By Johan Laubscher
1. The Weekend
Focussing this week on the weekend of 14 - 15 July 2012
2. The Events
- DTM Munich
- Superstars
- Australian GT
- ADAC GT Masters
- French GT
- GT Asia
- Brian Redman Challenge
- Britcar
- Kerrick Sports Sedans
-
IMG Heat Lightning at NJMP
2.1. DTM Munich
The second annual DTM Munich show event was
held this weekend. The Munich stadium was once again converted into a race
circuit for the DTM field. Saturday saw a relay style event followed by a
knockout event on Sunday. Mercedes drivers took control of the relay races on
Saturday, but Sunday was to be Audi’s day. A soaking wet stadium arena witnessed
an exciting day of racing which came down to a climatic final. Audi vs Mercedes
with Ekström vs Green. The two drivers we very even during the final but a
brilliant pitstop from the ABT team rocketed Ekki into the lead and onwards to
victory. The king of the stadium in 2012 was Mattias Ekström.
2.2. Superstars
Round six of the International Superstars
series was hosted at Spa for a weekend with typical Spa weather. An entirely
wet weekend was perfect for the Audi RS5 teams who had been held back by recent
performance restrictions and penalties. The weekend turned into a demonstration
of quattro as the Audis dominated the proceedings. A 1-2 in race one
followed by another victory in race two. Gianni Morbidelli took victory during
both races in his Audi Sport Italia RS5.
2.3. Australian GT
The fourth round of the Australian GT Series headed
to Sydney Motorsport Park. Only two Audi R8 LMS cars were at the event as 2011 champion Mark Eddy was once again not
present at the event. The cars of Rod Salmon and Peter Conroy Motorsport performed
consistently during the weekend. Both finished outside the top ten in race one
and claimed two top ten finishes in race two.
2.4. ADAC GT Masters
Round four of the
German ADAC GT Series brought an end to the Audi win drought in the series. Despite
the wet conditions Mamerow Racing took a brilliant victory in race one of the
weekend with drivers Chris Mamerow and Rene Rast. They continued to top off a
great weekend with a podium finish in race two. The two cars from Prosperia UHC Speed
had a hard race weekend finishing outside the top ten in both races.
2.5. French GT
The fourth round of
the French GT Series was held at Magny-Cours. As per usual five Audi R8 LMS and
ultra cars were entered by Team Audi France, Saintéloc and JWS Racing. JWS Racing
displayed a new livery resembling the French Flag for the national day. Despite
qualifying well the Team Audi France entry continued to have bad luck by retiring
in race one but they did bounce back with fourth in race two. The weekend in terms
of the Audi teams belonged to Saintéloc. The #4 R8 LMS ultra of Gregory
Guilvert and Paul Lamic took victory in race one after amazing passing moves during
the closing stages of the race. The #4 paring ended a great weekend by finishing
second in race two as well.
2.6. GT Asia
This weekend was the first time that more
than one Audi was entered in a GT Asia event. It was round three of the GT Asia
series at Fuji Speedway, the the first event in Japan. The regular factory
entry from Audi R8 LMS Cup was entered along with one car from Hitotsuyama
Racing. Both cars did well during the weekend. The cars finished in the top ten
during both races highlighted by a podium finish for the Audi R8 LMS Cup car in
race two.
2.7. Brian Redman Challenge
The annual Brian Redman Challenge is a
historic racing event which is hosted at Road America each July. Two Audi R8 cars were at
the event entered by Rogers Motorsport and GMT Racing. Doug Smith and Andy
Wallace dominated the category this weekend in Audi R8 #405 (number 9) of Rogers
Motorsport as they took class pole and victory.
2.8. Britcar
This weekend was the first time an Audi vehicle entered the 2012
Britcar series in the UK. The car was entered by the latest Audi R8 LMS team.
The new team is Wessex Vehicles and the car now owned by Nigel Mustill is the
ex-United Autosports Audi R8 LMS that was seen racing in the 2012 British GT
Series. The car is confirmed for the GT Cup Championship and was entered into
the endurance race at Brands Hatch as part of the Britcar series this weekend.
2.9. Kerrick Sports Sedans
The third round of the Australian based
Kerrick Sports Sedans series was also held at Sydney Motorsport Park. The Audi
A4 with its Chevrolet engine driven by Darren Hossack had a good race day. The
A4 finished in second place during races two and three on the day.
2.10. IMG Heat
Lightning at NJMP
The new Limitless Racing team entered their Audi R8 GRAND-AM in an
event at New Jersey Motorsport Park. The event was organised by Independent Motorsports
Group and was called the IMG Heat Lightning at NJMP. The race day consisted of
various class of cars competing in time trails and sprint races. The Limitless
Racing team treated the event as a test session and achieved personal best lap
times and double podium place finishes.
IMG Racing website
Results
2.11. Other Audi news
As
reported last week the 2012 Monterey RM Auction will see a 2001 Audi R8 (#501)
and a 2001 Bentley EXP Speed 8 (Audi R8 3.6 V8 engine), both of which are
currently owned by the same owner. Audi R8 #501 has competed as a factory car
in 2001 ALMS and ELMS before being sold to the Japanese Team Goh. The auction
will be held on 17-18 August 2012. The RM Auctions website has been updated
with more information and photos of both these cars.
3. Next Weekend’s events (21-22/07/2012)
-
VLN
-
Brazil GT
-
STT
-
GT Open
-
GT Cup
All photos are hosted at their respective
website which are listed within the Weekend Round Up
