By Johan Laubscher
The weekend was headlined by a double dose of
Audi factory racing events. Round 2 of both the FIA World Endurance
Championship and the DTM championship. Along with these two factory events was
the highly anticipated debut of Audi’s latest two LMP1 race cars, the R18
e-tron quattro and the R18 ultra.
1. The Weekend
Focussing this week on the weekend of 5-6 May
2012
2. The Events
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FIA WEC
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DTM
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Italian GT
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Japanese Super GT
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STCC
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ADAC GT Masters
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South African Midas
Clubmans
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RCN
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Austrian Hillclimb
2.1. FIA WEC
-Audi-R18-Ultra---LMP1-02112803-090_hd.jpg)
The second round of the new FIA World
Endurance Championship was held at Spa for the traditional six hour race. The
race saw the debut on the new generation of Audi LMP1 cars, the R18 e-tron
quattro and the R18 ultra. The entire weekend was dominated by the four cars
from Audi taking 1-2-3-4 in all the. The #2 e-tron took pole position with
Allan McNish at the wheel. The race was a race of two halves. The first half
was wet and the second half was dry. The race got underway in wet conditions
and as the quattro legend is known for, wet weather is quattro weather. The two
e-tron cars raced away from the field when the track was wet with a clear
advantage. As the track began to dry and with safety car situations the field
closed up again. The ultras were able to run at the pace of the e-trons in the
dry and the ultra with the fuel regulations was able to run longer on fuel and
used its tires better. A storming drive from the #3 ultra drivers, Marc Gené,
Romain Dumas and Loïc Duval saw the trio take the lead and hold it to the flag
for the victory. The #1 e-tron finished in second, followed by the #4 ultra in
third with the #2 e-tron completing the 1-2-3-4 finish in fourth.
2.2. DTM
The DTM held round 2 at the Lauzitzring. The
Audi teams were very fast in practice and Mike Rockenfeller was the fastest
Audi in qualifying placing his Audi A5 DTM in fourth place. Five Audis placed
in the top ten during qualifying. The race was however a difficult affair for
Audi, the Audi cars steadily dropped down the order as the opposition
controlled the race at the front. The Audi teams battled hard and completed
very fast pit stops. In the end only four Audis finished in the top 10 with Ekström
in fifth, Scheider sixth, Mortara eighth and Albuquerque in ninth.
2.3. Italian GT
The 2012 Italian GT season got underway at
Vallelunga in Italy. Audi Sport Italia entered its two brand new Audi R8 LMS
ultras. The team qualified well and race one saw a debut win for the team’s new
ultra. The #31 R8 LMS ultra driven by Andrea Sonvico and Christian Montanari
took the victory with the sister #32 car of Alex Frassineti and Davide Di
Benedetto in third. Race two started in the dry but ended in the wet with
another podium finish for the #31 taking third place and #32 in fourth. A
fantastic opening weekend for Audi Sport Italia. Dindo Capello will drive for
the team in the #32 car later in the 2012 season after Le Mans.
2.4. Japanese Super GT
Round two of the Japanese Super GT was held
at Fuji for a 500 km race. Four Audis had been entered for the race. Two Audi
R8 LMS ultras from GAINER DIXCEL and äpr racing, both teams competed with their
regular pair of drivers. Two Audi R8 LMS from Hitotsuyama Racing who elected to
enter a third driver in both cars for the longer race distance. The two Hitotsuyama
Racing cars are in the process of being upgraded to ultra specification for
later in the season. The #11 GAINER DIXCEL Audi R8 LMS ultra took a well
deserved pole position. The race had a chaotic start with wet conditions and
teams gambling on different tire compounds. The GAINER DIXCEL ultra finished in
the top five. The äpr racing ultra finished outside the top ten in thirteenth
while both Hitotsuyama Racing cars had a tough race and finished lower down in
fifteenth and sixteenth.
2.5. STCC
The 2012 Scandinavian Touring Car
Championship got underway at Mantorp. The series is similar to the BTCC this
year as it is running different types of Touring car regulations
simultaneously. The BMS Racing team purchased the two ex-Kristoffersson
Motorsport S2000 specification Audi A4 race cars for the 2012 season to be
driven by the Ahlberg brothers, Joakim and Andreas. The two cars are entered
into the privateer category, the Semcon Cup. The team did well at this first event,
despite some technical difficulties they managed to score well and currently
the two Ahlberg brothers occupy second and third in the Semcon Cup
standings.
2.6. ADAC GT Masters
Round two of the German ADAC Masters proved
to be difficult for the Audi teams. Three R8 LMS ultra had been entered from Mamerow
Racing and Prosperia UHC Speed. It was a very tough weekend. Mamerow Racing
suffered a weekend ending crash during Friday’s qualifying session, thus
reducing the Audi count to two for the weekend. Race one would only see one R8
LMS ultra in the top twenty while in race two both Prosperia UHC Speed managed
to break into the top ten with fourth and eighth, salvaging some points from
this weekend.
2.7. South
African Midas Clubmans
Round four of the Midas Clubmans series was
held at its usual venue of Killarney in Cape Town, South Africa. Two ex-National
Class A Audis had been entered for this event. Nieyaaz Modack was looking
forward to continue his dominance of the season after having taken five wins in
six races so far in his ex-Johan Fourie Racing Audi A4. Modack qualified well
but a first lap spin relegated him down the grid and he finished outside the
top 10. Race two saw Modack fighting hard to catch the leaders but eventually finished
third taking eighth overall for the day. The second Audi A4 (ex-Terry Moss
Racing) of Iftehaar Dada had consistent midfield results on the day.
2.8. RCN
Round two of the German RCN series took place
at the Nurburgring. RCN is very similar to VLN but for smaller teams. Seven
Audis were in the race, many of whom are preparing to take part in the
gruelling Nurburging 24 Hours later this month.
2.9. Austrian Hillclimb
Andreas Marko competed with his A4 STW at the
Gössendorf hillclimb event in Austria. Once again Marko took class victory and
an impressive fourth place overall.
2.10. Other Audi news
SPEED aired Truth in 24 II on Saturday
evening for the first time. An hour long version of the film allowed for the
American viewers to watch Audi’s latest Le Mans film documenting the 2011 Le
Mans victory. There are three more SPEED airings of the film schedule for the
next few weeks: 12 May at 20:00 PM ET ; 20 May at 13:00 PM ET and 27
May at 04:00 AM ET.
In other news the Swedish JB Motorsport team
will be competing in the second round of the British GT Championship. The event
will be held at the Nurburgring as a support event for the Nurburgring 24
Hours.
3. Next Weekend’s events (12-13/05/2012)
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Grand Am
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Continental Tire Challenge (Grand Am)
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Swedish GT
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Pirelli World Challenge
The past weekend was a bittersweet affair for
the factory Audi teams. Saturday saw the 1-2-3-4 Audi R18 dominance at Spa but
Sunday brought the disappointment of the DTM race. The weekend did yield very
good results for Audi’s customer racing programs and the privateer race
results.
All photos are hosted at their respective
website which are listed within the Weekend Round Up
