By Tarek Ramchani
Thunderhill Raceway in California hosted the 10th edition of the 25 Hours of Thunderhill endurance event last weekend. The race marked the debut of the VLN Audi TT RS in North America. It was in the hands of local team, 034Motorsport with some great performances and bad luck as well during the race.
The TT RS is a VLN based model, designed to race in the German Endurance Series run at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. It is a factory built racer from quattro GmbH. 034 Motorsport took charge of entering the Audi in this hard and long endurance challenge. Right from start in the free practice and qualifying sessions, the TT RS proved to very fast and a serious challenger for the overall victory. The team qualified in the top five overall.
On race day things started very well for Audi and the 034Motorsport squad. The car immediately jumped up to third and battled its way into second overall. A spin in during the first hour dropped them back to fifth with a minute deficit to the leader, a gap which was diminished by the first safety car. As the afternoon progressed the TT RS made its way into the overall lead. Quite amazing first time out and against some lighter and more powerful prototypes and GT3 Cup Porsches. However bad luck hit the team whist they were leading. A very rare gearbox issue forced the TT RS to come a halt. This signalled the end of the race and retirement for Audi and 034Motorsport while strongly leading the race.
It was a hard blow for the 034 Motorsport team, but their performance during the week was brilliant. So far it is unknown if we will see more North American races for the TT RS. It is reported that this TT RS will soon be heading back to Germany where it will compete in the 2013 VLN Championship with November Racing.
Photo credit and more information:
034Motorsport website
