Audi customers pass tough Eifel test

Audi Press Release

The customer teams of last year's winner Audi experienced one of the toughest events of the Nürburgring 24 Hours this year. Heavy rain forced race control during the night to interrupt the race for more than nine hours. Numerous accidents caused a treacherous mix of oil, mud and rain water on the track. Three Audi R8 LMS ultra cars had accidents in these critical conditions and retired. In the end, Marcel Fässler/Mike Rockenfeller/Frank Stippler/Markus Winkelhock (CH/D/D/D) in fifth place were the best Audi drivers.

For the first time since the 24-hour Nürburgring debut of the racing version of the R8 in May 2009, there was no trophy for the GT sports car. Four times in succession, the R8 LMS won the GT3 class. In addition, Audi celebrated overall victory a year ago. Following this factory-backed commitment, customer teams exclusively relied on the most recent evolution of the R8 LMS ultra. Five teams put eight race cars on the grid. Frank Stippler (D) started the race weekend for Phoenix Racing by setting the best time in qualifying. From grid position one, last year's winner in car number 4 took the lead at the beginning of the race. Subsequently, the local hero from Bad Münstereifel, who was nominated for two cars, concentrated on his stints in car number 1, the R8 LMS ultra of G-Drive Racing by Phoenix.

Stippler with his team-mates Marcel Fässler, Markus Winkelhock and Mike Rockenfeller, who had directly arrived from Brands Hatch where he won a DTM round, was initially running among the top three teams. Due to an exchange of the oxygen sensor, car number 1 dropped to tenth place on Sunday night. Up to the interruption of the race the team had recovered to fourth place. On Monday, the quartet defended its position in the fiercely competitive field of the front runners as rain was repeatedly setting in again. In the end, they finished in fifth place.

Several Audi customers got to experience the trickiness of the conditions that prevailed after the race was interrupted. Michael Ammermüller (D) was fortunate when after an excursion only the tie rod on his number 4 Audi had to be exchanged. Consequently, together with Ferdinand and Johannes Stuck (A), he managed the leap onto position eight. One position behind them, Frank Biela/Christer Jöns/Luca Ludwig/Roman Rusinov (D/D/D/RUS) in the second car of G-Drive Racing by Phoenix reached the finish.

Almost simultaneously with Ammermüller, Laurens Vanthoor (B) had slipped into the guard rails on an oil leak. The suspension of his number 29 Audi of the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT was too heavily damaged for a repair. Around 80 minutes later, Christian Mamerow (D) was struck by misfortune. At the ‘Schwedenkreuz' he got off track on a slippery spot. He destroyed the suspension of his number 2 R8 LMS ultra so that Prosperia C. Abt Team Mamerow retired.

Car number 14 of the Audi race experience experienced a smaller accident as well on lapping a rival but Pierre Ehret (D) was able to continue to drive. Piloted by other enthusiastic customers and several professional drivers, the two R8 LMS ultra cars of the Audi race experience otherwise completed their laps in a commanding manner and in the end took positions 18 and 28.

"I've never experienced such a tough event of the 24-hour race since the R8 started running here," said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "Still, our customers demonstrated a great fighting spirit. Our congratulations today go to those who finished the race and of course to the overall winners of Mercedes-Benz. I'm sure that our customers will attack again at Spa in July at the next 24-hour race."

Romolo Liebchen, Head of Customer Sport at quattro GmbH, commented, "Every string comes to an end. Since May 2012, the R8 has won four 24-hour races - at the Nürburgring, at Spa, at Zolder plus the class victory at Daytona in January. That the R8 LMS ultra is a reliable and fast endurance race car we saw nonetheless at the Nürburgring in the fierce competition of more than 30 GT3 race cars. Together with our customers, we're already looking forward to the next challenges."

Photo credit: Audi Media

Audi customers aim for victory at the Nürburgring

Audi Press Release

•          24-hour race at the Nürburgring with eight Audi R8 LMS ultra cars
•          Five customer teams bank on Audi’s GT3 sports car
•          Technical support by Audi Sport customer racing

Ingolstadt, May 8, 2013 – Eight Audi R8 LMS ultra cars, five teams and a single aim: the next success for an Audi at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. The prerequisites, however, are different than they were a year ago, as the Audi customer teams will now be competing with their own sponsors and driver squads – supported by Audi Sport customer racing.

In May 2012, Audi celebrated the first overall victory at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. As a factory-backed team, Audi Sport Team Phoenix won for Audi with Marc Basseng, Christopher Haase, Frank Stippler and Markus Winkelhock. Since then, various racing versions of the Audi R8 have won three other 24-hour races – at Spa (B) and at Zolder (B), plus the GT class at Daytona (USA) in January 2013.

On May 19 and 20, the teams will be running at the Nürburgring under different circumstances than a year ago. In the fifth year of the globally successful customer sport program with deliveries of more than 100 race cars, the spotlight is on the customers. Ernst Moser’s squad which was victorious last year is competing as Team G-Drive Racing by Phoenix now. Last year’s winners Frank Stippler (D) and Markus Winkelhock (D) are joined by the Le Mans winners Marcel Fässler (CH) and Mike Rockenfeller (D) as team-mates. The second cockpit will be shared by five-time Le Mans winner Frank Biela (D), Luca Ludwig (D), Christer Jöns (D) and Roman Rusinov (RUS). A third car fielded by Phoenix Racing will be driven by Michael Ammermüller (D), Frank Stippler (D) plus Johannes and Ferdinand Stuck (A).

Peter Mamerow’s outfit, the 2012 runner-up, like the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, is returning to the Eifel track. Christian Mamerow (D), Thomas Mutsch (D) and René Rast (D) are sharing the cockpit in the Prosperia C. Abt Team Mamerow with last year’s winner Marc Basseng (D). The Belgian WRT squad has last year’s winner Christopher Haase (D) in its ranks, supported by the two-time Bathurst winner Christopher Mies (D). On board as well are Edward Sandström (S) and Laurens Vanthoor (B), who decided the Zolder 24 Hours in their favor last year. The Twin Busch team of Dennis and Marc Busch (D) will be contesting the Eifel marathon in an Audi R8 LMS ultra for the first time together with Manuel Lauck (D). The Audi race experience completes the line-up. The two race cars will be shared by talented and motorsport-experienced Audi customers with pros such as the three-time Le Mans winner Marco Werner (D), ex-DTM driver Rahel Frey (CH) and the former Formula 1 race driver Alex Yoong (MAL).

All eight Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will be running in the current FIA-homologated 2013 technical specification. The exterior rear-view mirror, which is more favorable in terms of aerodynamics, the suspended rear wing and the optimized exhaust system are new features. A balance-of-performance rating of the 33 GT3 race cars of all seven brands and the other entrants is still pending. In total, entries for 179 race cars have been submitted for Germany’s biggest race.

On television, Sport1 will air live coverage of the race for around 19 hours. A YouTube channel and Fan TV, which can be received on location by DVB-T, will cover the event as well. In 2012, ten national television channels carried 97 reports about Audi’s victory with total air time of 19:17 hours and a theoretical reach of 8.1 million viewers. In addition, there were 70:29 hours of international coverage by 163 channels.

The Audi customer teams at the 2013 Nürburgring 24 Hours

G-Drive Racing by Phoenix

#1 Marcel Fässler/Mike Rockenfeller/Frank Stippler/Markus Winkelhock (CH/D/D/D)

#3 Frank Biela/Christer Jöns/Luca Ludwig/Roman Rusinov (D/D/D/RU)

Prosperia C. Abt Team Mamerow 

#2 Marc Basseng/Christian Mamerow/Thomas Mutsch/René Rast (D/D/D/D)

Phoenix Racing

#4 Michael Ammermüller/Frank Stippler/Ferdinand Stuck/Johannes Stuck (D/D/A/A)

Audi race experience

#14 Christian Bollrath/Pierre Ehret/Ronnie Saurenmann/Marco Werner (D/D/CH/D)

#15 Dominique Bastien/Rahel Frey/Peter Venn/Alex Yoong (F/CH/GB/MAL)

#16 Dennis Busch/Marc Busch/Manuel Lauck (D/D/D)

Belgian Audi Club Team WRT

#29 Christopher Haase/Christopher Mies/Edward Sandström/Laurens Vanthoor (D/D/S/B)

Quotes by the officials

Romolo Liebchen, Head of Audi Sport customer racing: “In 2012, Audi won the Nürburgring 24 Hours with a factory-backed commitment. This year, our customer teams are entering eight Audi R8 LMS ultra cars on their own and with help by their partners. Audi’s customer race car has been successful at the Nürburgring every year so far, scoring class victories in 2009, 2010 and 2011, plus overall victory in 2012. But everybody knows how difficult it is to continue such a string. The world’s best GT brands are competing in the ‘Green Hell.’ Audi Sport customer racing will be providing optimal assistance to the teams at their runs through customer sport consultants and provision of a support infrastructure.”

Selected quotes from each driver team

Frank Stippler, Audi R8 LMS ultra #1 (G-Drive Racing by Phoenix)
“Thanks to our success last year I’m traveling to the Eifel as the hunted for the first time. That’s a nice feeling. This year, there will again be at least eight cars in contention for victory on their own power and another eight lying in wait behind them. Our team boss, Ernst Moser, has won the race with Phoenix three times before, our driver squad is good and the new Audi R8 LMS ultra is even better than its predecessor. The prerequisites are good. But at this race you should never feel too sure. Chance and fortune play a role.”

Christian Mamerow, Audi R8 LMS ultra #2 (Prosperia C. Abt Team Mamerow)
“The Nordschleife is my second ‘living room.’ I feel comfortable there. But the competition did its homework during the winter too and is well-prepared. Unfortunately, we’re lacking a bit of experience with the latest evolution of the car because the first VLN round was canceled due to bad weather and the third round clashed with our run at the ADAC GT Masters. Fortunately, we’ve been familiar with the Nordschleife as a team and as drivers for years.”

Frank Biela, Audi R8 LMS ultra #3 (G-Drive Racing by Phoenix)
“Together with Roman Rusinov and Luca Ludwig I drove a VLN race in preparation. Roman is a rookie on the Nordschleife, was immediately quick and made no mistakes in difficult conditions. Luca’s been on the podium in this race before and Christer Jöns as a VLN Champion knows every meter of the track. If, as a team of four, we put the abilities of every one of us on track I think a good result will be possible. That the team has the capability is out of the question after last year’s victory. Now I’m just hoping that a fair rating of all the entrants has been achieved.”

Johannes Stuck, Audi R8 LMS ultra #4 (Phoenix Racing)
“Naturally, every manufacturer travels to the Nordschleife extremely well-prepared and aims for overall victory. We can be self-confident but should not underestimate the competition in any way. Plus, fortune always plays a role in an endurance race. Motorsport is a team sport. I’m a part of this team and, like all the other members, will try and give my best. Team spirit is particularly important in endurance racing.”

Christian Bollrath, Audi R8 LMS ultra #14 (Audi race experience)
“For the third time, I’m driving this race with the Audi race experience. Everything there simply fits: the car, the team and the environment. The Nürburgring is my track. I learned sporty driving there 15 years ago. One of my instructors at that time was Marco Werner. That makes it even nicer to drive in the same team with him today. Every year, I can learn something from him. That’s how I reduced the gap of one minute per lap in 2011 to today’s 15 to 20 seconds. At the Audi race experience, progress is measurable.”

Rahel Frey, Audi R8 LMS ultra #15 (Audi race experience)
“The Nordschleife is new for me. I just recently gathered initial experiences. This will be a big challenge for me. Plus, there’s nighttime driving. Visibility and traffic have a big influence on your own rhythm. It doesn’t compare with Le Mans where I’ve driven a 24-hour race before. It’s great that I can race for the Audi driving experience and convey the fascination of Audi to the customers in the process. We aim to continually give our best in order to finish without any problems.”

Dennis Busch, Audi R8 LMS ultra #16 
“Last year, we ran on the Nordschleife for the first time with Audi. We’re thrilled with the car’s handling. From a technical perspective, we’ve got optimum material in the R8 LMS ultra. I’ve been on the grid at the 24-hour race twice before, and since 2007 my brother and I’ve been driving on the Nordschleife. But for our team it’s the first 24-hour race. Our aim: to get through the night without any mistakes, see where we stand in the morning and then achieve a good result – maybe even in the top ten.”

Christopher Haase, Audi R8 LMS ultra #29 (Belgian Audi Club Team WRT)
“Last year, I won the race with Audi Sport Team Phoenix. Now I’m competing with the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT against Phoenix. Edward Sandström, Christopher Mies and I are intimately familiar with the Nordschleife. On his VLN Nordschleife debut, Laurens Vanthoor immediately showed a very professional approach. As drivers we can directly feel the improvements of the latest evolution of the Audi R8 LMS ultra. The car is even more consistent.”

Schedule

Friday, May 17
14:25–15:55 Free practice
19:35–23:30 Qualifying 1

Saturday, May 18
11:20–13:20 Qualifying 2
17:50–18:45 Top 40 qualifying

Sunday, May 19
17:00 Start

Monday, May 20
17:00 Finish

Photo credit: Audi Sport Communication

Audi delivers 100th customer race car

Audi Press Release

•          Audi R8 LMS ultra handed over to MS RACING on Tuesday
•          Current ADAC GT Masters champion’s team to start relying on Audi
•          Car number “100” symbolizes success of the program

Ingolstadt, April 3, 2013 – Newcomer to Audi Sport customer racing: Team MS RACING is switching to Audi and will be fielding two new R8 LMS ultra cars in the 2013 ADAC GT Masters. On Tuesday, quattro GmbH handed over the 100th race car from Heilbronn-Biberach, a facility of the Neckarsulm location, to the squad.

For the customer sport project that has only been in existence since 2009, this vehicle handover marks a symbolic milestone as quattro GmbH delivered the 100th race car based on the Audi R8 to a customer only four years after the program was launched. The Audi R8 LMS ultra meanwhile embodies the third evolution of the GT3 model. For the United States, the line-up also includes a GRAND-AM version that won the GT class at the Daytona 24 Hours in January.

“We’re delighted about Team MS RACING having opted for Audi for the first time,” emphasizes Franciscus van Meel, Managing Director of quattro GmbH. The wholly owned Audi subsidiary based in Neckarsulm develops, produces and sells the customer sport race cars of the brand with the four rings. “The sporting tally that meanwhile reflects 18 championship titles plus endurance victories at the major 24-hour races on the Nürburgring, at Spa, Daytona and Zolder underscores the car’s qualities as well. More than 50 percent of the race car is based on the production vehicle. At the same time, on delivering the 100th car, we’re extending our global market position. The R8 is meanwhile being fielded in races in Australia, Asia, Europe, North and South America.”

Sebastian Asch, last year’s champion in the ADAC GT Masters, visited the handover of the Audi R8 LMS ultra together with his team-mate Florian Stoll. Race engineer Ralph Stoll accepted the keys to the car from Dirk Spohr, Head of Customer Management at Audi Sport customer racing. The team based in Waldshut-Tiengen will announce its complete driver line-up in the next few weeks before the season starts at Oschersleben on April 27.

Photo credit: Audi Sport Media

PK Carsport with an Audi R8 LMS in Belgian BRCC

By Tarek Ramchani

The big Audi Sport customer racing family is welcoming yet another new member. PK Carsport from Belgium announced that they are coming back to racing after years of absence. They will be returning with an Audi R8 LMS. At this stage the specification of the car is unclear, as of yet it is mentioned that the car is an R8 LMS but the press photos depict the car as an Audi R8 LMS ultra, ti,e will tell. They are now the second Belgian based Audi team along with the highly successful Belgian Audi Club Team WRT.

PK Carsport is a team that was racing in the now defunct Belgian GT, Belcar Endurance and the FIA GT Championship. The team is planning to have a full season in the Belgian BRCC series (Belgian Racing Car Championship). Three drivers, described as the dream team, will share the R8 LMS this year, two of them are no strangers to Audi and the car.

Anthony Kumpen will be the leader, he has raced with Belgian Audi Club Team WRT in the past. Kumpen won the 2010 Belcar Endurance Championship and won the Zolder 24 Hours overall last year. Bert Longin is a familiar name to PK Carsport and he too raced with WRT in Belcar and the Blancpain Endurance Series. The third driver is Maarten Makelberge, from the Netherlands.

PK Carsport's debut with the car will be at the BRCC season opener at Circuit Zolder, a shared weekend with the FIA GT Series. With such a great car and strong driver line-up, the team is aiming high for their return. We wish them the best of luck.

Photo credit and more information:
PK Carsport website
Autosport.be

 

von Moltke and Audi stars take Rolex 24 GT victory at Daytona

Dion von Moltke Press Release

Daytona, FL (Sunday, January 27, 2013): GRAND-AM Rolex Series young star Dion von Moltke teamed with a trio of Audi factory drivers today to take the German manufacturer to its first victory at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

von Moltke; Brit, Oliver Jarvis; Italian, Edoardo Mortara and Portugal's, Filipe Albuquerque drove the No.24 Alex Job Racing R8 to victory in the GT class, greeting the checkered flag 1.476 seconds ahead of the No.52 car of Rene Rast to make it a 1-2 finish for Audi.

After starting fifth, the Alex Job Audi stayed in contention for the entire 24 hour journey before disaster struck with two and half hour remaining when the car was assessed a penalty for avoidable contact with the No.61 Ferrari.

Despite assertions from the Ferrari team that they hadn't been hit, Mortara was forced to head to pit lane to serve a one minute penalty.

This put the car one lap adrift of the leaders and back in seventh place. However, clever pit strategy from the Alex Job Racing team over the remaining 150 minutes of the race not only put the No.24 car back on the lead lap, Albuquerque was able to drive into the lead.

The Audi squad faced a nervous final stint, uncertain as to whether they would need to make one final pit stop for a splash of fuel. Albuquerque's late race pace actually enabled the team to call him in for fuel with a mere five minutes remaining and return to the race with a slim lead.

Despite late race pressure, Albuquerque was able to hold on to take the victory.

“I’m completely speechless. With more than two and half hours to go we got a penalty for avoidable contact and went a lap down,” von Moltke said.

“We thought we were down and out but we kept fighting, we kept digging, we kept trying to find any way, and Filipe (Albuquerque) probably put in the best drive I've ever seen a race car driver do in my life, and that's what it really takes to win this race, and to pull it off is really special.

“It was going to close on fuel and when we had to come in for a splash we thought “oh no” but we came back out in the lead and the whole team just erupted. I’ve never seen an atmosphere like that."

The victory is the second major sportscar endurance victory for the PR Newswire-supported driver von Moltke and Alex Job Racing in less than twelve months. The combination was also victorious in the GTC class in the American Le Mans Series in last year's 12 Hours of Sebring.

Today was the second victory for Alex Job Racing at the Rolex 24 at Daytona - the previous one coming in 1999.

“To win a Rolex watch at Daytona is incredible. This was only my fifth time doing this race and it is the first attempt for Olly (Jarvis), Edo (Mortara) and Filipe. Until this year I’d never even led a lap here. I managed to do that in my stint and now to come away with a victory is just amazing," von Moltke said.

“I’ve got a great relationship with Audi and I’m thrilled to be a part of their first win here at the Daytona International Speedway. To get to drive with these three guys was a great experience they have already become some of my best friends in two weeks. They really are some of the best drivers I've ever got the honor to work with.

“I've always really enjoyed and loved driving for Alex (Job). Everyone on the team really gets along, and I've always said chemistry is the most important part of winning any race, especially Sebring or Daytona or Petit or any of those races.

"To be standing here on the podium as a winner at the Rolex 24 at Daytona is quite surreal. I have to say a big thanks to everyone who has helped my career including everyone at PR Newswire. Their backing and support has played a key role in my career so far.

“Of course everyone at Alex's team and everyone at Audi. We all had one goal this weekend and we all worked together towards that goal.”

Photo credit: Audi Media

Audi wins the Rolex 24 in Daytona GT class

By Tarek Ramchani and Johan Laubscher

Audi has just won the demanding GT class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The #24 Alex Job Racing Audi R8 GRAND-AM driven by Dion von Moltke, Filipe Albuquerque, Oliver Jarvis and Edoardo Mortara crossed the finish line victorious after a titanic GT battle all race long. The AJR Audi lead home the APR #52 Audi for a 1-2 finish. A great result for Audi as a brand and the whole Audi Sport customer racing program. The GT3 spec Audi R8 LMS has won almost everything in Europe and beyond, and it was great to see the "American" R16 doing the same in America's premier 24 hour endurance event this weekend.

It was a very hard and long race with a great field consisting of 34 GT cars. Four Audi R8 GRAND-AM cars were entered in the event with massive support from Audi Sport customer racing/quattro GmbH and Audi of America. The three teams worked together and most of the race they were among the top 10. Bad luck hit APR Motorsport after very strong performances from the #52 R8 of Frank Stippler, Marc Basseng, Rene Rast and Ian Baas. After a brilliant showing and leading the race in the early evening the very strong APR driver squad was forced to catch up from behind due to a crippling 3 minute time penalty, a shame for one of the big favourites for GT victory. This meant that the remaining other two Audis, AJR and Rum Bum, were the ones left fighting for class honors. Rum Bum Racing and Alex Job Racing challenged world class rivals from Porsche and Ferrari teams, both also with factory support.

As the sun rose over Daytona the AJR and Rum Bum Audis remained in the hunt and battled with the leaders. Bad luck with penalties was to plague the Audi teams again during the morning. First to fall victim was the Rum Bum entry which also received a crippling 3 minute time penalty which dropped them far back. This left the AJR car as the lone Audi in front, but after a titanic battle for the lead Mortara was involved in a high speed spin nearly collecting a Ferrari. This spin prompted a penalty of over 1 minute for "avoidable contact," despite no contact taking place and the Ferrari team saying that there was no contact. This ill deserved penalty almost effectively ruined the AJR Audi's race and completed a full set of penalties for the Audi entries.

As the disappointment of the two penalties during the morning began to sink in another Audi made the recovery drive of the race. After receiving their own three minute penalty during the night and loosing two laps, the #52 APR squad had raced their way back onto the lead lap. They continued their forward progress and with less than three hours to go the #52 went back into the lead and another titanic GT battle ensued with Audi versus Porsche and Ferrari. The Rum Bum and AJR entries worked hard and got themselves back onto the lead lap as well. As the race headed into the final stages the Rum Bum car completed an equally impressive recovery to place themselves in third, right in the mix.

The stage was set for the final 90 minute dash to the flag. APR and Rum Bum were in the leading group with AJR on the lead lap. The GT racing was intense as the teams battled for the lead, whilst track position was becoming ever more important. At one stage the leading trio, including the #52 APR and Rum Bum, went three wide into the bus stop where Rum Bum went from 3rd to 1st, only to spin on the next lap. During these proceedings the AJR car was back into the leading group as well. Now all three Audi cars were within 20 seconds of the lead, after countless penalties the race was still alive for all three Audi teams.

Coming off another caution period the top four had three Audis with the #52 APR car leading the way. Rene Rast had a tremendous battle with the #69 Ferrari with the Rum Bum and AJR cars in the top five as well. The final 30 minutes became a pitstop battle of who needed to stop and who didn't need to. AJR lead 1-2 (Audi ahead of Porsche) but appeared to need a stop whereas Rast was charging and didn't need to stop again. A grand stand finish was awaiting the fans with five cars standing a chance of winning.

The moment of truth arrived as the #24 AJR Audi had to pit leaving the AJR Porsche in the lead until they pitted as well. The #52 Audi was involved in a huge fight with the #44 Porsche. As it all settled down it was an Audi 1-2-3 with AJR leading Rum Bum and APR. On the last lap the Rum Bum car ran out of fuel as APR tired to catch AJR. The #24 AJR came through to win after running long enough to make the gap and win with the final splash and dash.

Audi victory at Daytona is somewhat a bit of revenge after all the bad luck and some penalizing rules that hit the R8 GRAND-AM during the 2012 season. Right now only APR Motorsport is committed to the full Rolex Series season with Audi. We hope that the Daytona result will continue all year long in Grand-Am. Next stop for the series will be at the brand new Circuit of the Americas in Texas.

Photo credit: Audi Media

No Audi R8 LMS ultra GTE for Le Mans

By Tarek Ramchani

Since last year there has been a lot of talk about the possibility that Audi plans to build a GTE version of the all conquering Audi R8 LMS for both the Le Mans 24 Hours and FIA World Endurance Championship.

We at Audi Motorsport Blog have already given our thoughts about this possibility of seeing the Audi R8 LMS ultra at La Sarthe with the current set of rules, you can read that right here. Now things are more clear from the Ingolstadt brand, and there will be no Audi R8 LMS ultra GTE spec. Our friends from Endurance-Info had a talk with Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, head of Audi Motorsport, who confirmed that Audi has no plans for such a development. This means that the Audi "R16" will stay available in two version, the GT3 version with the LMS ultra and the Rolex Grand-Am series with the R8 GRAND-AM in America. Thus Audi will not follow the steps of BMW, who recently introduced the BMW Z4 GTE, an evolution of their E89 GT3 racer. The Audi R8 LMS will only show up at La Sarthe when / if a new set of regulations allowing full FIA GT3 spec cars to compete comes into effect.

For the 2013 season Audi Sport customer racing is really busy. Firstly that have updated and improved the American R8 GRAND-AM, with very positive performances at the Daytona tests. The R8 LMS ultra will have further improvements as well to help Audi customer teams to fight against the growing and competitive rivals from other brands, more about the 2013 ultra here.

Photo credit: Norbert Kratz

Rolex 24: Audi on third row of the grid at Daytona

Audi Press Release

• Filipe Albuquerque with Alex Job Racing is best Audi driver

• Teams are mainly focused on race preparation

• All four Audi R8 GRAND-AM cars are thoroughly prepared

Ingolstadt, January 24, 2013 – The best Audi R8 GRAND-AM will be starting into the 24-hour race at Daytona (Florida) from the third row. The fastest driver of the Audi customer teams in qualifying was Filipe Albuquerque.


Following several warm-up laps, the Audi factory driver managed to make a perfect landing. After the tire pressure had reached the planned optimum level, Albuquerque drove a flawless lap on the high-speed track in Florida. His time of 1m 48.282s earned him and Team Alex Job Racing grid position six in the GT class, making Audi the third-best brand in the field of the eight manufacturers.

René Rast achieved the second-best time of an Audi driver. The German from Team APR Motorsport took grid position eleven (1m 48.581s). Markus Winkelhock in the Audi R8 GRAND-AM qualified in the front half of the field of 34 GT vehicles as well. The Audi from Rum Bum Racing will start from position 16 (1m 48.865s) on Saturday. The American Matt Bell from APR Motorsport achieved grid position 27 in another R8 GRAND-AM.

The main focus of all the teams was and continues to be placed on preparing for the 24-hour race. All teams are using the remaining night practice on Thursday and a final practice on Friday to further refine the set-up of the customer race sports car. The race will start at 15:30 local time on Saturday.

Selected quotes

Romolo Liebchen (Head of Audi Sport customer racing): “In qualifying, there were no surprises. We concentrated on preparing for the race. It was important not to take any risks today. Together with the preparation in the tests at the end of last year and in the beginning of January, we’re tackling the race with a clear conscience. The drivers are giving us feedback confirming that we’re running with a set-up that provides very good drivability.”

Filipe Albuquerque (Audi R8 GRAND-AM #24/Alex Job Racing): “I’m very happy with my lap. I kept my cool because I knew that the first three laps are nothing special. I knew when I’d be able to attack. The tire pressure was developing according to plan and then I only needed a single lap. Everything was right on the dot. There was no more traffic and I made no mistakes. Afterward, the tires were used up. Things couldn’t have gone any better today. And in the other practice sessions we want to improve our car a little bit more. I’m looking forward to the race.”

Qualifying results

1 Nick Tandy (Porsche) 1m 47.631s
2 Andy Lally (Porsche) 1m 47.828s
3 Sean Edwards (Porsche) 1m 48.007s
4 Patrick Long (Porsche) 1m 48.137s
5 Alessandro Balzan (Ferrari) 1m 48.260s
6 Filipe Albuquerque (Audi R8 GRAND-AM) 1m 48.282s
7 Marco Seefried (Porsche) 1m 48.319s
8 Robin Liddell (Camaro) 1m 48.330s
9 Daniel Serra (Ferrari) 1m 48.521s
10 Anthony Lazzaro (Ferrari) 1m 48.577s
11 René Rast (Audi R8 GRAND-AM) 1m 48.581s
16 Markus Winkelhock (Audi R8 GRAND-AM) 1m 48.865s
27 Matt Bell (Audi R8 GRAND-AM) 1m 49.937s

Photo credit: APR Motorsport

Gallery: The birth of an Audi R8 GRAND-AM at quattro GmbH

By Tarek Ramchani

The Audi R8 GRAND-AM was specially developed for the American based Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series. The car is very different from its original FIA GT3 specifications and needed very special treatment to meet Rolex Series set of rules.

Like all the R8 cars, both for road and track, the R8 GRAND-AM is built by quattro GmbH. The in-house high end performance subdivision of the Audi AG is responsible for the Audi Sport customer racing department. Here is an impressive look at the "American" R16 racer at the quattro GmbH factory in Neckarsulm: The birth of an Audi R8 GRAND-AM.