It is barely a year old and already a great: On Wednesday, the Audi A4 DTM was the star of the AUDI AG work’s meeting alongside its six drivers. And all this for good reason, as the most spectacular version of the successful A4 model made a dream start in Europe’s most popular touring car series: The powerful A4 DTM, with almost 460 hp, won all the titles during its debut year in the DTM. “One could hardly do it,” says Audi Motorsport Head Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich proudly, “better”.
The Audi Sport team, with almost 150 employees, has once again created a masterpiece in the form of the Audi A4 DTM. And this is not a coincidence: Whether Audiquattro, Audi R8 or now the Audi A4 DTM: For more than two decades and in close cooperation with AUDI AG Technical Development, Audi Sport has produced winners for motorsport, from which Audi customers benefit. quattro drive and FSI technology are only two examples of successful technology transfers between the victorious motorsport involvement and volume car production. Even for laymen, the family resemblance of the Audi A4 DTM and the production model is visible at first glance. Nevertheless, the 1080 kilogram DTM car, which includes the weight of the driver, is a thoroughbred race car into which every drop of know-how acquired by the AUDI AG engineers over the years flowed. In this case, it is not so easy to demonstrate “Vorsprung durch Technik” in the DTM. Equipment and performance parity and cost-consciousness is priority number one in the top class of touring cars. The budgets required are therefore calculable, the latitude for the engineers small. But this is exactly what makes it interesting again: Even the tiniest of details plays a decisive role in the DTM. As a result, the Audi Sport technicians presented numerous innovative detail solutions on the Audi A4 DTM, which were, in part, even copied by the competition during the season and will also be adopted by them next year.
Second race, second victory – Team KMS Motorsport can be proud of their results with the new Audi A4 in the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC).
In Mantorp Park verteidigte Audi Pilot Fredrik Ekblom mit einem zweiten Platz im Sprint und einem souveränen Sieg im Hauptrennen die Tabellenführung. Tobias Johansson und KMS-Teamchef Tommy Kristoffersson komplettierten die starke Vorstellung der Audi A4 mit den Plätzen drei und vier. „Der A4 ist einfach perfekt und das Team hat eine tolle Abstimmung gefunden“, schwärmte Kristoffersson, der im Hauptrennen nach einem Ausfall im Sprint (Kollision) vom letzten noch auf den vierten Platz nach vorne fuhr. „Ich habe fast das komplette Feld überholt. Unsere Autos waren über die gesamte Distanz konstant schnell.“ Ergebnisse Mantorp Park (S), 3. Lauf zur Schwedischen Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft (STCC), 18. Mai 1. Jan Nilsson (Volvo) 11 Runden 2. Fredrik Ekblom (Audi A4) + 0,432 Sek. 3. Tomas Engström (Honda) + 0,730 Sek. 4. Tommy Rustad (Opel) + 3,074 Sek. 5. Tobias Johansson (Audi A4) + 3,570 Sek. Mantorp Park (S), 4. Lauf zur Schwedischen Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft (STCC), 18. Mai 1. Fredrik Ekblom (Audi A4) 18 Runden 2. Jan Nilsson (Volvo) + 3,842 Sek. 3. Tobias Johansson (Audi A4) + 9,797 Sek. 4. Tommy Kristoffersson (Audi A4) + 13,056 Sek. 5. Tommy Rustad (Opel) + 13,071 Sek.
The Audi A4 DTM is unveiled to the public on Tuesday within the framework of the official DTM presentation in Hamburg. The two works teams Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline and Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest present their new 2004 DTM (German Touring Car Masters) race cars for the first time in their partners’ colours. The two A4 DTM cars of Christian Abt and Tom Kristensen start in the typical yellow outfit of the Hasseröder Brewery. The cars of Mattias Ekström and Martin Tomczyk are painted in metallic-blue and carry the logos of Red Bull and PlayStation 2. The silver A4 cars of Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest, driven by Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro, race under the "S line” banner of the quattro GmbH.
Although the DTM technical regulations allow the engineers very little room for manoeuvre, Audi Sport has managed to develop a DTM touring car that differs in many respects to the competitors’ cars. Furthermore, the team of Audi Motorsport Head Dr Wolfgang Ullrich won the first race against time: The new Audi A4 DTM successfully completed its roll-out just before Christmas and, as a result, earlier than the cars of their rivals. That the A4 DTM, developed under the supervision of Wolfgang Appel (Vehicle Technology), Ulrich Baretzky (Engine Technology) and Stefan Aicher (Technical Project Leader), possesses the necessary genes to follow on in the wheel tracks of the successful R8 sports car project were clearly displayed at the first encounter with the competition: The new Audi touring car topped the time sheets after four days of testing at Estoril (Portugal). "However, only at the season opening Hockenheim race on April 18 will we definitely know where we stand,” qualifies Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. The Audi Sport engineers were able to resource their wealth of information from the touring car days during the A4 DTM car’s development.
Evolution of a championship winning car Presentation at the Motor Show in Geneva First race on 13 April at Hockenheim
To make a championship winning car even better – the Audi Sport engineers and technicians faced this delicate task when the job of developing the DTM race version of the new Audi A4 arose. From the visual aspect they certainly succeeded: The new A4 DTM, which was publicly unveiled for the first time at the Motor Show in Geneva, spontaneously appears even more dynamic than the successful predecessor model with which Mattias Ekström won the DTM title last year.
The fourth-generation Audi A4 DTM, which bears the project name “R14” internally at Audi Sport, is also futuristic from the technical aspect. With the help of state-of-the-art CFD calculations (Computational Fluid Dynamics) particular attention was paid to the air flow running around and through the car. “In doing so we completed what we had already started last year with the R13,” explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. “We are convinced that we have achieved the most logical optimisation of the aerodynamics allowed within the framework of the regulations.” During the twelve month development period, which started in March 2007, a predominantly new DTM car differing in many details to its predecessor was created in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm. “Ground breaking technical innovations on a par with quattro, FSI or TDI are not possible owing to the restrictive nature of the regulations,” says Dr Martin Mühlmeier, Head of Audi Sport Technology. “In the DTM it’s more a question of the logical interpretation and implementation of the technology allowed.” In the process it was possible to reduce the car’s centre of gravity height and to further reduce the dry weight, which in turn gives the race engineers more flexibility to set the car up to suit specific race tracks and the weight distribution.
High-tech jigsaw puzzle comprising over 4000 parts 26 days until the start of the 2006 DTM
Less than four weeks before the first race of the 2006 DTM on April 9th, Audi Sport and its DTM teams are engaged in particularly feverish activity. Coming up next on the calendar are the official DTM tests at Brands Hatch (England) scheduled from Monday to Thursday next week. By then, all ten Audi A4 DTM cars are supposed to be ready for the circuit.
The two new Audi factory teams, Phoenix and Rosberg, and the customer team of Dr Colin Kolles are able to concentrate on fine-tuning work: they will be competing with “used cars”. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, on the other hand, will be entering four newly prepared A4 DTM vehicles, the last two of which are presently in the process of being completed. For the mechanics of Audi Sport Abt Sportsline, this means spending a lot of time in Ingolstadt at the moment. Traditionally, all new racing vehicles are prepared at Audi Sport. The mechanics of the respective vehicle crew are involved in the preparation, which means that they are intimately familiar with the car even before the season has started. An Audi A4 DTM comprises roughly 4000 components – not counting the engine and gearbox. If all the parts are staged, including the cockpit made of 28 metres of high-strength steel, it takes the mechanics about 50 hours to put together this high-tech ‘jigsaw puzzle.’
Audi A4 (until 2024)
Taut design, top-notch connectivity, broad-based electrification – the Audi A4 represents the brand with the four rings like no other model. That is what makes it an important reflection of the direction in which Audi is developing. Its sporty body lines and the innovative operating concept with the central MMI touch display signify a real upgrade. Five of the eight engine variants work in conjunction with mild hybrid systems (MHEV) – this broad-based electrification benefits efficiency and comfort. Both S models are now equipped with a 3.0 TDI with 255 kW (347 metric hp) and 700 Nm (516.3 lb-ft) – this combination of performance, torque and efficiency is unique in the segment. In 2024 the A4 model family was replaced by the Audi A5.
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Fourth consecutive pole position for the Audi A4 DTM at Zandvoort Timo Scheider on position one for the first time this year Youngster Miguel Molina shines with position four
The champion is back – and how! With a record lead of almost seven tenths of a second Audi driver Timo Scheider commandingly clinched the pole position for the DTM race at Zandvoort (Sunday, starting at 1:45 p.m. – local time – on “Das Erste”). Audi thus continued an impressive string of qualifying results: for the fourth consecutive time an Audi A4 DTM will start from the pole position on the Dutch North Sea coast.
Timo Scheider had to wait for this moment exactly 60 weeks. The reigning DTM Champion clinched his last pole position on June 27, 2009 at the Norisring in Nuremberg. On his favorite track at Zandvoort, where he took his first DTM pole position in 2003 and his first as an Audi driver in 2007, Scheider delivered an impressive comeback. With a perfect qualifying lap he relegated last year’s winner Gary Paffett to position two by 0.696 seconds. “We’re back, that’s a good feeling,” said Scheider with tears in his eyes. After a difficult start to the season the title defender made it into the final qualifying segment (Q4) for the first time this year and was able to fully take advantage of the qualities of his Audi A4 DTM and secured his third pole position at Zandvoort. In total, it was his eighth in the DTM. “I arrived here with a good feeling – and so far it hasn’t misled me,” says Scheider. “Now I want to finally win here tomorrow too, because I’ve always wanted to do that at Zandvoort.” By taking its third pole position in total this year, Audi has equalized Mercedes-Benz in the qualifying duel which now reflects a score of 3:3 and delivered a good team performance on the whole. With Miguel Molina, Mattias Ekström and Oliver Jarvis on grid positions four, five and six, four Audi A4 DTM cars of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline will start into the race from the first three rows.
The predecessor to the current Audi A4 was one of the most successful Super Touring Cars in the world. Even eight years after its debut, there was still enough life in the car to win a championship title: Italian Roberto Colciago clinched the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) in 2002 in an Audi A4quattro for the second time in succession.
Now its successor is on its marks: the racing version of the new Audi A4 which has been developed by Swedish outfit KMS Motorsport with the support of the Audi Customer Sports Department. In Sweden, new technical regulations come into effect this season. Instead of Super Touring Cars, Super 2000 cars that are being entered in the FIA European Touring Car Championship are now in Sweden. “So we were forced to develop a new car,” says team director Tommy Kristoffersson. “Since 1989, we have been closely cooperating with the Customer Sports Department of Audi. Without the expertise from Audi Sport, we stood no chance to turn this ambitious project into reality within such a short time span.” The KMS Team which is being supported by the Swedish Audi importer drafted the first sketches of the new touring car in May 2002. By the end of August, work on the first prototype had started. In early March 2003, it was shaken down for the first time. “In the past four years, we have won the title in Sweden three times,” Kristoffersson proudly states. “2003, however, will be a learning season for us. It is an all-new car, our first goal is to achieve podium finishes. After all, we have to dispense with the popular quattro drive this year.” Super 2000 rules only permit front-wheel driven or rear-wheel driven vehicles. KMS profits from the experiences Audi Sport has gathered in 1997 and in 1998 with the front-wheel driven A4 Super Touring. The sequential gearbox even directly came from the Super Tourer.