Friday, December 27, 2013

V de V: AB Sport Auto 2013 season review


By Johan Laubscher

The 2013 V de V Endurance Series saw the participation of one Audi Sport customer racing team. AB Sport Auto fielded their #46 Audi R8 LMS during the season. They took part in five of the seven rounds. 

The season review has been compiled from the 2013 Audi Motorsport Blog Weekend Round Up posts. Each round has been added as was seen in the individual Weekend Round Up posts during 2013, which can be accessed via the links throughout the review below:

Round 1: Catalunya

The first round of the French V de V Championship was held at Catalunya. AB Sport Auto entered one of its Audi R8 LMS cars at the event. They qualified in eighth place overall and first in class, but they unfortunately retired from the race.


Round 2: Mugello

The French V de V series was at Mugello in Italy this weekend. One Audi R8 LMS was entered once again by AB Sport Auto. The team qualified well and finished the six hour race in fourth overall, and first in class.



Round 3: Paul Ricard

The French V de V Championship was at Paul Ricard this weekend for a four hour endurance event. AB Sport Auto again entered their Audi R8 LMS, and they qualified sixth in class. By the end of the four hour race they had finished fifth overall and first in class.


Round 4: Dijon

The French V de V series headed to Dijon this weekend for round four of the series, a three hour endurance event. AB Sport Auto and their #46 Audi R8 LMS took part. They qualified in eighth place overall, second place in class. Unfortunately they retired from the race on lap two. 


Round 6: Magny-Cours

The sixth and penultimate V de V Endurance Series round was held at Magny-Cours this weekend. A single Audi R8 LMS was entered by AB Sport Auto. The team has been a regular entrant in the 2013 V de V season. They have entered their #46 Audi R8 LMS at five of the six rounds, driven by Harry Teneketzian, Julien Jousse and Grégoire Chaix. The trio were back at Magny-Cours this weekend, after having missed round five at Motorland Aragon. They were entered in the GTV-2 class for older GT3 machinery. Qualifying saw the trio achieving second place within GTV-2, taking ninth place overall. The six hour race got underway on Sunday morning heading into the late afternoon. The AB Sport Auto squad was running solidly inside of the top ten, until they unfortunately lost a lot of time in the pits, dropping to fifteenth. They then recovered up to fourteenth before they unfortunately retired from the race at just over half distance. They were listed as a non-finisher in seventeenth overall.