Audi Sport Italia and Gianni Morbidelli back to Superstars Series

By Tarek Ramchani

The Audi RS 5 quattro had a winning debut in the Superstars Series last year. Three cars were entered by three different teams. It was a great season with the championship title in the end for Johan Kristoffersson.


The first team to confirm their return in 2013 is Audi Sport Italia. A single RS 5 quattro so far for Gianni Morbidelli, an Audi regular who is returning with the team, and this time he wants to win the overall title. Gianni Morbidelli is of course a four-time Superstars Series champion, two of them with Audi Sport Italia and the Audi RS 4 quattro. Last season he won four races with double victories at both Donignton Park and Spa-Francorchamps, he finished fourth in the final points standings.

Morbidelli is very confident about the upcoming 2013 season: "Being back for a new season in SUPERSTARS is always exciting - told Morbidelli - I'm more motivated than ever in fighting back to the top. Sure it's going to be a tough season, with many fierce - and quick - competitors. My team already displayed their class. Unfortunately, several unlucky breaks prevented us from fighting for the title in the late part of 2012 but, in the end, that's racing. You win, you lose, you try to put the puzzle together. And this season, I hope to put the winning piece…". Quote from superstarsworld.com

The Superstars Series field is continuing to grow each season. Last year Audi KMS won the title in a very dramatic way, on the very last lap of the last race against Mercedes AMG. We hope that Gianni Morbidelli and Audi Sport Italia will be among the teams fighting for the title. The RS 5 quattro clearly proved to be one of the best cars in the field.

Photo credit: Superstars Series

Gallery: Audi cars at Race Retro 2013

By Tarek Ramchani

Coventry in Britain hosted the 2013 International Historic Motorsport Show, or simply "Race Retro," this weekend.

Very iconic and legendary race cars were on display at Stoneleigh Park, from single seater Grand Prix cars, to sportcars, rally and touring cars. Among the stars there were some Audi quattro racers. Our friend Phil Laughton was on site and took some beautiful photos. You can see his full photo gallery from the event right here.

More information:
Race Retro official website
Phil Laughton Photography official Facebook

Istook Motorsports with two Audi TT RS in Pirelli World Challenge

By Tarek Ramchani

During 2012 Don Istook and the Arc Audi Racing Program debuted the Audi TT RS in the Pirelli World Challenge. The car has been entered in the GTS class with some ups and downs all season long.

Don Istook is a long time Audi drivers and a regular in North American sportscar racing. The TT RS appeared at Long Beach for first time, round two of the 2012 SCCA sanctioned series. For 2013 the team is set to come back with an extended two car effort.

The first of the two cars will be in the hands of Don Istook himself, he will drive the #01 Audi. His team mate will be Colin Cohen with the sister #03 TT RS. The two cars will again compete in the GTS class. The competition, as ever, will be fierce with strong rivals representing Ford, Chevrolet, KIA, Acura and Porsche.

Don Istook and his crew are working hard preparing the cars ahead of the season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg. A lot of improvements are expected for the TT RS twins. We wish the best of luck to Istook Motorsports with their fully privateer Audi effort.

Photo credit and more information:
Don Istook Audi TT RS official Facebook

Audi S4 quattros shine at first round of season

Audi South Africa Press Release

THE Audi S4 quattro racers showed their race pedigree at Kyalami on Saturday. A hot performance at an equally hot race meeting at Kyalami saw defending champion Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme) grab the opportunity to post the fastest time during the Super Pole session and claim the first pole position of the season.

“I got some good points at this first event,” says Stephen. “Points from the racing and the Super Pole qualifying mean a brilliant start to the season. Our work during the off-season is clearly paying off.”

Stephen led race one with Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sports Medicine) in second spot. When the safety car was deployed due to an incident on track, it was Stephen who made the most of the re-start while Priest fell victim to Hennie Groenewald, sliding down to third and then fourth spot as Johan Fourie also pushed his way past. Race two saw Stephen start from sixth under the reverse grid, finding his way through to claim third by the end of the six lap race. Race three was a second place finish for the defending champion, ensuring he was never off the podium the entire race day – claiming first overall for the day in the process.

For Priest the event might not have gone his way with a fourth in race one, 14th in race two and third in the final race, but it was still a fifth overall for the day with valuable points at the start of the championship.

“We made a wrong decision on the setup,” says Priest. “We couldn't hold pace with the other competitors. A tyre delaminating in the second race spoiled what would otherwise have been a strong performance. Overall, the car is strong, I'm happy with it but we have to work on the handling a bit.”

For Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme) the first race was the opportunity to advance to fifth from a sixth place start to put him second in the field for race two. This starting position in the second race gave him the sought-after inside line through the first two corners. Sipuka capitalised on this position to claim his first victory of the season. Race three saw him again cross the finish line for first place, but a penalty for a jumpstart in this final race saw him relegated to a ninth place result. The first race meeting ended with Sipuka in third place overall.

“It was a great opportunity, being able to show my strength from pole,” says Sipuka. “We have been strong here at Kyalami, the Audi S4 quattro is good and everything is working properly. It has been a great race day, and a great start to the season.”

The race day proved a trial for Gennaro Bonafede (A32 – Ferodo Racing). Race one was a 14th place finish, race two saw him seventh across the line and in the final race he was 13th, claiming sixth overall on the day.

“We simply had a bad day,” says Bonafede. “We rebuilt the car during the off-season and did hours of very successful testing. Then to come here for the first round and have all these problems is quite disappointing. On Friday we were the fastest and then lots of problems on Saturday. We're looking forward to the next race meeting now, a chance to show what we can do.”

The Bridgestone Production Car field will head to Killarney in Cape Town on Saturday, 16 March when they tackle their national championship at round two of the Super Series.

Audi South Africa

Photos by MotorPics

More information:

Audi South Africa

Audi Motorsport in South Africa FB page

Unofficial Audi Sport FB page

Bridgestone Production Cars Website

Bridgestone Production Cars on Facebook
Bridgestone Production Cars on twitter

Michael Stephen A1 - Audi S4 - Terry Moss Racing

Tschops Sipuka A2 - Audi S4 - Terry Moss Racing

Melvill Priest A7 - Audi S4 - VMP Motorsport

Gennaro Bonafede A32 - Audi S4 - Ferodo Racing Team / VMP Motorsport 

BR-Racing with an Audi R8 LMS ultra in French GT Tour

By Tarek Ramchani

JWS Racing returns to the French GT Tour with Audi and some major changes. The Audi Sport customer racing team has recently changed its name and now becomes BR-Racing.

The team will field a single Audi R8 LMS ultra in the main "Championnat de France GT". The car will be a 2013 spec R16. The BR-Racing machine will be in the hands of drivers Mathieu Jaminet and Jean-Marc Quintois. As in 2012, the GT Tour effort will have technical support from Sainteloc Racing, who are now the leading Audi squad in French GT.

In addition to the GT Tour program, the BR-Racing team is also set to compete at the Spa 24 Hours this July. This will mark their first attempt at the Belgian endurance classic and stellar event of the Blancpain Endurance Series. The French R8 is expected to be in the Pro-Am Cup class.

Photo credit:
GT Tour
BR-Racing official Facebook

The Audi S4 quattro remains on top in SA at Kyalami

By Johan Laubscher

Race day dawned with very high temperatures at Kyalami. The show piece of the day was the South African Bridgestone Production Cars, the series wherein the Audi S4 team are competing. Four Audi S4 cars are entered in this Championship. Terry Moss Racing with Michael Stephen and Tschops Sipuka, and VMP Motorsport with Melvill Priest and Gennaro Bonafede (Ferodo). The Audi teams were confident after very positive sessions on Friday. Michael Stephen, the reigning champion, had put his car on provisional pole and took part in SuperPole on Saturday. 

The top three qualifiers from each class had one flying lap to determine the final top three qualifying order. In Class A it was a SuperPole battle between Stephen and the pair of Team Afrox BMWs. Stephen was first out on track and set a very good time. Johan Fourie (an ex-Audi driver and two-time champion) was out next and only 0.173 seconds slower than Stephen. The second BMW, driven by Etienne van der Linde, and the last runner in the Class A SuperPole, had an accident on his flying lap. The damage put the BMW out for the day and the team switched to an older spare car. The accident resulted in Michael Stephen taking the official pole position and the three championship points that came with it. 

The first race of the day saw Stephen on pole followed by the other Audis in fourth, sixth and seventh. Races one and two were both six lap sprints. Michael Stephen maintained his first place off the line and went on towards a flag to flag victory. Behind him it was a very busy race with cars battling for position. Melvill Priest held on for fourth with Sipuka right behind him. Bonafede suffered technical problems during race one. 

The top six were inverted for race two. This inversion meant that Sipuka, who finished fifth in race one, would start on the front row. Sipuka is well known for making lighting fast starts with the quattro system, often dancing on the line of it being a jump start. On this occasion he timed it perfectly and rocketed himself into the lead. He maintained this lead during the race and went on to claim his first official race victory with the Audi S4. And to further prove that it was not a fluke, he set the fastest lap in the race as well, gaining him pole position for race three. Mr Consistency, Michael Stephen, had moved his way up the field to finish third after starting from sixth. The Terry Moss Racing camp were very happy as both of their drivers had taken a win a piece so far. Both Melvill and Bonafede faced problems during the second race, but most importantly Melvill had set the second fastest lap, ensuing a front row start for race three. 

All four Audi cars were ready for race three which saw an Audi front row ahead of the twelve lap race. The starting order in race three is determined by the fastest laps from race two. Sipuka was on pole followed by Priest. Sipuka crept on the line at the start and would later be given a jump start penalty. Priest had a very good start in the Audi S4 and shot into the lead closely followed by Hennie Groenewald in the Subaru, who had a tremendous start from row two. Priest and Groenewald had a very good fight at the front as the field fought behind them. The two big movers were Stephen and the BMW of Fourie. Stephen had made his way through the field and was up to third battling for the lead. His progress had been shadowed by Fourie who was running with him. Stephen made the pass for second, closely followed by the BMW. 

At this stage Priest lead Stephan and Fourie, but this Audi 1-2 was short lived as Johan Fourie muscled his way past both Audis and took the lead. Stephen was able to pass Priest down the inside of Sunset and put in a great lap to close down Fourie. They crossed the line together with only a few laps to go. However, Fourie was able to re-establish a gap on Stephen and maintained it to the finish. Fourie won the race followed by two Audis completing the podium, Stephen and Priest. Sipuka was ultimately placed ninth overall, sixth in Class A, after receiving a thirty second penalty for the jump start. The difficult day continued for Gennaro Bonafede, the technical issues which had plagued him all day returned in race three. He circulated slowly at the rear of the Class A field to collect points, but the Ferodo Audi team will bounce back and be ready for Cape Town.

Round two of the championship will take place at Killarney. The Cape Town based circuit is well known to suit the quattro cars, and it should be another strong showing for the Audi S4s. The event is scheduled for the weekend of 16 March.

More information: 
Production Cars website

Production Cars on twitter

Production Cars on Facebook
MotorPics website
Audi Motorsport in South Africa on Facebook

Results:

Class A Race 1
1 Michael Stephen – Audi S4 – Engen Xtreme 
2 Hennie Groenewald – Subaru WRX STi – Team Sasol Subaru 
3 Etienne van der Linde – BMW 335 – Team Afrox
4 Melvill Priest – Audi S4 – VMP Meuller Sports Medicine
5 Tschops Sipuka – Audi S4 – Engen Xtreme
6 Richard Pinard – Subaru WRX STI – Team Sasol Subaru 
7 Gennaro Bonafede – Audi S4 – Ferodo
DNF Johan Fourie – BMW 335i – Team Afrox 

Class A Race 2
1 Tschops Sipuka – Audi S4 – Engen Xtreme
2 Hennie Groenewald – Subaru WRX STi – Team Sasol Subaru 
3 Michael Stephen – Audi S4 – Engen Xtreme
4 Etienne van der Linde – BMW 335 – Team Afrox
5 Johan Fourie – BMW 335i – Team Afrox 
6 Richard Pinard – Subaru WRX STI – Team Sasol Subaru 
7 Gennaro Bonafede – Audi S4 – Ferodo
8 Melvill Priest – Audi S4 – VMP Meuller Sports Medicine

Class A Race 3 
1 Johan Fourie – BMW 335i – Team Afrox 
2 Michael Stephen – Audi S4 – Engen Xtreme
3 Melvill Priest – Audi S4 – VMP Meuller Sports Medicine
4 Richard Pinard – Subaru WRX STI – Team Sasol Subaru 
5 Etienne van der Linde – BMW 335 – Team Afrox
6 Tschops Sipuka – Audi S4 – Engen Xtreme
7 Gennaro Bonafede – Audi S4 – Ferodo
8 Hennie Groenewald – Subaru WRX STi – Team Sasol Subaru

Photo credit: MotorPics website / Production Cars website

Weekend Round Up - Audi Motorsport Blog (23-24/02/2013)

By Johan Laubscher

1. The Weekend

Focussing this week on the weekend of 23 - 24 February 2013

2. The Events

•           SA Production Cars
•           Race Retro 
• 
  

2.1. SA Production Cars

The South African Bridgestone Production Cars Championship got underway this weekend. Four Audi S4s were entered, the same team and driver combinations as in 2012. Terry Moss Racing returned with reigning champion Michael Stephen and his teammate Tschops Sipuka. VMP Motorsport were back with Melvill Priest and Gennaro Bonafede. The weekend took place with very warm conditions. Michael Stephen put his S4 on pole and then maintained that by setting the fastest lap in SuperPole as well. The first race saw a flag to flag victory for Stephen with the other Audis in the lower half of the field. The reverse grid for race 2 ensured a front row start for Stephen’s teammate, Tschops Sipuka. Sipuka made good use of the standing start and rocketed into the lead and went onto victory, with Stephen rounding out the podium in third. Two Audis were on the front row for race 3, Sipuka and Priest. The two battled hard during the race. Both were eventually being passed by Johan Fourie (ex-Audi driver and two time Audi champion) in his BMW and Michael Stephen. Fourie and Stephen lead the way for the rest of the race. Ultimately Stephen finished in second place, ensuring that he was the overall victor for the day and the current championship points leader. Priest made it another double Audi podium by finishing third. The youngster, Bonafede, had a very difficult day as his S4 suffered a number of problems.

SA Production Car website / MotorPics website

Results

2.2. Race Retro

The 2013 International Historic Motorsport Show, also known as Race Retro, took place in Britain this weekend. A number of rally cars took part in a special live rally stage at the event. A few Audi quattro cars were amongst the entries.

Phil Laughton Photography FB page

Results

2.3. Other Audi News

Audi Sport will have a special display at the Sebring 12 Hours. As it is the last LMP1 Sebring it will be a very special event. A collection of legendary Audi LMP1 race cars will take part in demo runs at Sebring. The cars will include the Audi R8, Audi R10 TDI, Audi R15 TDI and the Audi R18 TDI.  

Audi Sport Media

The annual Audi winter camp has been completed. At the beginning of each year Audi Sport hosts this fitness camp for all their factory drivers. This year all nineteen official Audi Sport drivers were present along with many of the top team organisers (Joest, ABT, Phoenix, Rosberg)

Audi Sport Media

Team Novadriver have been teasing conceptual livery designs via their Facebook page this week. Two similar liveries have been shown, one red and the other yellow. The team have also mentioned that they will be the first customer team to receive the new 2013 R8 LMS ultra upgrade packages to update their 2012 ultra cars.

Team Novadriver FB page

The French JWS Racing team have announced a name change. The team will now be known as BR Racing. They have mentioned that they will be running one 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra in the French GT Tour this year. They will also take part in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the Spa 24 Hours. The BR Racing team will again be receiving technical support from Saintéloc.

BR Racing Team

GMG Racing took part in a promotional video with Simraceway which was published this week. The GMG Audi R8 LMS of James Sofronas was used in the Simraceway Real vs Virtual series. In this video series they look at the real car, in this case the real GMG R8 LMS, and then the virtual car on Simraceway.

Simraceway video

The Nigerian Racing Eagle team have not announced their plans for the 2013 season as of yet. The R8 LMS team revealed a racing simulator mod this week, a version of an existing GT3 mod, which features an Audi R8 LMS ultra in the Racing Eagle livery. The mod is for the race simulator/pc game called rFactor.

Racing Eagle FB page

DragonSpeed, the only American Audi R8 LMS ultra team, have already taken part in the 2013 Dubai 24 Hours and the Bathurst 12 Hour. It was confirmed this week that they will now be preparing for the Spa 24 Hours, which takes place later in the year.

DragonSpeed FB page

The Limitless Racing team were at Road Atlanta this weekend. They were testing their Audi R8 GRAND-AM race car ahead of upcoming SCCA events which will take place at the circuit.

Kyle Connery FB page

3. Next Weekend’s events (2-3/03/2013)

•           Australian GT
•           Grand Am
•           Jamwest Raceway Jamaica

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