMS GT3. At the Red Bull Ring, even the GT2 European Series will turn up, so that our entire model range will be at the start for the first time.” In addition to the sporting qualities, ADAC is increasingly focusing on the sustainability of its racing series. Having already succeeded in reducing plastic waste at race tracks in the past, this year the race cars will be refueling with Blue Gasoline 98 GT Masters fuel from partner Shell with a 50-percent share of sustainable components. Audi is providing a purely battery-powered leading car for the first time with the RS e-tron GT as the electric and sporty spearhead of the model range. It has a power output of 440 kW (598 hp) and even briefly mobilizes 475 kW (646 hp) in overboost. The number 1 start in the ADAC GT Masters has been earned by the Montaplast by Land Motorsport team. Last year’s champions Christopher Mies and Ricardo Feller, who start for the team of Christian and Wolfgang Land, are two of eight Audi Sport drivers in the field.

Audi RS 3 LMS scores podium finishes in Italy Overall victory for the Audi R8 LMS GT2 in Spain Audi R8 LMS GT3 on the podium again in Italy Customer racing successes were concentrated on southern Europe during the second weekend in July: Audi customer teams achieved podium results with the Audi RS 3 LMS at Mugello, Italy, and are leading four of the TCR Italy championship classifications. In the Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo Endurance at the same venue, an Audi R8 LMS also finished in the top three. The Audi R8 LMS GT2 celebrated an overall victory and second place in the Campeonato de España GT in Spain. The weekend was rounded off with a class win in Portugal for the GT4 version of the Audi R8 LMS. Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR) Leading the standings in Italy: At the third round of TCR Italy at Mugello, customer teams with the Audi RS 3 LMS took podium places in all four races. Private driver Nicola Baldan from Aikoa Racing achieved second place in both heats of TCR Italy and twice won the Master class. With these strong results, the Italian moved up from seventh to first place in the overall TCR Italy drivers’ standings, while he also leads the Master class. With third place overall in the second race, Canadian Nicolas Taylor from PMA Motorsport also won the rookie classification and the classification for drivers under 25 years of age. He continues to lead the rookie standings. In the TCR Italy DSG for models from the Volkswagen Group with dual clutch transmissions, seven drivers relied on the previous generation of the Audi RS 3 LMS. Here, the Italian Luca Franca in the Audi RS 3 LMS from Aikoa Racing finished runner-up in the first race with a grid of 19 participants, ahead of his compatriot Luca Verdi, who won the class for drivers under 25. In the second race, Luca Franca was back on the podium with third place.

Date of birth: August 15, 1996 Date of birth: Karlsruhe (D) Residence: Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (D) Marital status: ledig Height/Weight: 1.83 m/73 kg Motorsport debut: 2007 Career highlights 2007–13 Karting 2014 6th in ADAC Formula Masters 2015 3rd in Audi Sport TT Cup 2016 2nd in Audi Sport TT Cup 2017 ADAC GT Masters (Audi R8 LMS) 2018 ADAC GT Masters 2019 ADAC GT Masters (Audi R8 LMS) 2020 ADAC GT Masters, 24h Spa, 9h Kyalami (each time in Audi R8 LMS) www.dennis-marschall.de twitter.com/marschalldennis facebook.com/DennisMarschallOfficial instagram.com/dennismarschall