Audi one-two victory in the heat of Bahrain

Audi Press Release

• Audi R18 takes fifth victory of the season in tough conditions
• Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer extend lead in the standings
• Kristensen/McNish in second place after suffering misfortune

Ingolstadt/Sakhir, September 29, 2012 - One-two success in the desert of Sakhir: Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro won the sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in Bahrain. The trio won the race staged in hot weather conditions in their Audi R18 e-tron quattro ahead of the sister car. For Audi, this marked as many as five victories from six events.

It was the toughest 6-hour race of the year so far. At the beginning of the race, air temperatures were at 34 degrees with a track temperature of 45. The five drivers, the two hybrid race cars and Audi Sport Team Joest were exposed to extreme strains and showed flawless performances. The race that was started at 16:00 local time was predominantly held in the dark. In the end, Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer enjoyed an advantage of one lap. The three Le Mans winners had started from position two and celebrated their third victory of the season after Le Mans and Silverstone.

The second Audi R18 e-tron quattro had every chance of clinching victory as well. Allan McNish defended the lead in the early phase after having started from the pole position. Soon, a battle with Toyota ensued. The Japanese team led the race until stopping for a repair and ultimately retired after a collision. Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish were not spared from minor setbacks either. On lap 25, a defective headlight forced the number "2" Audi to make its first unscheduled stop. In a subsequent duel, the valve of the left rear tire was damaged. This required another unscheduled stop on lap 89. Finally, the recurrence of lighting problems made it necessary to change the hood two more times on laps 115 and 117.

Audi’s hybrid technology on the other hand proved extremely viable in the rough ambient conditions on taking its third victory. For the first time since Le Mans, Audi fielded two R18 e-tron quattro cars in order to afford its two driver squads optimal equality of opportunity in the battle for the title. Whereas the gap between the two teams was only 7.5 points before the race in Bahrain it has now increased to 13.5. However, in the two remaining races in Japan and China, 52 points will still be awarded, so the battle for the title in the drivers’ championship remains open. Only two weeks from now, the WEC will make its Japan debut with the seventh round of the season at Fuji on October 14.

Quotes after the race

Dieter Gass (Head of Racing Commitments): "Obviously, we’re very pleased with the success in Bahrain. These were extremely hard six hours for us with a lot things happening over the whole race distance. Fortunately, we were able to bring both cars to the finish without any major problems. That way, we managed to score an excellent one-two win."

Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): "The race didn’t seem to me like a 6-hour race but like 24 hours because there was so much happening. For the drivers, it was extremely rough. We once tried a double stint with André (Lotterer) but realized that that was really pushing the limits. That’s why we opted for shorter stints again, with respect to the drivers as well as the tires. That was exactly the right decision. Positions one and two are sensational. Getting both cars to finish without heat-induced problems is really a solid achievement."

Marcel Fässler (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1): "It’s great that we won the race. We made no mistakes. The pit stops were good too. We had to change the car’s nose once because we’d lost an aerodynamic component. Because we had less downforce and more understeer as a result, we changed the front bodywork for safety reasons. The race went a bit in our direction because the Toyota, and unfortunately our team-mates too, had various problems."

André Lotterer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1): "First and second place is a top result for Audi. In the beginning it wasn’t an easy race for me. I drove a double stint and managed to catch up with the Toyota again. I was able to close the gap up to twelve seconds but was very exhausted then. But we exerted pressure. Maybe our rivals took a higher risk as a result and in the end retired due to a mistake. It went superbly. A brilliant performance by the team and by my team-mates."

Benoît Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1): "That was a pretty tough race - even a bit tougher than we’d expected. In the first phase, André drove two consecutive stints but that was too difficult and he was hardly able to really concentrate through to the end. That’s why afterwards we only drove single stints. Our pace was good. We lost a small part on the front end which caused the car to understeer. That’s why we changed the front bodywork to be on the safe side. Our car was fantastic and the mechanics did a perfect job."

Tom Kristensen (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #2): "An outstanding one-two result in the desert in really tough conditions. It was a big challenge for our competitors and for us. Car number 1 delivered a perfect performance - congratulations on that. Unfortunately, we had to change the hood three times and suffered a puncture. Before I got into the car we were already one lap behind. Considering this, second place is a good result. And after all, we’re the best driver squad to finish with only two drivers! The mechanics did a fantastic job of converting the ultra into the e-tron quattro as well during the event."

Allan McNish (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #2): "Congratulations to Audi on positions one and two in Bahrain. That was a hot race not only with respect to the temperatures. In the beginning, we had a temperature problem on the rear brakes. In addition, we lost a lot of time due to changing the front body parts. But in the end we drove good times again but the gap to the sister car was already too large. Of course that’s a bit disappointing when you start from pole. Now we’re concentrating on Japan."

Race results

1 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 191 laps
2 Kristensen/McNish (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) - 1 lap
3 Leventis/Watts/Kane (HPD-Honda) - 6 laps
4 Prost/Jani (Lola-Toyota) - 7 laps
5 Primat/Belicchi (Lola-Toyota) - 10 laps
6 Kaffer/Minassian/Perez Companc (Oreca-Nissan) - 12 laps
7 Lombard/Mailleux/Tresson (Oreca-Nissan) - 14 laps
8 Potolicchio/Kimber-Smith/Sarrazin (HPD-Honda) - 14 laps
9 Liuzzi/Weeda/Rossiter (Lola-Lotus) - 14 laps
10 Rusinov/Ragues/Panciatici (Oreca-Nissan) - 15 laps

ABT Audi TT-R destroyed during testing

By Johan Laubscher

The ABT-Audi TT-R of Vláďa Vitver has become well known amongst Audi motorsport fans for its modified styling. The SVC Náchod Motorsport team purchased the ex-DTM Audi and proceeded to modify the car both mechanically and visually. The car now displays the appearance of a Mk2 Audi TT. Vláďa Vitver has been competing with the car in various European Hillclimb series and events, including the FIA Hillclimb Championship.

The team have been preparing for one of the biggest German Hillcimb events, the Mickhausen Hillclimb. However tragedy struck during testing for the event. Vitver was testing at a former Airport at Hradec Králové. A high speed crash occurred which has damaged the car tremendously. We are happy to report that the news from the incident indicate that Vláďa Vitver is unharmed, and that is most important.

The driver is safe, and in this sport that is the most important fact of all. The fate of the Audi TT-R is unknown. If we will see this car racing again is yet to be confirmed. This the second major crash for one of the older ABT-Audi TT-R race cars this year. Doug Gore of Jamaica suffered a big crash at Dover a few months ago which damaged the chassis of his TT-R.

We wish Vláďa Vitver all the best as he recovers from the crash. Hopefully he will be on track racing again very soon. 

More information:

SVC Náchod Motorsport FB page

SVC Náchod Motorsport website

Race-Action.com FB page

Crash images linked from the SVC Facebook page

DTM: Audi with strong team performance

Audi Press Release

• Four Audi A5 DTM cars in top five in qualifying at Valencia
• Edoardo Mortara on front row
• Youngster Adrien Tambay in Q4 for the first time

Ingolstadt/Valencia, September 29, 2012 – In qualifying for the penultimate DTM race of the season, Audi showed a strong team performance at Valencia, Spain. Four Audi drivers managed the leap into the top five, seven into the top ten. And Rahel Frey caused a sensation as well.

Last year, Audi managed to score a six-fold success at Valencia. And this year, the brand with the four rings is presenting itself well-prepared on the Spanish race track. With grid positions two, three, four and five plus a total of seven vehicles on the five front rows of the grid, Audi has an outstanding starting base for the race on Sunday (starting at 13:45 – local time — live on “Das Erste”).

The quickest Audi driver in qualifying was Edoardo Mortara, who set the second-fastest time in the Playboy Audi A5 DTM. His team-mate Filipe Albuquerque in the TV Movie Audi A5 DTM completed the strong showing by Audi Sport Team Rosberg. Only BMW driver Augusto Farfus was quicker than the Rosberg duo.

“Grid positions two and three are a good result for Filipe (Albuquerque) and me,” said Edoardo Mortara. “Augusto (Farfus) was a bit quicker today. But I’m very optimistic for tomorrow. I believe that in our A5 DTM we’ve got a superb car for the race.”

Adrien Tambay, the Frenchman who is only 21 years old, achieved his best qualifying result in the DTM so far. For the first time, the youngster from Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline in the Audi ultra A5 DTM qualified for the shoot-out for the top four grid positions and will be starting into the race from position four on Sunday.

Grid position five was secured by Mike Rockenfeller in the Schaeffler Audi A5 DTM of Audi Sport Team Phoenix. The two former DTM Champions Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi A5 DTM) and Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi A5 DTM) are sharing the fourth row of the grid. The top ten are completed by the Spanish local hero Miguel Molina (Red Bull Audi A5 DTM).

Rahel Frey caused a sensation as well. The Swiss in the E-POSTBRIEF Audi A5 DTM managed the leap into Q2 for the first time and will start into the penultimate race of the season from position 15, which even puts her in front of Gary Paffett on the grid.

“We’ve got four cars on the five front grid positions and seven in the top ten – that’s a great team performance, particularly with a view toward the battle in the manufacturers’ championship,” said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich after the qualifying session in Valencia. “Especially in the DTM, this is something very special and not the kind of thing you expect. It shows that on the whole we’re in a strong position. Of course we want to advance by another position tomorrow.”

Follow the 6 Hours of Bahrain: Live Stream + Live Tweet Updates

By Tarek Ramchani

The 6 Hours of Bahrain race is about to start at Interlagos, round 6 of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Here are all the links you need to follow the race live on streaming, plus real time updates from top Twitter contributors.

Live Stream:
Audi Live Racing
FIA WEC website

Radio Le Mans:
Radio Le Mans full radio coverage

Spotter Guide:
Andy Blackmore Spotter Guide

Live Tweet Updates:
Audi Sport official Twitter
Audi Motorsport Blog 
FIA WEC
Audi R18 #1 (by Fourtitude)
Audi R18 #2 (by Fourtitude)
Dailysportscar Live
L'endurance Live

Updates on Facebook:
Audi Sport official page
Joest Racing official page

Grid positions one and two for Audi in Bahrain

Audi Press Release

• Audi sets fastest time in qualifying for fifth time in six events
• Allan McNish on pole for second time
• Marcel Fässler just narrowly beaten after strong performance

Ingolstadt/Sakhir, September 28, 2012 - High suspense at the sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC): Allan McNish achieved the best time in qualifying on the Sakhir track on his return to the Audi R18 e-tron quattro.

The Scotsman shaped the qualifying session in Bahrain right from the first minute: On his second lap, Allan McNish topped his own best time from the first attempt by improving it by another 27 hundredths of a second. Further into the session, nobody was able to improve the time of the works driver in the number "2" e-tron quattro. Nicolas Lapierre in the Toyota had to admit defeat by 0.440 seconds and was initially placed in second position.

For the number "1" Audi R18 e-tron quattro, qualifying turned into an unexpected thriller. The team of the Le Mans winners waited for a long while before going out for the first time. When Marcel Fässler on his first lap hit a bollard that came to rest behind him on the middle of the track, race control interrupted the qualifying session. With cooled down tires, the Swiss went out on his next lap and initially qualified in third place, trailing his team-mate by 1.159 seconds. On his last lap, he managed to make a strong recovery. With 1m 45.888s, he reduced his deficit to McNish to only 74 thousandths of a second. That completed the front row for Audi. For the brand with the four rings, this marked the fifth event after Sebring, Spa, Le Mans and Silverstone in which Audi set the fastest time this season. The last time that two Audi sportscars were on the front row was at Silverstone on August 26.

With air temperatures of 34 degrees and track temperatures of 41 degrees centigrade, the conditions were extreme even in qualifying. On the desert track in Bahrain, which takes a tremendous toll on the brakes, the drivers and cars will endure extreme conditions in the six-hour race on Saturday. The sixth WEC round starts on Saturday at 16:00, local time (15:00 CEST) and can be watched live on the internet: www.audi-liveracing.com will broadcast the entire race.

Quotes after qualifying

Dieter Gass (Head of Racing Commitments): "I’m very pleased with the front row. Both R18 e-tron quattro cars are on the top positions. For Allan, the pole position on returning to this car is a nice reward. But it is for the squad as well that has invested so much work into converting the ultra into a hybrid vehicle. There really couldn’t be a nicer reward than today’s top spot. As far as the race is concerned, we’re well set. We could see in the free practice sessions over longer runs that we’re achieving good consistency. Tomorrow will confirm whether or not our work on improving tire consistency is paying off."

Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): "I’m very happy with the result. Both cars are on the front row of the grid - and with just a really narrow gap between them. It doesn’t happen very often that we go out so late in qualifying. But that’s exactly what Leena Gade did today with her number ‘1’ car. The subsequent interruption was caused by Marcel himself when he knocked over the bollard in turn 1. That made things a little more difficult for him. I’m a bit surprised because I expected Toyota to be quicker in qualifying here. But of course we’re happy about the front row. The pole position is a nice reward for the work done in the past few days."

Tom Kristensen (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #2): "A superb qualifying performance by Audi and of course by my team-mate Allan (McNish). It’s nice that we’re on position one with the e-tron quattro. The squad delivered a fantastic performance in this week of intensive work. They converted the car in Bahrain in outside temperatures of more than 30 degrees. I’m preparing myself for a tough race on Saturday that we’ll mostly be driving in the dark. I hope that after a hard battle we’ll be on the top spot of the podium."

Allan McNish (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #2): "An advantage of seven hundredths of a second, compared with Silverstone were where we were trailing by just one hundredth, feels like a one-kilometer gap. I’m very happy with the result. A big ‘well done’ to the whole team. They prepared our car here in Bahrain completely from scratch - which is a very large task. That’s why the pole position is a way of saying ‘thank you’ for the great work."

Marcel Fässler (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1): "A nice result after all, considering that I caused the red flag myself. I was already on my first fast lap. If you then have to drive through the pit lane once more the top performance of the tires is gone. Afterwards, on my first flying lap, I wasn’t running so well anymore and said to myself, ‘Stay cool, don’t make any mistakes.’ That way, I managed setting a time of of 1m 45.888s. But Allan was a little faster. After what happened, second place isn’t bad. We’ve got good prerequisites for tomorrow."

André Lotterer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1): "Unfortunately, Marcel made the situation a little difficult for himself. But after the interruption, he was running fast again. But it wasn’t quite enough for the pole position anymore. Without the red flag it would have been possible. But the tires work only on the first two laps. The top performance of the tires was lost because he had to come into the pit lane after the session was stopped. Still, Marcel showed a brilliant performance and barely missed pole. The point in the championship would have been important but the race tomorrow is more crucial. In any event, it’ll be very, very hot."

Benoît Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1): "The interruption by the red flag was a shame of course but we did cause it ourselves. Marcel (Fässler) made up for this small mistake with a strong time. The front row is simply good and there wasn’t much lacking in setting the best time. That shows our potential. I’m optimistic for the race."

Qualifying results

1 Kristensen/McNish (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 45.814s

2 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 45.888s

3 Wurz/Lapierre (Toyota) 1m 46.254s

4 Prost/Jani (Lola-Toyota) 1m 47.638s

5 Leventis/Watts/Kane (HPD-Honda) 1m 48.446s

6 Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck (HPD-Honda) 1m 48.784s

7 Potolicchio/Kimber-Smith/Sarrazin (HPD-Honda) 1m 51.798s

8 Martin/Graves (Oreca-Nissan) 1m 52.285s

9 Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla (Morgan-Nissan) 1m 52.368s

10 Baguette/Kraihamer/Brundle (Morgan-Nissan) 1m 52.609s

Audi teams want victory at VLN round 9

By Tarek Ramchani

The ninth round of the VLN Endurance Series is at the demanding Nordschleife this weekend. The ROWE 250-Meilen-Rennen, a four hour event. Audi was victorious last time out with a brilliant 1-2 win and they aim to repeat that result. Three Audi R8 LMS ultra will be there.

At round 8 Raeder Motorsport made history by clinching their first ever win with the Audi R8 LMS ultra. The #44 green and white car will try to win again in hands of Thomas Mutsch and Christian Hohenadel. At Phoenix Racing there will again be two cars. The #5 car will have youngsters and Audi regulars Christer Jöns and Luca Ludwig. The sister #15 will have a different line-up this time as both Marc Basseng and Frank Stippler are busy in FIA GT1. Frank Biela, a regular this season with Raeder will share the car with Christopher Haase. The Audi squad will have to compete against strong competition from the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche teams.

In addition to the Audi R8 LMS ultra in the top SP9 class, multiple Audis are entering different classes. The SP4T class will have no less than four Audi TT RS cars.

Both the qualifying session and the race are set for Saturday. The VLN official website will provide a Live Stream for the event. We wish the best of luck to all the Audi teams and drivers.

Belgian Audi Club Team WRT to target top 3 in final FIA GT1 round in the UK

Belgian Audi Club Press Release

The 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship is coming to an end this weekend with its final round rescheduled in the United Kingdom. It's the beautiful circuit of Donington Park, in the East Midlands, that will host this ninth round. For the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, the objective, after a season with some ups and downs, is to finish in the final top 3 in both the Teams and Drivers standings. At the moment, this is the case in the Teams rankings while the squad's best-placed duo is lying fourth in the Drivers hierarchy. This is the #32 pair composed of Laurens Vanthoor and Stéphane Ortelli. But, with no hopes for the title left and a clashing round of the French GT Tour, where WRT defends the colours of Audi France, the Monegasque has been ‘diverted' to France. His seat will be taken by experienced Northern Irish driver Adam Carroll. Donington will be, of course, the home race for Oliver Jarvis, who shares the #33 car with Frank Stippler, and the duo is determined to finish the season on a high.

"It's the last race of the season for the FIA GT1 and also for the championship in its current form", reflects Team Principal Vincent Vosse. "It has been a tough season, which started very well with the double win at Nogaro. In-between, there have been a number of ups and downs, and we are coming to the last event with no chances to fight for the titles. Still, the objective is to do as well as we can and finish on a high note. Most of all, we really would like to be on the championship's podium in both categories and that's what we'll go for."

As said, Adam Carroll will join the team at this occasion. Vosse explains: "The rescheduling of this last round has brought quite an unusual situation; there is the clash of dates with the French GT Tour and we decided to have Stéphane there, as he is cut off from the title battle in the FIA GT1. Unfortunately, there are many GT races this weekend around the world, and there were no Audi drivers available to sub for Ortelli. After having a look around, we have decided to give an opportunity to Adam. It's always interesting to try new drivers, and he impressed me in a Blancpain race earlier this year. He's also a very experienced driver and knows Donington well, so we decided to invite him to join the team for this final round.". The 29-year old Northern Irish has indeed a rich career under his belt, despite his young age. A British F3 vice-champion and a winner of the A1 GP series, he's also raced successfully in GP2, WSR, Indycar and AutoGP.

His team mate next weekend, Laurens Vanthoor, looks forward to meeting him: "I don't know him personally, but I have heard highly of him and talked to him over the phone yesterday. I am sure he'll do well. He can teach me Donington, where I have never raced, and I will teach him the R8!".

Donington Park, the fast and technical 4.023-km track that has hosted in the past F.1 and MotoGP Grand-Prix, is new to the WRT Team, who will rely on the knowledge of the track of its British drivers. Oliver Jarvis, clearly, knows the place well and he is eager to be there. "It's nice to have an unexpected home race to finish the FIA GT1 season!", he reckons. "Donington is one of the great British tracks and I'm sure everybody will enjoy it." The Brit and his German team mate, Frank Stippler, who has raced in Donington with classic cars, will be willing to clinch the win that has eluded them a number of times during the season.

The two one-hour races will follow the usual FIA GT1 format, with the first one kicking off at 14:45 (UK time) on Saturday and the second one at 12:45 on Sunday.