Weekend Round Up - Audi Motorsport Blog (13-14/07/2013)

By Johan Laubscher

1. The Weekend

Focussing on the weekend of 13 - 14 July 2013

2. The Events

•           DTM
•           Goodwood FoS
•           Pirelli World Challenge
•           GT Asia
•           Australian GT
•           Le Sommet des Legendes
•           French Rallycross
•           Omnitel 1000 km
•           Austrian Hillclimb

2.1. DTM

The DTM was at the Norisring this weekend, round five of the German Championship. The regular eight Audi RS 5 DTM cars were present, fielded by ABT, Rosberg and Phoenix. Seven of the eight Audi RS 5 DTM cars made it into the top ten during the Saturday morning practice session. Qualifying saw three Audis within the top ten, lead by Edoardo Mortara in fourth place. The race itself was one full of surprises. Mortara was able to hold his ground and move up to third with Ekström and Rockenfeller also moving up well. Clever pit-stop strategies allowed an Audi 1-2 at the front with Mortara leading Ekström. Rockenfeller had completed both of his pit-stops early and went for the long run op option tires. Ekström managed to overtake Mortara for the lead, whilst Rocky had moved up well into the top ten. Mortara unfortunately retired due to a late race altercation with Gary Paffett, and Rocky began to fall back slowly as his option tires started to wear off. In the end Mattias Ekström came home to win Audi's first victory at the Norisring since 2002. Rocky finished in fifth place, and remains the championship points leader.  

Update: Ekström was disqualified and excluded from the race results later on Sunday evening. The disqualification was for an infringement of Parc Ferme rules, regarding water being poured into his suit pockets in Parc Ferme. The official DTM press release about the disqualification can be seen HERE, and Audi's announcement that they will appeal the ruling can be seen HERE.  

Audi Sport Communication / Media

Results

2.2. Goodwood FoS

The annual Goodwood Festival of Speed was held this weekend. A large Audi presence was on site as always at this highlight of the international motorsport season. Various Audi hospitality set-ups and road cars were on show, including a number of Audi race cars, most notably the 2013 Le Mans winning Audi R18 e-tron quattro which was driven by Allan McNish this weekend.

Audi UK FB page

2.3. Pirelli World Challenge

A week after Lime Rock the Pirelli World Challenge headed onto the Streets of Toronto for round six. Three GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS cars lined up on the grid this weekend. They showed good pace during practice, with James Sofronas topping the first session. In qualifying the Audis achieved a top three starting position as Sofronas qualified in third, followed by his Duncan Ende in eighth. The race ended with a fourth place for James Sofronas and Duncan Ende in sixth. 

Pirelli World Challenge wesbite

Results

2.4. GT Asia  

The third GT Asia meeting remained in Japan, hosting rounds five and six at the Fuji Speedway. Three Audi R8 LMS ultra cars were at the event, all entered by Absolute Racing. The first race saw the highest Audi finisher in fifth place, the #888 of Yoong and Onda. They lead home the #98 Audi in sixth, followed by the third #7 Audi in eighth. The second race was an extremely good performance for the Absolute Racing squad, an 1-2 race victory for the team. The #7 Audi R8 LMS ultra of Jeffrey Lee and Marchy Lee crossed the line victorious ahead of their teammates in the #888 Audi. The Audi 1-2 was backed up by the #98 Audi finishing in fourth, ending off a terrific day for Audi and Absolute Racing in Japan.

Absolute Racing FB page

Results

2.5. Australian GT

The Australian GT Championship headed to Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend. Two Audi cars were entered, both run by Melbourne Performance Centre. The Audi R8 LMS ultra was driven by Rod Salmon and Nathan Antunes, and the R8 LMS by Dean Koustoumidis and Andrew McInnes. This was the first Australian GT event where the Koustoumidis R8 LMS was run by MPC, following a switch from Minda Motorsport. Both cars were recently entered by MPC in a regional event in Sydney, as preparation for this weekend. The cars performed very well and the Salmon R8 LMS ultra qualified second and the Koustoumidis car in seventh. Race one saw Salmon and Antunes scoring a podium by finishing in third, followed by the second Audi in sixth place. Race two saw the highest Audi finishing in sixth, again the Audi R8 LMS ultra of Salmon and Antunes. The Equity-One Audi R8 LMS finished in eighth, ensuring that both Audis finished the weekend inside of the top ten for races one and two.

  

Melbourne Performance Centre FB page

Results

2.6. Le Sommet des Legendes

The annual Le Sommet des Legendes was held at Mont Tremblant in Canada. This is an annual historic racing event, and features many valuable old race cars. Travis Engen was at the event, and entered his Audi R8 (#606). The car is prepared and run for Engen by GMT Racing.

SascoSports FB page

Results

2.7. French Rallycross

The French Rallycross Championship held the Lessay-Manche round this weekend. Two Audi cars took part. The Division 4 class Audi A3 driven by Jimmy Terpereau, and the Racing Team Jagu Audi A1 of Yvonnick Jagu in the Super 1600 class.

Racing Team Jagu website

Results

2.8. Omnitel 1000 km

The Omnitel 1000 km took place in Lithuania this weekend. A number of Audi race cars have competed in this race in recent years, including Audi quattro cars, and even the Audi-powered Spyker Squadron team. This year an Audi A4 B5, a regular entrant in this annual event, was entered.

Omnitel 1000 km lenktynės

Results

2.9. Austrian Hillclimb

The Demmerkogel Hillclimb was held this weekend, as part of the Austrian Hillclimb Championship. A number of Audis were entered, including the Marko Racing Audi A4 STW, Audi S2, Audi 80 and Audi 90.

Marko Racing FB page

Results

2.10. Other Audi News

A number of BTCC teams tested at Snetterton this week. The #14 Audi A4 NGTC from Rob Austin Racing was one of the cars at the test, driven by Will Bratt.

Phil Laughton Photography FB page

The Superstars Series is heading to Portugal for round five of the series next weekend. Filipe Albuquerque will be taking part in the Superstars GT Sprint, sharing the MTM Audi R8 LMS with Thomas Schöffler. He has competed in the Superstars before, competing at the Portuguese round in 2009 and 2010, driving an Audi RS 4 for Audi Sport Italia and taking victory at Portimao in 2010.

Superstars website

An Audi R8 GT road car, one of the limited edition cars of which only 333 units were made, has been converted into a track day car utilizing R8 LMS body work. The car is being called the “R8 GT ultra” by its owners, and is part of the MS Racing set-up and also has an orange kfzteile24 livery.

kfzteile24 FB page

An Audi R18 e-tron quattro was at the Norisring this weekend, and completed demonstration laps. The car's bodywork had the same livery as the 2013 Le Mans race winning R18 e-tron quattro, whilst the actual car which won the race this year was at Goodwood. 

Audi Sport Communication / Media

The DTM had announced many plans for the future this year, highlighted by plans for DTM in North America and a proposed joint venture with the Japanese Super GT Championship. An agreement has been reached that a new set of regulations will be used across all three championships by 2017, namely the DTM in Germany, Super GT in Japan and the proposed North American touring car series, which will be managed by GRAND-AM. More information can be read HERE. 

Audi Sport Communication / Media

3. Next Weekend’s events (20-21/07/2013)

•           ELMS
•           Superstars
•           Superstars GT Sprint
•           ADAC GT Masters
•           Italian GT
•           STT
•           Super GT Test
•           Cup & Tourenwagen
•           Super Taikya
•           VLN

All photos are hosted at their respective website which are listed within the Weekend Round Up

DTM: Watch round 5 Live at Norisring

Round 5 of the DTM is about to start at the Norisring. Edoardo Mortara will start from position 4, the best Audi driver on the grid. You can watch the race via the official DTM Live Streaming on YouTube, embedded below.

Live Timing can be seen here.

Twitter updates from the Audi Sport official channel is available here.

Photo credit: Audi Media

Gallery: Audi at Goodwood Festival of Speed

By Tarek Ramchani

Goodwood is the place to be for motorsport enthusiasts this weekend. Annually this famous British venue is the home of an impressive meeting, featuring great cars and brands. From Formula One to Le Mans Prototypes, Rally cars and more. As per usual Audi was very well represented. A massive presence from Audi UK and Audi Tradition. A selection of Audi cars were on display for the delight of the British racing fans.

Here is a great set of photos from Goodwood by our friend Phil Laughton.

Photo credit: Phil Laughton Photography

DTM, GRAND-AM and Super GT: identical regulations in 2017

DTM Press Release

DTM in Europe, Super GT in Japan and a new series in the USA to be established under the guidance of GRAND-AM will be staging touring car races to entirely identical technical regulations on three continents in 2017. Prior to the DTM round at the Norisring in Nuremberg, this goal was agreed by representatives from the motorsport federations, the series’ promoters and the car manufacturers already represented in the series, Audi, BMW, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Toyota. In line with the co-operation agreements between the three series, the common Steering Committee, responsible for the maintenance and the joint development of the regulations, assembled for the first time in Nuremberg.

“We have agreed upon the goal that in 2017, all manufacturers will be racing to absolutely identical regulations. That is a very important step. Moreover, we agreed that the Steering Committee will be governing the regulations and developing them in this spirit”, said Hans Werner Aufrecht, chairman of the board of DTM rights holder and promoter ITR e.V. and the host of this historic meeting at the Norisring.

For the road towards the joint regulations in 2017, everyone involved in the Steering Committee have defined a clear road map. “We are very happy that we are able to start a new chapter in the history of motorsport with this first step,” said Masaaki Bandoh, chairman of Super GT promoter, GT Association, which will already be using parts of the regulations that were developed for the DTM in 2012, from 2014 onwards. “Development of the cars from Honda, Nissan and Toyota is to be finalised by the end of this month. For the fifth Super GT round in Suzuka on August 16th, we have planned to put all the cars on display and show them to the media and the fans,” said Bandoh.

The new series planned by GRAND-AM is to run at events of the future United SportsCar Racing series. “In the new United SportsCar Racing series, we have some great tracks like Daytona, Sebring or the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. We will be racing at some great tracks,” Ed Bennett, president of GRAND-AM, who is still in the construction process of the new series, announced. Bennett will host the next meeting of the Steering Committee, which is to assemble at least every six months. “We have planned to have a rotation between our three regions. Accordingly, the next meeting will be held in the USA at the occasion of the Daytona 24 Hours at the end of January, 2014,” Bennett said. After that, the next meeting will follow in the summer of 2014 at the 1,000 kilometre race in Suzuka.

Underneath the Steering Committee, a Technical Working Group was established at executive level. “Of course, there also were different opinions in our first meeting. However, we have the same goal and we try to find solutions for detailed questions. The Technical Working Group will be assist the Steering Committee and will be made up of technicians who will find these solutions,” said Dr. Gerd Ennser, board member automobiles of the Deutsche Motor Sport Bund (DMSB).

“With the new regulations, we have the great chance to achieve a cost reduction and the possibility to put our Japanese races on a global platform,” said Yoshiki Hiyama, secretary general of the Japanese Automobile Federation (JAF).

The first meeting of the Steering Committee in Nuremberg was attended by Masaaki Bando, Junichi Tsuda (both GTA), Yoshiki Hiyama (JAF), Hideo Sato (Honda), Shoichi Miyatani, Toshikazu Tanaka (both Nissan) and Keizo Takahashi (Toyota) from Japan, Ed Bennett (GRAND-AM) and Jim France (NASCAR) from the United States and Hans Werner Aufrecht and Michael Bernard (both ITR), Hans- Joachim Stuck, Dr. Gerd Ennser, Christian Schacht (all DMSB), Jens Marquardt (BMW), Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Audi) and Toto Wolff (Mercedes-Benz) from Germany.

In the autumn of 2012, DTM and Super GT had signed a co-operation agreement for the adoption of the technical regulations. Another licensing and co-operation agreement of the ITR e.V. with GRAND-AM and the US motorsport federation International Motor Sports Association followed in March, 2013.

Photo credit: DTM / Super GT / Grand-Am

GT Asia: 1-2 Victory for Absolute Racing Audi at Fuji in Japan

By Johan Laubscher

The third GT Asia meeting remained in Japan, hosting rounds five and six at the Fuji Speedway. Three Audi R8 LMS ultra cars were at the event, all entered by Absolute Racing.

Three Audi R8 LMS ultra cars (2013 spec) were entered by Absolute Racing, on behalf of their customers. The first Absolute Racing car was the #7 J-Fly Racing R8 LMS ultra driven by Jeffrey Lee and Marchy Lee. The second car was the #98 Team Hong Kong Racing entry driven by Philip Ma and Cong Fu Cheng. The third and final R8 LMS ultra from Absolute Racing was the #888 Tunewear Racing car driven by Francis Hideki Onda and Alex Yoong.

Qualifying had positive results for the Audi squad, with a third on the gird for race one (#888 Audi) and a fifth for race two (#7 Audi). All three Audis qualified within the top ten for both races.

The first race saw the highest Audi finisher in fifth place, the #888 of Yoong and Onda. They lead home the #98 Audi in sixth, followed by the third #7 Audi in eighth. The race was won by the Clearwater Racing McLaren.

The second race was an extremely good performance for the Absolute Racing squad, an 1-2 race victory for the team. The #7 Audi R8 LMS ultra of Jeffrey Lee and Marchy Lee crossed the line victorious ahead of their teammates in the #888 Audi. The Audi 1-2 was backed up by the #98 Audi finishing in fourth, ending off a terrific day for Audi and Absolute Racing in Japan.

The Fuji GT Asia results can be seen HERE. 

GT Asia will head to Malaysia for the next meeting. Rounds seven and eight will be hosted at Sepang in September.  

Photo credit: Absolute Racing