By Tarek Ramchani
Fresh new video featuring the awesome Audi S1 quattro from Prospeed Motorsport (nothing to do with ProSpeed Competition). The car is fast, noisy and winning too. Here at Rechberg's Hillclimb event, enjoy.
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Best of l'endurance about Audi race cars
By Tarek Ramchani
Our friends at l'endurance always do a great job of covering sports car endurance and GT racing from around Europe and beyond. Here are some of the very best Audi race cars in brilliant photos from around the world by l’endurance.
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DTM: Important points for Audi at the Lausitzring
Audi Press Release
- Mattias Ekström in fifth place is best Audi driver
- Timo Scheider advances from grid position twelve to sixth place
- Four Audi A5 DTM cars in the points
Mattias Ekström and Timo Scheider occupied positions five and six for Audi thus scoring important points in the DTM race at the Lausitzring in front of 72,000 spectators (throughout the weekend). In total, four Audi A5 DTM cars finished in the top ten.
In extremely low temperatures the two drivers from Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline pushed forward from grid positions eight (Ekström) and twelve (Scheider) – also assisted by the quickest pit stops in the entire field and consistently good lap times. The fast lap by Mattias Ekström was merely 101 thousandths slower than that of winner Bruno Spengler (BMW).
Ekström in the Red Bull Audi A5 DTM improved by one position right at the start, thanks to a better first pit stop moved past Martin Tomczyk in the BMW and ultimately overtook Edoardo Mortara as well. In the final phase, Ekström on position five was able to drive similar times as the front runners. “We didn’t have the pace today to win the race but we again learned a lot,” said the Swede after crossing the finish line. “This is the most important thing. In addition, I scored more valuable points.” Ekström, with 25 points after two rounds, has an equal score as Bruno Spengler, who is ranking third in the standings.
Timo Scheider drove a strong race as well. After starting from P12 on the grid, the two-time DTM Champion in his AUTO TEST Audi A5 DTM advanced to ninth place as early as on lap one. With a long first stint he improved to sixth place. After the second pit stop, Scheider fought a brief duel with Mattias Ekström for fifth place. Afterward, he concentrated on bringing the eight points for sixth place home.
With Edoardo Mortara (Playboy Audi A5 DTM) and Filipe Albuquerque (TV Movie Audi A5 DTM) taking eighth and ninth place, the two drivers of Audi Sport Team Rosberg scored points as well. Albuquerque pushed forward into the top ten after starting from position eleven on the grid. After a good start, Mortara was running in fourth place at first but then complained about a lack of grip and lost four positions.
Audi Sport Team Phoenix that celebrated victory at the Lausitzring last year was unable to score any points. Mike Rockenfeller started from the second row in his Schaeffler Audi A5 DTM but hit the outside curbs hard in turn one and afterwards – also due to a problem during the second pit stop – dropped all the way to position 13. His team-mate Miguel Molina (Red Bull Audi A5 DTM) lost valuable time in the pits too and finished the race in 15th place.
After his early retirement that was no fault of his own at Hockenheim, Adrien Tambay (Audi ultra A5 DTM) finished his second DTM race on position 18 after many duels. Rahel Frey (E-POSTBRIEF Audi A5 DTM) drove consistently fast lap times and on position 20 clearly won the ladies’ duel against her rival Susie Wolff.
The assessment by Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: “Obviously, we can’t be satisfied with the result because we again failed to get the tires on our cars to work properly in the race. Mattias (Ekström) and Timo (Scheider) made the best of their less than optimal grid positions today and improved by several places – and with very good lap times in some of the phases. Still, we’ve got to gain a better understanding of our A5 and fully exploit the potential. We’re going to work hard on this. Congratulations to BMW! I’ve always said that they’ll be competitive in the DTM right from the outset.”
Maiden win for Audi Sport Italia's R8 LMS ultra
Audi Sport Italia Press Release
Maiden win for Audi Sport Italia's R8 LMS ultra in the Italian Gran Turismo opener
Andrea Sonvico and Christian Montanari clinch clean win in Vallelunga Race 1 and podium finish in Race 2; Davide Di Benedetto and Alex Frassineti post Race 1 Top3 finish
2012 Italian Gran Turismo season kick-off had a pretty good load of new things in store for Audi Sport Italia. The drivers' line-up underwent a major overhaul, as in Vallelunga the lone familiar face was 2011 runner-up Andrea Sonvico. He was splitting his time in the seat of the brand-new R8 LMS ultra with Christian Montanari. The other car was handed over to Davide Di Benedetto and Alex Frassineti. All of them had to make acquaintance with their new weapons on Friday at the Piero Taruffi circuit, as the completion of the cars upgrade had been carried out a few hours before the team trucks headed south to Rome.
On Saturday morning the dearth of valuable track time in the upgraded GT3 car may have somehow hindered the Audi drivers' pole position chase, but none the less did not scarred the Emilio Radaelli-led troops, which were pretty confident of their possibilities come race time. As it is, if Saturday morning belonged to BMWs, which grabbed both poles, on Saturday afternoon it was up to an R8 LMS ultra pair to have the last laugh.
Sonvico got ahead of poleman Stefano Colombo's Z4 at the start and was never challenged throughout the 30-lap afternoon race. Whilst Sonvico's team mate Alex Frassineti and the BMW driver challenged each other for the runner-up spot, Sonvico steadily edged away from the rest of the pack, moreover setting Race 1 fastest lap.
Audi Sport Italia's latest recruit Montanari, who is standing in for Audi Works driver Dindo Capello, was fired up to make a big impression: he just did so when he resumed the race at the front of the pack. The leading group of three drivers pulled away from the rest of the field as the 30-lap race developed, with the #31 Audi eventually beating the best BMW to the chequered flag by 5.982 seconds. Davide Di Benedetto stepped in for Frassineti in the second half of Race 1 and tried hard to pass Thomas Biagi in the closing laps, but ultimately settled for third, sealing a double Audi Top3 finish.
BMWs had sweeped Sunday's grid front row, but as the cars -- all on slick Avon tyres -- took the start, heavy clouds started to move on. As umbrellas started to sprout across the grandstands, former FIA WTCC driver Alessandro Balzan's Porsche leapfrogged BMW Italia's Z4s to lead the first half of the race, with the Bimmers in close attendance. Montanari's R8 LMS ultra was in P5 snapping at the rear fender of Enrique Bernoldi's Ferrari 458 Italia and Di Benedetto was toiling in P7 just before the mandatory pit-stop. The latter was to prove a major hindrance for Audi Sport Italia's duo, as they had to discount the time penalty triggered by the brilliant Saturday results and moreover they were prevented from reaching the pits before their leading rivals by an unfriendly pitstop window.
Audi Sport Italia's latest recruit Montanari, who is standing in for Audi Works driver Dindo Capello, was fired up to make a big impression: he just did so when he resumed the race at the front of the pack. The leading group of three drivers pulled away from the rest of the field as the 30-lap race developed, with the #31 Audi eventually beating the best BMW to the chequered flag by 5.982 seconds. Davide Di Benedetto stepped in for Frassineti in the second half of Race 1 and tried hard to pass Thomas Biagi in the closing laps, but ultimately settled for third, sealing a double Audi Top3 finish.
BMWs had sweeped Sunday's grid front row, but as the cars -- all on slick Avon tyres -- took the start, heavy clouds started to move on. As umbrellas started to sprout across the grandstands, former FIA WTCC driver Alessandro Balzan's Porsche leapfrogged BMW Italia's Z4s to lead the first half of the race, with the Bimmers in close attendance. Montanari's R8 LMS ultra was in P5 snapping at the rear fender of Enrique Bernoldi's Ferrari 458 Italia and Di Benedetto was toiling in P7 just before the mandatory pit-stop. The latter was to prove a major hindrance for Audi Sport Italia's duo, as they had to discount the time penalty triggered by the brilliant Saturday results and moreover they were prevented from reaching the pits before their leading rivals by an unfriendly pitstop window.
All drivers then went out on wet tyres and in the closing stages as rain turned into drizzle the fastest cars on this surface proved to be the R8 LMS ultras, which impressively made up ground on the opposition. Sonvico edged the second BMW to grab P3 on Lap 25, whilst Frassineti had a brief tussle with Michela Cerruti Z4 at Roma corner before sneaking back in P4. BMW winning duo Biagi-Colombo took possession of the lead in the Italian GT3 standings, three points ahead of the best placed Audi pair, Montanari-Sonvico. Fellow Audi drivers Di Benedetto-Frassineti are a step behind, 15 points adrift of the lead.
CAMPIONATO ITALIANO GRAN TURISMO --
CAMPIONATO ITALIANO GRAN TURISMO --
Autodromo Piero Taruffi, May 5 2012. Round 1
1. CHRISTIAN MONTANARI/ANDREA SONVICO (AUDI R8 LMS ultra) 30 giri in 49'54"702 alla media di 147,316 km/h
2. Thomas Biagi/Stefano Colombo (BMW) + 5.982S;
3. DAVIDE DI BENEDETTO/ALEX FRASSINETI (AUDI R8 LMS ultra) + 7'151;
4. Stefano Comandini/Valentino Fornaroli (Ferrari) + 22'292;
5. Alessandro Balzan/Giacomo Barri (Porsche) + 29'583.
3. DAVIDE DI BENEDETTO/ALEX FRASSINETI (AUDI R8 LMS ultra) + 7'151;
4. Stefano Comandini/Valentino Fornaroli (Ferrari) + 22'292;
5. Alessandro Balzan/Giacomo Barri (Porsche) + 29'583.
CAMPIONATO ITALIANO GRAN TURISMO :
Autodromo Piero Taruffi, May 6 2012. Round 2
1. Thomas Biagi/Stefano Colombo (BMW), 26 laps 51:05.036 average speed 124.747 kph
2. Enrique Bernoldi/Michael Lyons (Ferrari) + 7.457s;
3. CHRISTIAN MONTANARI/ANDREA SONVICO AUDI R8 LMS ultra) + 38.407s;
3. CHRISTIAN MONTANARI/ANDREA SONVICO AUDI R8 LMS ultra) + 38.407s;
4. DAVIDE DI BENEDETTO/ALEX FRASSINETI (AUDI R8LMS ultra) + 58.103s;
5. Tommaso Rocca/Davide Romanini (Ferrari) + 1:23.962s.
5. Tommaso Rocca/Davide Romanini (Ferrari) + 1:23.962s.
CAMPIONATO ITALIANO GRAN TURISMO 2012
Provisional points standings after 2 rounds:
1. Biagi-Colombo 35 total points;
3. MONTANARI-SONVICO 32 pts.;
5. DI BENEDETTO-FRASSINETI 20 pts.;
7. Lyons-Bernoldi 18 pts.;
9. Balzan-Barri 12 pts.
Video: Audi R18 e-tron quattro vs. Toyota TS030 Hybrid
By Tarek Ramchani
Toyota Motorsport did not race in the 6 Hours of Spa. However the Japanese team was present in the Ardennes showing their new TS030 Hybrid. Audi raced its R18 e-tron quattro at Spa with a strong second place finish in a R18 1-2-3-4.
Here a little taste of what we will see next month at La Sarthe. The battle of the Hybrid cars in the 80th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Here a little taste of what we will see next month at La Sarthe. The battle of the Hybrid cars in the 80th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
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Sonvico-Montanari (Audi R8 LMS ultra) clinching the victory in race 1
Italian GT Championship Press Release
Audi Sport Italy's colors bearers goto on the top step of the podium, ahead of Biagi-Colombo and the team mates Di Benedetto-Montanari
05/05/2012 - Andrea Sonvico and Christian Montanari secured the victory in the first race of the tenth edition of the Italian Grand Touring Championship. The drivers of Audi Sport Italy, at the wheel of a R8 LMS of class GT3, proceeded by 5"982 Biagi-Colombo (BMW Z4-ROAL Motorsport-BMW Italia) at the end of a tight race, while team mates Di Benedetto-Frassineti followed by 7.151.
The fourth place went to Comandini-Fornaroli (Ferrari 458 Italia-Vita4One Team Italy) ahead of Balzan-Barri (Porsche GT3R-Ebimotors) and Cerruti-Liberati (BMW Z4-ROAL Motorsport), skilled in the final stages to have the best of Monti-Passuti (Porsche GT3R-Antonelli Motorsport).
In GT Cup the Porsche 997 dominated with the colors of Antonelli Motorsport defended by Granzotto-Cicognani, Donativi-Bellini and Gaiotto-Magli respectively, after the retirement half way through for a problem to one tyre by Sanna-Stancheris (Lamborghini Gallardo-Team Imperiale).
Photo credits: ACI Sport Italia
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Epic Video: Audi Quattro 5 cylinders symphonies
By Tarek Ramchani
When you think about the World Rally Championship and the Group B era, one word comes directly to your mind: Quattro. A car and concept that symbolized the golden era of rallying.
This is the greatest video compilation ever of Audi quattros in action. No commentary, no music. Just the fabulous 5 cylinder symphony and the huge crowds of rally enthusiasts around the world. 55 Minutes of glory, enjoy the video and the sound.
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