Two Audi teams were seen testing at Zolder on Thursday, Phoenix Racing and PK Carsport. The big news on the day was the presence of the car from Phoenix Racing, a 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra (car #5 on the day). It was revealed this week that Anthony Kumpen and Enzo Ide will be driving for Phoenix in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the FIA GT Series. Kumpen will also be diving an older Audi R8 LMS (car #7 on the day) for PK Carsport in the BRCC this year, thus both cars were testing at Zolder. The Phoenix R8 LMS race-taxi (car #3 on the day) also took part in the test session.
This was not the first publically known test for a new 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra. Hitotsuyama Racing was the first when they tested at Fuji Speedway last weekend. A number of pitlane photos were posted by the team and RacerLink, which can be seen HERE. However, no on-track photos were posted from the Fuji test, thus the photos from the test at Zolder are some of the very first on-track photos available of a new 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra.
The Phoenix Racing car looks beautiful, and these testing photos give us a glimpse into the future, as a number of these new specification cars will be racing all over the world this year. The new car looks very much the same as the previous ultra, but various alterations have been made, you can read more about that HERE.
Exciting times lie ahead as more new Audi R8 LMS ultra cars are expected to emerge as the 2013 season finally begins to pick up speed.
The Blancpain Endurance Series is one of the fastest growing sportscar series in Europe. In 2013 the SRO managed series will be entering its third year of competition. Audi has already won the 2011 and 2012 editions with Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, winning both the team and driver titles each time.
The 2013 season will start at Monza, but before that two test days are planned at Paul Ricard next week. An impressive field of 60 GT3 cars will show up at the HTTT track in southern France. Audi Sport customer racing is very well represented with no less than six R8 LMS ultra and front running teams.
Three teams will be on site with Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, Phoenix Racing and Sainteloc Racing from France. Each team will field two cars. The first of the two Phoenix cars will be shared by Anthony Kumpen, Enzo Ide and Markus Winkelhock. The other five Audi R8 LMS ultra driver line-ups are yet to be announced.
Focussing this week on the weekend of 9 - 10 March 2013
2. The Events
Zwartkops Festival
Audi R8 LMS Cup Test
Thayaland Rallye
2.1. Zwartkops Festival
Zwartkops Raceway hosts a number of festivals/racing days during the year. The first Extreme Festival took place this weekend. One Audi was present. The red and silver Audi A4 was driven by Jonathan Du Toit in the Extreme Super Cars category. The Audi A4 is the ex-Michael Stephen car from Terry Moss Racing. Du Toit qualified second in class and ninth overall. He was not classified as a starter in race one and registered a DNF in race two.
Absolute Racing held the first official test session for the Audi R8 LMS Cup this weekend. The test was held at Zhuhai with many of championship's Audi R8 LMS cars taking part. The Audi R8 LMS Cup is a one-make championship which takes place exclusively in China. The series was started in 2012 and will be back in 2013 after a successful initial season. Absolute Racing website 2.3. Thayaland Rallye
The Thayaland Rallye took place in Austria this weekend. Amongst all the entries there were a few Audi cars as well. The rally route went from Pfaffenschlag to Waidhofen. race-action.com FB page Results
2.4. Other Audi News
The 2013 Audi R18 e-tron quattro was revealed on Friday. Two cars will be competing at the Sebring 12 Hours next weekend, one 2013 car (#2) and one 2012 car (#1). Both cars have been pictured in a livery similar to the 2012 e-tron quattro livery. More can be read about the visual differences between the two car versions HERE.
Audi Sport held a press conference at Geneva this week. The headline ahead of the conference was that the 2013 Audi DTM program would be announced in detail. The big news on the day was that the Audi A5 DTM has been renamed as the new Audi RS 5 DTM. The driver and team combinations were also announced, as listed below.
The driver line-up for Audi’s DTM program was announced earlier in the year but the driver and team divisions were revealed this week. The eight drivers will again be split into four teams: Audi Sport ABT Sportsline, Audi Sport Team ABT, Audi Sport Team Phoenix and Audi Sport Team Rosberg. The driver start numbers were also revealed later in the week. (The driver/team and start number combinations are pictured above.)
The Alex Job Racing Audi R8 GRAND-AM which won the 2013 Daytona 24 Hours GT class was on display at Geneva this weekend. It was the first car on stage during the Audi Sport press conference at Geneva.
A new 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra was on show at the Geneva Audi stand. The car was silver in colour and is the first new 2013 ultra which has been seen with the facelifted Audi R8 lights.
Belgian Audi Club Team WRT are now officially the 2012 Blancpain Endurance Series drivers champions. At the end of the 2012 Blancpain Endurance Championship the #1 WRT crew of Christopher Mies, Stéphane Ortelli and Christopher Haase were crowned as the drivers champions. However the result was contested and ended up in the FIA International Court of Appeal. It has been announced this week that the court concluded its verdict in favour of the WRT team, thus WRT are now officially the BES drivers champions for two years running. Belgian Audi Club FB page
United Autosports were testing at Oulton Park this week. It was their first test before the British GT Championship season and all three of their cars took part. Both of their McLarens and their Audi R8 LMS ultra, seen for the first time on track with its new livery, took part in the testing.
Team Novadriver have received and fitted their 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra upgrade kits. The team was out testing the cars at Braga this weekend as they prepare for the 2013 season.
Twin Busch Motorsport in Germany have also received and fitted their new 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra upgrade kit. They posted a photo of the delivery on their Facebook page, which showed the magnitude of the upgrade kit.
The Phoenix Racing team also tested at Zolder this week. One 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra was tested by the team, but their R8 LMS race-taxi was also on site. It was revealed this week that Anthony Kumpen and Enzo Ide will be driving a Phoenix Racing R8 LMS ultra in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the FIA GT Series this year. Anthony Kumpen
M-Sport Racing have announced that they will be entering the British GT Championship with an Audi R8 LMS ultra. The team will be using this as a project to expand their operations to include circuit racing. The drivers have been listed as Warren Hughes and Rembert Berg. Audi Sport Media
Ebrahim Motors held their first 2013 test session in Brazil this week. The test was held at Curitiba. They will again be entering their Audi R8 LMS ultra in the Brazilian GT Championship this year. Ebrahim Motors FB page
3. Next Weekend’s events (16-17/03/2013)
Sebring 12 Hours
SA Production Cars
VLN Test
SCCA US Majors
SVRA
Super GT Test
BES Test
All photos are hosted at their respective website which are listed within the Weekend Round Up
It has been a very busy week for Audi Sport in Germany. The DTM program was revealed on Tuesday followed by the 2013 Audi R18 e-tron quattro breaking cover today, but wait, there’s more. Just hours after the 2013 LMP1 challenger was revealed Audi Sport also released the first official set of detailed 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra photos.
The photos show a new ultra in a traditional Audi Sport customer racing livery. Audi Sport released a number of these images highlighting the new visual changes made to the 2013 version of the Audi R8 LMS ultra. More can be read about these differences HERE.
Audi Sport has released the first real-world image of the new 2013 Audi R18 e-tron quattro (pictured in the cover image), along with a variety of renders. In the last few months a number of spy photos appeared online, prompting the usual pre-season winter speculation. It appeared that the 2013 version of the latest generation Audi sportscar would remain visually similar to the 2012 variant. Based on the renders released today this seems to be the case, but there are a number of significant differences.
The collection of renders published by Audi Sport media offers a look at both Audi R18 e-tron quattro versions, which will be competing at Sebring. Car #1 will be a 2012 version whereas car #2 will be one of the newly updated 2013 cars. We will use these renders for a comparison below, highlighting some of the key visual changes. These renders are professionally done and have been very accurate in the past, thus they form a good basis for the visual comparison. It must be emphasised that the comparison done below was completely based on the renders. They may differ from the actual cars seen at Sebring. Equally the 2012 rendered car may differ from the exact specification seen during 2012, again they are the latest renders released ahead of the Sebring 12 Hours.
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Note: The cover photo (the only real-world photo of the 2013 Audi R18 e-tron quattro) shows the car fitted with the sprint bodywork front nose. The renders published by Audi Sport show the car with the Le Mans type bodywork front nose. The picture above shows the most obvious difference between the two types of front nose setups. The shape of the front fenders differs significantly, the sprint bodywork (pictured left) is completely smooth whereas the Le Mans bodywork (pictured right) has a step in its contour. This difference has been seen on all the Audi R18 versions (2011, 2012 and now 2013). The cars at Sebring will most likely being using the high downforce sprint bodywork, which would be consistent with the first real-world photo that has been released.
2013 vs 2012 Audi R18 e-tron quattro (Sebring 2013)
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Front View
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1. The first big difference is the addition of the "double rear wing", which was first pioneered on the Toyota TS030 during 2012. The double rear wing is comprised of an extension of the rear bodywork being raised alongside the rear wing, but not connected to the rear wing. It is a clever loophole within the regulations to effectually widen the rear wing, whilst the rear wing itself, remains within the maximum dimensions.
2. The rear wing itself also appears to have a larger surface area with an increased angle of attack on the 2013 car.
3. The front dive plane sections of the front nose have been split. On the 2013 car the dive plane is now split into two distinct sections, on the 2012 car it is only one smooth solid section.
4. On the 2012 car there appears to be a segregation line on the bodywork (dark line in render), which would suggest the bodywork was two separate parts. The 2013 render does not have this segregation line. (However this is said under correction)
5. The 2013 car has a set of cameras mounted on its roof, which is not present on the 2012 car. These new cameras will aid the drivers forward vision, an aspect which has been a problem in the R18 versions due to the driver's view being obstructed from certain angles inside the cockpit.
6. The side mounted dive planes have a slightly different shape and the 2012 car configuration has the dive planes curving further round the front nose.
7. The highest point of the front nose dive plane is higher on the 2013 car than that of the 2012 car, revealing an air exit when viewed from behind. The 2012 car has a smooth surface without an air exit.
Rear View
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8. The 2012 car has a circular exhaust whereas the 2013 car is pictured without the large circular exhaust. (This may only be the case on the render, the real configurations remains to be seen.)
9. The rear fender shape has been altered on the 2013 car. The rear section of the fender now also has a more squared corner, whereas the 2012 car has a more rounded edge.
Side View
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10. The shape of the side pod air exits have changed slightly as well as having an additional horizontal element added on the 2013 car. The horizontal element has been added between the second and third sections of the side pod and between the third section and the main body of the car.
11. The second side pod section’s lower edge has been extended further rearwards on the 2013 car, on the 2012 car this edge was a lot shorter and ended before the third section of the side pod.
12. The first side pod section has a different shape and is angled more towards the car’s centreline on the 2013 car.
13. A rectangular part has been added alongside the side pod, directly behind the front wheel. This was not present on the 2012 car.
14. The angled first side pod section can be seen here, it is clearly angled more towards the car’s centreline on the 2013 car.
Top View
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15. On the 2013 car there is a small bulge on the rear fender, behind the rear wheels. The bulge faces inwards towards the car's centreline. This bulge was not present on the 2012 car and its function is not yet known.
16. The trailing edge of the rear bodywork has a different shape on the 2013 car as it is angled more downward than that of the 2012 car.
17. New air vents are present on the 2013 car's rear bodywork. The purpose of these vents is yet to be known, but it is speculated that they have been added to enhance the cooling and airflow.
This concludes our visual comparison of the two Audi R18 e-tron quattro versions which will be competing at Sebring. Again we emphasise that this comparison is based on the renders released by Audi Sport media. It remains to be seen how the actual cars will look at Sebring itself. Photo credit: Audi Sport Media
Editors note: The text within this article is that of Audi Motorsport Blog (an independent blog), the text is therefore not from Audi Sport Media Info.
