Lotterer and Vanthoor at Motor Show in Brussels
Audi factory driver André Lotterer and GT Sport driver Laurens Vanthoor visited the 93rd Motor Show in Brussels. Both signed plenty of autographs and subsequently attended the opening gala of the Dream Car exhibition. One of the cars showcased at the exhibition was the Audi R18 e-tron quattro in which Lotterer, together with Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer, celebrated his third victory in the 24-hour race at Le Mans last year.
Audi drivers present new R8 LMS in Geneva
Prominent appearance at the Geneva Motor Show: Together with Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development of AUDI AG, Rahel Frey, Edoardo Mortara and Tom Kristensen presented among others the new Audi R8 LMS. The nine-time Le Mans winner, who has just recently ended his career, was previously featured in an emotional film with a selection of the trophies he won and thus put the visitors in the mood for the next generation of the R8. On the same day, the production car was unveiled not only in Geneva but also at the Audi Cities in Berlin and in London. Kristensen’s former team-mates Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro attended these events as guests.
Premiere for new Audi R8 LMS in the Eifel
Following the unveiling of the new Audi R8 LMS at the Geneva Motor Show, fans can look forward to its first official appearance on a race track. March 14 will be the date: Frank Stippler and Markus Winkelhock will be sharing the cockpit of the new race car in the “Test- und Einstellfahrten” for the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring. Audi Sport customer racing will continue testing the GT3 race car that has been re-developed from scratch at this test.
A word from ... Romolo Liebchen
Needless to say we were particularly pleased to see a new production sports car and the corresponding race car being simultaneously unveiled at Audi, and at as important an exhibition as the Geneva Motor Show at that. There were also many inquisitive looks and keen interest when we were on track with the new R8 LMS in the VLN Test and Set-up Session on the Nürburgring. The public attention is a nice reward for what has been achieved so far. But there is something else that your squad is currently focused on – a huge workload. Since the development began in 2013 we have already done a lot of valuable work, reeling off tens of thousands of test kilometers and many test bench runs. The first public run on the Nordschleife this weekend was important for our further preparation. We had previously been on the Nürburgring only once and the weather was bad at that time. We’ve now obtained further important findings for optimizing our a set-up. This should provide a good basis for the VLN Endurance Races on March 28 and April 25. With that, we should be among the first manufacturers to test their new models for 2016 in racing conditions. What other tasks are on your agenda? We’re aiming to have developed a fully matured car by the time of the Nürburgring 24 Hours on May 16 and 17 that fits the requirements of the Nordschleife well and will be competitive as soon as possible. In the intervening period there’s still an endurance test on our agenda as well. We’re going to contest further races during the course of the season. The resulting findings will – to the extent this may be
Podium in the Blancpain Endurance Series
Podium result for the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT in the season opener of the Blancpain Endurance Series in Monza (Italy): Title defender Laurens Vanthoor together with his team-mates Robin Frijns and Jean-Karl Vernay in the Audi R8 LMS ultra showed a strong recovery after starting from position nine and went on to finish in third place. As the winner was disqualified a few hours after the race, the Audi trio even advanced to second place. However, the result is provisional due to a pending appeal. DTM driver Edoardo Mortara finished a guest run in an R8 LMS ultra of Team Saintéloc Racing in ninth place. At Monza, the new Audi R8 LMS that was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in early March was tested in racing conditions as well. The brand new sports car proved reliable: Nico Müller, Stéphane Ortelli and Frank Stippler in an R8 LMS of Audi Sport Team WRT took sixth place and the sister car from Phoenix Racing with Christopher Haase, Christian Mamerow and Markus Winkelhock completed the full racing distance as well.
René Rast at Frankfurt Motor Show
Visitors of the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) had the chance to meet Audi driver René Rast at the Akrapovič stand. The 28-year old race driver signed many autographs and gave interviews regarding his first Le Mans race for Audi last June at the display of Audi Sport’s partner.
Golden racing driver boot Award for Tom Kristensen
Special accolade for Tom Kristensen: the Le Mans record winner’s unique career has been honored at the Essen Motor Show in Germany. The editorial board of the special interest magazine “AutoBild motorsport” awarded the “Goldener Rennfahrerschuh” (Golden racing driver boot) to the overwhelmed Dane on Friday evening at the traditional “Race night”. The new endurance world champion Timo Bernhard, who won the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours in an Audi R15 TDI, MADE the congratulatory speech. Some 600 guests gave Kristensen a standing ovation.
Edoardo Mortara and Jamie Green at Essen Motor Show
Jamie Green, the runner-up in the 2015 championship season, and Edoardo Mortara, who finished in fourth place overall, signed numerous autographs at the Essen Motor Show and talked about their season in interviews. The two drivers were guests at the trade fair booths of the DTM and tire manufacturer Hankook on Saturday and Sunday.