By Johan
Laubscher
1. The
Weekend
Focussing on
the weekend of 4 - 5 January 2014
2. The
Events
- TUSC Roar Before the Rolex 24
- International Jänner Rallye
The annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 was held this weekend. The three-day test was
held three weeks before the big race later in January. The Audi Sport customer
racing squad were well represented in the GT Daytona (GTD) class. Five Audi R8
LMS cars took part, fielded by four different teams. GMG Racing, Fall-Line
Motorsports and Paul Miller Racing each entered one Audi R8 LMS. They were
joined by the two-car team from Flying Lizard Motorsports.
A total of eight practice sessions were spread across three days, with two sessions taking place on Friday and Sunday, and four on Saturday.
The Audi teams showed good pace during the Roar Before the Rolex 24 this weekend, including topping the time sheets during a number of the different sessions. By the end of Saturday Audi race cars had been fastest in sessions one and two, with the #45 Audi R8 LMS from Flying Lizard Motorsports, and fastest in the fourth session, with the #48 Paul Miller Racing R8 LMS. Two further sessions were held on Sunday. The #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports R8 LMS again topped the time sheets during the seventh session, the first held on Sunday.
The overall combined results, for sessions one through eight, revealed that three of the Audi R8 LMS cars made it into the top ten. The #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi R8 LMS set the fastest GTD time of the weekend. Paul Miller Racing had the eighth fastest time and GMG Racing were ninth fastest.
The teams will now continue their preparation in order to return to Daytona for the big race in three weeks time.
A total of eight practice sessions were spread across three days, with two sessions taking place on Friday and Sunday, and four on Saturday.
The Audi teams showed good pace during the Roar Before the Rolex 24 this weekend, including topping the time sheets during a number of the different sessions. By the end of Saturday Audi race cars had been fastest in sessions one and two, with the #45 Audi R8 LMS from Flying Lizard Motorsports, and fastest in the fourth session, with the #48 Paul Miller Racing R8 LMS. Two further sessions were held on Sunday. The #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports R8 LMS again topped the time sheets during the seventh session, the first held on Sunday.
The overall combined results, for sessions one through eight, revealed that three of the Audi R8 LMS cars made it into the top ten. The #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi R8 LMS set the fastest GTD time of the weekend. Paul Miller Racing had the eighth fastest time and GMG Racing were ninth fastest.
The teams will now continue their preparation in order to return to Daytona for the big race in three weeks time.
Flying Lizard Motorsports FB page [2013 Bob Chapman, Autosport Image]
2.2. International Jänner Rallye
The International Jänner Rallye was held in Austria this weekend. A number of Audi cars took part in the rally which was held from 3-5 January. The entry list included two Audi quattros and two Audi S2s.
race-action.com | Motorsport Fotos & Videos FB page
Results
2.3. Other
Audi News
GMG Racing’s driver line-up for the Daytona
24 Hours will include James Sofronas, Alex Welch, Marc Basseng and Frank
Stippler. They will be driving the #32 Audi R8 LMS, the same car that won the
2013 Daytona 24 Hours GT class with Alex Job Racing. The team’s Andy Blackmore
Design penned livery was also revealed this week.
Flying Lizard Motorsports will be entering
two Audi R8 LMS cars in the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. Their
driver line-ups for the Daytona 24 Hours includes Filipe Albuquerque, Seth
Neimann, Alessandro Latif and Dion von Moltke (Car #35), and Nelson Canache Jr,
Tim Pappas, Spencer Pumpelly and Markus Winkelhock (Car #45). Their highly
anticipated livery design was also revealed this week.
Fall-Line Motorsports’ single Audi R8 LMS
entry for the Daytona 24 Hours will be driven by Charles Espenlaub, Oliver
Jarvis, Charlie Putman and James Walker.
Paul Miller Racing will be fielding one Audi
R8 LMS at the Daytona 24 Hours and their driver line-up includes Matthew Bell, Christopher
Haase, Bryce Miller and René Rast. The team’s new livery was done by Armageddon
Designs.
2013 DTM champion, Mike Rockenfeller, will be
joining the Spirit of Daytona squad (SDR Motorsports) for the Rolex 24 at
Daytona. The deal is said to also include the other TUSC endurance races, the Sebring
12 Hours and Petit Le Mans. At Daytona the #90 Corvette DP will be driven by
Rocky alongside Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook.
The 24H Series has released the provisional
entry list for the 12 Hours of Italy, which will be held at Mugello for the
first time in March. One Audi is currently on the entry list, the Red Camel
Racing Audi R8. They are entering one of the Creventic CR-8 cars. These CR-8s
are privately built Audi R8 V8 race cars. This Red Camel Racing R8 is also the
only Audi on the entry list for the Dubai 24 Hours, which will be taking place
next weekend.
Audi
released images of their new Audi Sport quattro laserlight concept car this
week. The new red version of the Audi Sport quattro concept is heading to the Consumer
Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. It features the new lighting technology
that will also be seen on the race track during 2014, as it is also fitted to
the new Audi R18 e-tron quattro.
3. Next Weekend’s events (11-12/01/2014)
- Dubai 24 Hours
All photos
are hosted at their respective websites, which are listed within the Weekend
Round Up
