Audi RS 5 DTM meets Ducati Superbike
- DTM and IDM at the Lausitzring
- Joint weekend for Audi and Ducati
- Superbike Champion Forés: “Audi RS 5 DTM is a fascinating car”
A family get-together of the fast kind: Audi DTM driver Miguel Molina and his Spanish compatriot Xavi Forés, who competes in the German motorcycle racing series IDM on a Ducati, met in the pit lane of the Lausitzring on Friday night.
Following the successful premiere last summer, the DTM weekend on the East German race track is now billed as ‘DTM meets Superbike’ for the second time. The touring car racing series and the Superbike*IDM are each holding two championship rounds at the Lausitzring. And in both racing series the Audi Group is among the principal performers. Xavi Forés on his Ducati is the reigning motorcycle champion and Audi the title defender in the DTM manufacturers’ classification. The joint race weekend offers a good opportunity to compare the near-460-hp Audi RS 5 DTM and the near-210-hp Ducati 1199 Panigale R with each other.
“A comparison of the lap times is difficult because we race on a different track configuration than the DTM,” Forés, the runner-up in the IDM overall standings, says before the race at the Lausitzring. “But I’m sure that the DTM car is faster. The Audi RS 5 DTM is a fascinating car. It’s fantastic that the fans get to see both.”
Forés met his compatriot Miguel Molina at the first joint appearance at the Lausitzring last year. “We’ve stayed in touch since then and even have the same nutrition adviser,” says Molina. “I greatly respect what Xavi does but wouldn’t necessarily want to swap with him. I definitely feel more comfortable in my Teufel Audi RS 5 DTM...”
