By Johan Laubscher
1. The Weekend
Focussing this week on the weekend of 24 - 25
November 2012
2. The Events
- Rome 6 Hours
- VdeV
- Michelin Test
- Zwartkops
2.1. Rome 6 Hours
The Rome 6 Hours was the final event of the newly named
2012 Endurance Champions Cup in Italy. The event drew a quality firled
this year with team from all over Europe taking part. Two Audi teams entered
the event. WRT entered two Audi R8 LMS ultras and Audi Sport Italia entered one
car. The cars did well in qualifying and in the race. WRT and Audi Sport Italia showed great pace during the six hours. In the end Audi Sport Italia came home to finish first in the GT3 class and fourth overall.
2.2. VdeV
The finale of the French VdeV championship took place at Estoril.
Once again one Audi R8 LMS cars from AB Sport Auto was entered. The team
received technical support from Team Novadriver this weekend. They claimed pole
position in qualifying, however the race did not go to plan. Various incidents dropped the team down the grid during the very wet race. They finished third in class and ninth overall.
2.3. Michelin Tire Test
A Michelin Tire test was held this week at Motorland Aragon
in Spain. Amoung the teams taking part was Audi Sport Team Joest who were
testing new tire developments for 2013. It was reported that three Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars with the hybrid technology were at the test. The drivers included Loïc Duval, Benoît Tréluyer, Oliver Jarvis,
Allan McNish, and Tom Kristensen.
2.4. Zwartkops Extreme Festival
Zwartkops in South Africa hosts many festival race days
during the year, which included the Extreme Festival this weekend. Jonathan Du
Toit debuted in an Audi A4 B7 this weekend and did very well. He competed in
the Extreme Super Car category. The car is the second ex-Terry Moss Racing
Class A Audi A4 which was driven by Michael Stephen in the national
championship up until 2011.
2.5. Other Audi News
United Autosports will race at the next Gulf 12 Hours
held at the Yas Marina circuit. After competing at the first running of this
event in January of 2012 the team also committed to returning The event will be
held on Friday fourteen December. United Autosports will enter one Audi R8 LMS
ultra which will be driven by Mark Patterson and Jody Firth.
Another Audi R8 LMS has arrived at GMG Racing
in North America. This is the fourth car to arrive during 2012 and will be prepared
for the 2013 SCCA World Challenge. The fourth car is an ex-Team Audi France R8
LMS which competed in the 2011 French GT Tour championship.
3. Next Weekend’s events (1-2/12/2012)
- Australian GT
- Midas Clubmans
- Brazil GT
All photos are hosted at their respective
website which are listed within the Weekend Round Up
