Audi fans say goodbye to a legendary team: Johan Fourie Racing

By Johan Laubscher

For many in South Africa the Bridgestone Production Cars is seen as the top category of racing in the country. In recent years many of the country’s top teams and drivers have battled for this prestigious crown. One of the most successful teams in this series is Johan Fourie Racing with their Audi race cars. Today the sad news has arrived that the team will be closing its doors. The news comes after a very difficult season for the team who suffered set back after set back, through no fault of their own. The news is a shock to both Audi fans and fans of the sport. This team and their fighting spirit will be missed by everyone.

The team came from various other forms of South African motorsport which also included multiple Websank V8 championship titles. The team and their star driver, Johan Fourie joined the Production Cars ranks in 2006 with an Audi A4 3.2 quattro. The team used 2007 as a learning year and came back fighting in 2008 by winning the Class A title. Johan made it a back to back success as he stormed to the 2009 championship title as well. 2010 and onwards was to be a testing time for Johan Fourie Racing. With the introduction of new cars from the competitors during 2010, the old normally aspirated Audi A4 cars could not keep up with the new turbo charged BMW cars. 2010 was a white wash for the BMW team with Johan suffering many issues during the season. 2011 was headlined as the year that the Audi S4 B8 cars would debut in the series, to take the fight to the mighty BMW 335i cars.

The two Audi teams (JFR and Terry Moss Racing) worked flat out in order to prepare the cars for the season opener, but both teams missed the deadline. The old Audi A4 cars were used at the first round. Terry Moss Racing had their cars ready before JFR and they showed the pace of the new cars at the following rounds. Johan Fourie was stuck with his old car until the fourth round of the series. He did very well with the old car, but could not match the pace of all the new cars. At round four his new Audi S4 was ready and took a debut win in the endurance event.

Round five of the season and Fourie was on fire at Aldo Scribante. He scorched to three wins from four and rocketed himself back into the title hunt (see videos bellow). By the end of the season he was at the top of the log heading to the final round. Sadly luck deserted him at the finale as the title slipped though his fingers with various problems outside of his control. This was the beginning of the end for the team.

The team was focused on the 2012 season when they lost their main sponsor. Without the sponsor the team had to withdraw from the opening round of the championship. It was a very sad sight not to see the JFR Audi S4 at the event.

With sponsor talks continuing an agreement was reached and Johan Fourie was back for round two in Cape Town. Johan put on a massive showing for his home town fans as he took two victories on the day, proving he and the team deserve to be in Class A. Following the event his sponsor withdrew for a second time. With this occurrence JFR sourced another sponsor  and his Audi S4 was seen in plain white colour at the next event, after his previous long time sponsor’s orange colour had been removed.

The rest of the 2012 season was littered with bad luck for Johan Fourie. The two rounds that followed saw various retirements, including a weekend ending practice crash in Durban. The crash in Durban was in no way Johan Fourie’s fault. Another car crashed into the S4 as Johan was waiting for a clear moment to return to the track. The Audi S4 was heavily damaged and so was JFR’s season.

Just over a month later, a few days before round six of the series the sad news broke cover. Johan Fourie Racing would be closing its doors and Johan Fourie would be taking a sabbatical from Motorsport. Very sad news for Johan’s many fans, both in South Africa and internationally.

Johan Fourie Racing is one of the most successful South African teams, a team everyone has gotten use to seeing at every event, and at the front of those events. Not seeing this team and their truck in the paddock will be a hard fact to swallow.

The fans say thank you to JFR for many years of great racing, the team and its driver will be sorely missed.

Round 5 of the 2011 season saw Johan Fourie at his very best. He absolutely dominated the race weekend in his Audi S4. The race highlights from that round are included bellow. It is exactly this drive and pace from Johan Fourie Racing that we will all miss on future race days.

 

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011 Audi A4

2011 Audi S4

2012

All images are hosted at motorpics.co.za

Video: Audi S1 quattro at Eifel Rallye Festival 2012

By Tarek Ramchani

The popular Eifel Rallye Festival was held last weekend. Classic rallye monsters were there for the joy of the huge crowd. The Audis were of course among the stars, with a guest appearance from the legend Walter Rohl with an S1 quattro. Here is footage of  one of the quattros, the #109 Audi of Ihle Wolf-Dieter and co-driver Belz Sven. More than 27 years since it retired from official competition, the car still looks brillant and sounds amazing with its glorious 5 cylinders.

More information:
Eifel Rallye Festival official website

You can watch the entire 2012 Spa 24 Hours broadcast again - The Audi victory

By Johan Laubscher

The 2012 Spa 24 hours was another outstanding success for Audi sport and Phoenix Racing. The #16 Audi R8 LMS ultra from Phoenix Racing crossed the finish line ahead of the #1 WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra after a tremendous battle.

The Blancpain Endurance Series continued with their brilliant live internet video broadcasting during the Spa event. Fans have the opportunity to watch all the SRO events such as Blancpain, FIA GT1 and FIA GT3 live on the internet. After each event they upload all the complete footage from all the races onto their YouTube channel, as part of their “Watch again” videos. They have done the same for the Spa event. You can now watch all of the Spa broadcast on YouTube, a total of almost thirteen hours of live footage. Along with this they also offer highlights films from each event. The Spa 24 Hours highlights film will be online soon. 

The live broadcast was split into four sections, based on the schedule below (Belgian local time). Enjoy reliving the race. 

28 July 2012

Race start: 1530-1930

Part 2: 2100-0000
29 July 2012

Part 3: 0900-1200

Race finish: 1400-1630

More information: 
The official GT1World YouTube Channel

Note: These videos are uploaded officially onto the GT1World YouTube channel by the organisers of the series'. This is the official channel for the Blancpain Endurance Series, FIA GT1 and FIA GT3. It seems that the videos do have regional restrictions which unfortunately includes North America. 

Audi S4 quattros raring to go at Phakisa‏

Press Release from Audi South Africa 

THE power of the Audi S4 quattros will be unleashed once again when the trio of entries in the Bridgestone Production Car Championships take to the track at Phakisa Freeway. This Free State round of the championship sees the Audi S4 quattros back on track after a break of eight weeks.

While the previous event, on the streets of Durban, presented their own set of challenges, the Audi S4 quattro drivers now look forward to a race meeting where they can again make full use of the abilities of their Audi S4 quattros.

Defending class A champion, Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun) has been displaying his skill behind the wheel this season, working his way to the head of the field to the point where he leads the championship as he makes a bid for a second title in the series.

While that lead is just two points as the field tackles round six of the year, it is the start of the gap Stephen is working to create to dominate by the season's end. This makes the Phakisa event a crucial race meeting where strategy is going to count as much as speed to earn maximum points on the race weekend.

For Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sport Medicine) the national race meeting on 4 August will be his first opportunity to see the result of eight weeks of work on his race car. Priest has been hard at work this season as the newcomer to the Audi S4 quattro line-up. Despite the gap he has in terms of development, steady progress has seen him clawing his way up the scoreboard.

Priest's Audi S4 quattro has been performing consistently throughout the season, allowing him to claim valuable points at each event. This has helped him climb to fifth place in the class with a good chance of claiming another position or two as the year builds to its grand finale.

Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun) rounds out the trio of Audi S4 quattro entries in the Bridgestone Production Car Championship. Sipuka is itching to take advantage of the space afforded by Phakisa to again take the challenge to his opponents.

A conservative race weekend in Durban saw Sipuka produce a solid performance, but Phakisa will afford him the opportunity to take advantage of the power and superior roadholding offered by his Audi S4 quattro to fight off any challenge mounted against him – and work on improving his sixth place on the leaderboard.

While each of the Audi S4 quattro drivers is at a different point in their championship right now, they all have one thing in common. Each wants to claim as many points as they can at the sixth round – and each will be relying on their Audi S4 quattro's power, technology and performance to achieve these goals.

Audi South Africa

Photos hosted at www.motorpics.co.za

More information:

Audi South Africa

Audi Motorsport in South Africa FB page

Unofficial Audi Sport FB page

Bridgestone Production Cars Website

Bridgestone Production Cars FB page

The next historic success for Audi

Audi Press Release

• One-two victory of Audi R8 LMS ultra at Spa 24 Hours

• Three 24-hour triumphs for Audi within just 71 days

• Successes at the Nürburgring, Le Mans and Spa

Ingolstadt/Spa-Francorchamps, July 29, 2012 – For the second consecutive time, the Audi R8 won the most important endurance race for GT3 sports cars – thus writing another chapter of motorsport history.

For the first time ever, an automobile manufacturer managed to decide the three most important 24-hour races in Europe in its favor: Nürburgring (D), Le Mans (F) and now Spa-Francorchamps (B) – within just 71 days.

66 sports cars from twelve different marques competed at the 54th running of the 24-hour race on the Grand Prix circuit in the Belgian Ardennes. After 509 laps on the 7.004-kilometer track two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars prevailed against their competition from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Ferrari, McLaren and company. Andrea Piccini (I), René Rast (D) and Frank Stippler (D) triumphed in the R8 of Audi Sport Team Phoenix in front of their brand colleagues Christopher Haase (D) Christopher Mies (D) and Stéphane Ortelli (MC) from Audi Sport Team WRT.

The Le Mans winners Marcel Fässler (CH), Tom Kristensen (DK) and André Lotterer (D) in the second car of Audi Sport Team Phoenix after a spectacular recovery from position 63 finished in sixth place. The second Audi R8 LMS ultra of Audi Sport Team WRT with Marco Bonanomi (I), Edward Sandström (S) and Laurens Vanthoor (B) retired at the beginning of the 21st hour due to an accident in the famous “Eau Rouge” corner.

“Winning three 24-hour races within just 71 days is another milestone in the successful motorsport history of our company,” said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich after the historic triumph. “The field at Spa was unique and enormously competitive. There were more than 20 vehicles in contention for victory. In the end, the combination of quality, reliability and speed for which Audi is known prevailed yet again. Everybody who was involved in achieving this historic triple can be proud – first and foremost of course our teams and drivers, but naturally all of our employees in Ingolstadt, Neckarsulm and Biberach as well.”

After a difficult first race hour, the Audi R8 LMS ultra cars following a correction of the tire pressure managed to improve position by position and put pressure on the BMW cars that were initially leading. Audi started to gather its first leading kilometers in the fourth hour. From the ninth hour on, the Audi R8 LMS ultra cars took command of the field at Spa for good – and at times in extremely difficult conditions with torrential rain, minimal vision and a total of 16 safety car periods.

During the race the Audi drivers did not give each other the slightest break either. Up to 30 minutes before the end of the race, the two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars – numbers “16” and “1” – of the two Audi Sport Teams Phoenix and WRT were fighting a fierce duel for overall victory. The lead kept changing between the two cars. The overtaking maneuver that pre-decided the outcome was achieved by Frank Stippler shortly before 3 p.m. In addition, the strategy of Audi Sport Team Phoenix to change the front brake pads a second time on Sunday morning during a safety car period proved to be right. The final decision was made 30 minutes before the end of the race when Stéphane Ortelli had to sit a drive-through penalty.

“Like at the Nürburgring 24 hours, despite the enormously high speed as in a sprint race we didn’t have the slightest technical problem,” said a pleased Werner Frowein from quattro GmbH which is responsible for the development and sales of the GT3 sports car. “This triumph is another piece of proof that the R8 LMS ultra is the bench mark on the endurance circuit.”

Marcel Fässler, Tom Kristensen and André Lotterer, who were among the quickest drivers in the field, were able to see the qualities of the mid-engine sports car for themselves as well. Shortly before the end of the first hour, Lotterer was hit by another vehicle that suddenly turned into the pit lane. After changing the tie rod on the front axle the Le Mans winners resumed the race with a gap of eleven laps on position 63. In the end, they had pushed forward to position six and made up three laps.

As the best Audi customer team, the British GT3 Racing squad with their Audi R8 LMS achieved a remarkable 14th place overall and ninth in the Pro Am class. “And right in our first 24-hour race and only our fourth running of this car,” said Team Director Aaron Scott, positively summing up the race.

Teams Sainteloc Racing, JB Motorsport and Alfab finished with their R8 LMS cars as well. The R8 LMS ultra cars from Sainteloc Racing and United Autosports retired due to accidents. The French Sainteloc squad was running in the sensational fifth place overall some of the time.

Audi wins Spa 24 Hours with Phoenix Racing

By Johan Laubscher

Audi wins another spa 24 Hours and successfully defends the race title after their first win in 2011. Audi Sport Team Phoenix took the victory with Frank Stippler, Andrea Piccini and Rene Rast driving the number #16 Audi R8 LMS ultra. It was Phoenix Racing’s first Spa 24 Hours victory with the Audi brand. The victory is extra special for the team as it has been a long time coming. The team has been competing at the Spa 24 with Audi since 2009. A terrific podium on the Audi R8 LMS’s debut in 2009 was followed by 2010 and 2011 where the team was the fastest but also very unlucky. 2012 finally saw the Phoenix winning drought come to an end as the #16 R8 LMS ultra crossed the finish line.

The Spa 24 Hours victory marks a very special achievement for Audi Sport. For the first time cars from the same manufacture have won the Nürburgring 24 Hours, Le Mans 24 Hours and the Spa 24 Hours in the same year. Factory teams from Audi Sport have claimed victory in all three these major European 24 Hour races, a spectacular achievement for the brand of the four rings. 

For Phoenix Racing this is the third endurance victory for the team this year. They have already won the 2012 Bathurst 12 Hours, the Nürburgring 24 Hours and now the Spa 24 Hours. This is a very special result for the German team.

It was an eventful race with typical Spa weather throwing everything it had to offer at the competitors. The first half of the race will be remembered for the changeable weather conditions and many safety car periods. After the cancelation of qualifying the grid was interesting with many of the top Audi cars starting further back. From the drop of the green flag the Audis soldiered steadily to the front. Unfortunately the Le Mans podium team of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Tom Kristensen who had a brilliant start, were clipped by a McLaren and they lost many laps. The trio did perform the comeback of the race as they stormed back into the top ten by race’s end in their #6 Phoenix Audi R8 LMS ultra.

Amongst all the happenings a clear pattern had emerged at the front. The BMW and Audi cars were locked in battle for the top positions. It was a wet and wild race during the night with very high attrition. By the morning the sun was out and the factory backed cars from Audi Sport Team Phoenix and WRT had asserted their presence at the front. The #16 Phoenix car had been the top Audi for many hours and continued to lead into the morning followed by the two WRT cars who were battling with the BMWs. A puncture to the #16 car closed the gap and a battle ensued between #16 and #1. The positions of Audis in 1,2,3 continued during the morning hours.

The afternoon proceeded with Phoenix leading and WRT chasing. The Audi 1,2,3 was disturbed when the #2 WRT Audi had a high speed spin while it was heading through Eau Rouge. The resulting damage ended the #2 car’s race and the chances of an Audi 1,2,3 finish. The crash brought out the safety car which allowed time for the #16 car to change brake pads. #16 rejoined in second place and the battle for the lead continued during the rest of the afternoon. 

The two leading cars spent the rest of the warm and dry afternoon chasing each other very hard with the lead alternating on pitstops. The battle provided some great racing with the drivers pushing very hard, and this after almost 24 hours of hard racing. The race win was set to came down to the alternating pitstop strategies and who would be ahead. In the end with a safety car and a penalty for WRT the race finished in favour of Phoenix Racing as they crossed the line first for this historic victory. 

Along with the four factory cars there were a further six Audi cars entered from various private teams. The other teams did well in their respective classes through the long and hard race. Some of the teams were victims of the high attrition rate but in the end Audi was well represented by the factory supported and privateer Audi teams.

The race was been very good for the factory Audi teams. Phoenix have scored their first Audi Spa 24 victory and WRT have scored vital championship points for the Blancpain Endurance series championship. It has been another fantastic Spa 24 hours and another victory to remember for Audi Sport.

Results for the Audi teams

*Results according to live timing and scoring at the end of the race. Positions subject to change, for final results please see the Blancpain Endurance Series website HERE and the Spa 24 Hours website HERE.

Super Weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be Super Busy for APR Motorsport

APR Motorsport Press Release

July 25, 2012 (Opelika, Ala.) – It will be a quick, one-day, in-and-out event for APR Motorsport as the team travels to Indianapolis, Indiana for the historic first sports car race in the history of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.



Part of the Super Weekend, this Friday will see Grand-Am’s Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge take part in a one-day event at the world famous Brickyard. With a total of six cars competing, it will be a very busy day for the team.

Fielding two cars for the first time in the Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen, the no. 51 APR Audi R8 Grand-Am will be back at the hands of regular drivers Dr. Jim Norman and Dion von Moltke, who took part in a recent tire test at the Speedway. After a practice accident at Watkins Glen left the car starting last on the field, it advanced as high as tenth before losing several laps with a mechanical issue. After a frustrating result, the team is anxious to get back on track at the Brickyard.

“Finally, the Indianapolis race day is almost here!” said von Moltke. “The track has two different surfaces – going from high grip on the oval to low-grip in the infield. This presents a really tough challenge for the drivers and engineers to find the right compromise on a setup to get the best overall car throughout the lap. The guys at APR Motorsport have tried to learn as much as possible throughout the last few weeks and we hope to show up with the right compromise. It is even more vital than ever to have a good setup right away as we will only have one one-hour session to really learn the track!”

“After having only two ST cars at Watkins Glen, it’s nice to get all four cars back on track for Indy,” said Hurley, the lead driver for APR’s CTSCC ST program. “All of the drivers have been progressing very well and we all had a big boost after David and Aleks got their win at Road America. Watkins Glen was a challenge for all of us, but we are hoping for good things at Indy.”

While the team has been busy preparing for the Super Weekend, they’ve had other events to keep busy with. This past weekend, APR Motorsport attended Waterfest, the largest VW/Audi car show and Motorsport event in North America, at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey.

Over 20,0000 attendees had the opportunity to see the no. 51 and no. 52 APR Audi R8 Grand-Am, the no. 41 APR Audi S4, and the team’s ST-class Volkswagen GTI’s and Jetta GLI’s, on display. Owners were also able to purchase track-tested performance parts for Audi’s and VW’s and have them installed, including computer reflashes, exhaust systems, and other hardware.

“Waterfest is a great opportunity to showcase the proof of performance of our products,” said Stephen Hooks, owner of APR. “We also have the opportunity to let our customers get an up-close look at our Rolex Series and Continental Series cars, and not only expose them to Grand-Am racing, but show them how we test and derive the products we sell for their street cars. All the race cars, especially the R8's, were a hit with the crowd.”

The Brickyard Grand Prix, the ninth round of the 2012 Rolex Sports Car Series, will go green at 4:00 PM ET and will be broadcast live on SPEED Channel. The Brickyard Sports Car Challenge, the eighth round of the 2012 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, will go green at 1:00 PM and will be shown live on SPEED2.com. The race will also be shown on Sunday, August 5 at 12:00 PM ET.

Audi on second row at Spa

Audi Press Release

• “Super pole” cancelled at 24-hour race due to storm
• Stéphane Ortelli clinches grid position four for Audi

Ingolstadt/Spa, July 27, 2012 – The two fastest Audi R8 LMS ultra cars from Audi Sport Teams Phoenix and WRT will be starting into the 24-hour race race at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) from grid positions four and 13 after the “super pole” qualifying session was cancelled due to rain. 

66 GT sports cars from twelve different marques are pitted against each other in the competition of the world’s best GT3 vehicles including a total of four Audi R8 LMS ultra cars fielded through Audi Sport Teams Phoenix and WRT plus six Audi customer cars. 

As expected, the most important GT3 race of the year features a uniquely competitive field as merely 1.544 seconds separated the fastest vehicles after the first qualifying sessions on Thursday night. Just a few hundredths ultimately decided who qualified for the so called “super pole” session at which the top 20 grid positions were to be awarded on Friday afternoon. 

With Christopher Haase/Christopher Mies/Stéphane Ortelli (Audi R8 LMS ultra #1) on position four and Marcel Fässler/Tom Kristensen/André Lotterer (Audi R8 LMS ultra #6) in 13th place, one vehicle of each of the two Audi factory teams managed the leap into the top 20. Stéphane Ortelli and Marcel Fässler achieved their fastest times in the first qualifying session which turned out to be decisive as in the second session held in darkness none of the drivers managed to advance into the top 20 anymore.

Yet the eagerly awaited battle for the top 20 grid positions fell through as the “super pole” qualifying had to be cancelled after torrential rainfalls. The results of the first two sessions were used for the grid formation.

“Naturally, it’s a shame that there was no real battle for the pole position,” commented Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “But the conditions were really extreme and the cancellation of the super pole was absolutely right. The grid positions are not so important at a 24-hour race anyway.”

Marco Bonanomi/Edward Sandström/Laurens Vantoor (Audi R8 LMS ultra #2and Andrea Piccini/René Rast/Frank Stippler (Audi R8 LMS ultra #16) will be starting into the race that Audi won for the first time last year from positions 21 and 29. Like their team colleagues, they were only able to start qualifying with a delay since new data logging software of the race organizer had immobilized the electronics of all R8 cars. 

The fastest time of a customer car was set by Filipe Albuquerque in the Audi R8 LMS ultra #40 of the French Sainteloc Racing team.

The race at Spa will start on Saturday at 1600 hrs (local time). Audi.tv will broadcast major portions of the race on www.audi-liveracing.com live on the internet starting at 1530 hrs. 

The grid positions at Spa

1 Lauda/Franchi/Kechele (BMW) 2m 19.473s

2 Paltalla/Leinders/Martin (BMW) 2m 19.552s

3 Parente/Barff/Goodwin/Wills (McLaren) 2m 19.729s

4 Haase/Mies/Ortelli (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 2m 20.026s

5 Lemeret/van Hooydonck/den Boer (BMW) 2m 20.031s

6 Verdonck/Mondron/Clarke/van de Poele (McLaren) 2m 20.085s

...

12 Fässler/Kristensen/Lotterer (Audi R8 LMS ultra)

21 Bonanomi/Sandström/Vanthoor (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 2m 20.790s

27 Albuquerque/Guilvert/Lunardi (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 2m 20.957s

29 Piccini/Rast/Stippler (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 2m 20.982s

42 Wilins/Belshaw/Scott/Keen (Audi R8 LMS) 2m 22.488s

48 Patterson/Meins/Li/Blundell (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 2m 23.643s

53 Behrens/Ros/Ohman/Skoog (Audi R8 LMS) 2m 26.599s

55 Brunstedt/Bender/Mangs (Audi R8 LMS) 2m 26.958s

61 Marie/Hissom/Hirschi/Demay (Audi R8 LMS) 2m 20.022s

Audi Sport Spa 24 factory liveries

By Tarek Ramchani

Audi won the Spa 24 Hours outright last year with the Audi R8 LMS. This weekend the Ingolstadt brand will try to defend its title with four officially entered Audi R8 LMS ultra cars. Two cars from Audi Sport Team Phoenix and two from Audi Sport Team WRT. Audi could make history as well by winning the three major 24 hour races in Europe in the same year: The Nürbrugring, Le Mans and Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hour races. The race itself is not only prestigious but it is also round 4 of the Blancpain Endurance Series, where only Team WRT compete on a full season basis. Here are the official liveries of the four Audi cars.

Audi Sport Team WRT:

#1 Audi Sport Team WRT: Christopher Haase, Christopher Mies and Stephane Ortelli

#2 Audi Sport Team WRT: Edward Sandstrom, Laurens Vanthoor and Marco Bonanomi

Audi Sport Team Phoenix:

#6 Audi Sport Team Phoenix: Andre Lottere, Marcel Fassler and Tom Kristensen

#16 Audi Performance Cars Team Phoenix: Andrea Piccini, Frank Stippler and Rene Rast

Audi vs Toyota duel to resume, WEC Silverstone entry list

By Johan Laubshcer

Many people had doubted the potential performance of the new Toyota Racing TS030 before Le Mans. After the testing accident and subsequent withdrawal from Spa, few had high hopes for a good showing at the Le Mans debut. But Toyota surprised everyone at Le Mans with very competitive pace and even pressurising the Audi team during the first quarter of the Le Mans 24 Hours race.

The new duel of Audi versus Toyota is set to continue for the rest of the year. Both manufactures are committed to the rest of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship. The top three cars of the WEC series will be spread over three different models. One Audi R18 e-tron quattro, one Audi R18 ultra and one Toyota TS030 will do battle in the remainder of the season.

Audi announced the names of its driver squads a day ahead of the provisional entry list being published by the FIA. It is a healthy thirty-seven car field that will race at Silverstone on August 26 with two Audis amongst the list.

Audi driver line up:

#1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro - Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, Benoît Treluyer

#2 Audi R18 ultra - Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish

WEC Silverstone entry list:

More information:

FIA WEC website

FIA WEC FB page

WEC Silverstone entry list