BES: Seven Audi R8 LMS ultra for round 2 at Silverstone

By Tarek Ramchani

Silverstone is hosting the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series this weekend. A traditional 3-hour race format, and no less than seven Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will be entered for the event.

Seven cars from three different Audi Sport customer racing teams. Belgian Audi Club Team WRT is fielding three cars, all of them in the upper Pro-Cup class. The  #1 Audi R8 LMS ultra will be shared by Stephane Ortelli, Laurens Vanthoor and Rene Rast. The #2 car will be driven by Rahel Frey, Matt Halliday and Niki Mayr-Melnhof. The #13 machine is for Edward Sandstrom, Christopher Mies and Frank Stippler. The Belgian team had a mixed race last time out at Monza. Strong performances on track but also a lot of bad luck. The best ranked car was the #13 Audi in fourth, losing the podium spot in the last corner to a McLaren MP4-12C. Silverstone should be more favorable for the Audi R8 LMS ultra, the Belgian team is aiming high in Britain. In the team standings Belgian Audi Club Team WRT are fourth with 12 points.

The second Audi entry is from Phoenix Racing. The German team has a two-car effort in the demanding Pro-Cup class. The #6 Audi R8 LMS ultra of Christopher Haase, Oliver Jarvis and Harold Primat, and the sister #16 car for Enzo Ide, Anthony Kumpen and Markus Winkelhock. At Monza Phoenix Racing performed very well, both cars entered the top 10 on a very penalizing track which had a very healthy grid. Phoenix Racing is fifth in the points standings with 10 points.

Sainteloc Racing is the third Audi team in the series. A big change for the Silverstone round as their Pro-Cup entry will not take part in the event. The French privateer team will have two cars. The #42 Audi R8 LMS ultra of Ronnie Latinne, David Hallyday and Romain Monti in the Pro-Am class, and the sister #41 car of Pierre Hirschi, Marc Sourd and Claude-Yves Gosselin in the Gentlemen Trophy.

As seen at Monza, the 2013 Blancpain Endurance Series has an impressive level of competition. The largest and most competitive GT3 racing series around. The five Pro-Cup Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will have to fight very hard against very strong rivals from Ferrari, McLaren, BMW, Porsche and the full factory Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3.

Photo credit: Blancpain Endurance Series

Video: 1998 Zolder 24 Hours - The first 24 Hours for the Audi A4 STW

By Johan Laubscher

The Audi A4 STW, the Super Touring car version of the B5 Audi A4, was a brilliant race car. Its quattro system and superior traction made it one of the best cars of its time, highlighted by an international championship sweep in 1996, when Audi claimed the title in seven countries: Germany, Britain, Italy, Australia, Belgium, South Africa and Spain.

The 1998 Zolder 24 Hours was the scene for the first 24 Hour race for one of these A4 STW cars. It was however not the first 24 Hour race for an Audi Super Touring car, that was back in 1994 with an Audi 80 Competition entered in the Spa 24 Hours, run by the Belgian Audi Club (Dubois Racing).

The 1998 Zolder 24 Hours entry was also entered by the Belgian Audi Club. The driver line-up included the team’s regular two Belcar drivers: Jean-Francois Hemroulle and Timo Verbergt. The team needed a third driver for the 24 hour race, and they called upon the services of South African Terry Moss. Terry was the 1996 South African Super Touring champion and had also competed for the Belgian Audi Club twice before, at the 1995 Spa 24 Hours and a Belcar event at Spa in 1997, where the South African won the second race of the day.

The Audi A4 STW performed very well in the event, aided greatly by the wet weather. The team lead most of the race but technical issues resulted in sixth place overall, but with race victory in their class. A year later the Belgian Audi Club was able to win the 1999 Zolder 24 Hours overall with their A4 STW, which added another achievement for this great Super Touring Car.

Below we have embedded a video which features highlights from the 1998 Zolder 24 Hour race, the first time the A4 STW competed for 24 Hours. This rare short highlights video aired in South Africa during 1998 and was produced from a Belgian Audi Club perspective with Terry Moss. 

Photo credit: Jean-François Hemroulle old website

BRCC: PK Carsport winning debut with Audi at Zolder

By Tarek Ramchani

PK Carsport is one of the most prestigious and successful sportscar teams from Belgium. The team was revived this year after many years of absence. They have chosen to compete in the Belgian Racing Car Championship with the Audi R8 LMS.

Last weekend Circuit Zolder hosted the first round of the BRCC, a support event to the FIA GT Series. It was a perfect debut for PK Carsport with Audi. They qualified in fifth place. With the 2010 spec R8 LMS (ex Team Rosberg) of Anthony Kumpen, Bert Longin and Maarten Makelberge they won the 90 minutes endurance race, less than five seconds ahead the second placed Porsche 996 GT3-RS from ProSpeed Competition.

Anthony Kumpen, who also raced in the FIA GT Series on the same weekend with Phoenix Racing, was delighted after this fantastic victory: "I am very happy to finish this superb weekend on the highest step of the podium." (quotes sourced from BRCC)

The second round of the BRCC will be in France at Circuit Dijon-Prenois in May, with the three PK Carsport Audi drivers leading the overall points standings.

Photo credit: Belgian Audi Club