By Johan Laubscher
1. The Weekend
Focussing on the weekend of 1 - 2 February 2014
2.1. TCC Winter Challenge
Round two of the TCC Winter Challenge was held at the Ascari Race Resort in Spain. Vulkan Racing - Team Mintgen Motorsport were present with their Viper and their newly acquired Audi R8 LMS ultra. The Audi is the ex-Phoenix Racing car that was driven by the Stuck family during the 2013 VLN season and at the 2013 Nürburgring 24 Hours.
Vulkan Racing - Team Mintgen Motorsport FB page
Results
2.2. Australian Targa Championship
Vulkan Racing - Team Mintgen Motorsport FB page
Results
2.2. Australian Targa Championship
The
2013-2014 Australian Targa Championship held the Targa Wrest Point this weekend,
round three of the championship. Two Audi TT RS cars were entered in the Modern
classes. The first entry was that of Matt Close, a regular Targa entrant in the
Modern Outright class. His co-driver in the #913 TT RS was Gary Mourant. The
second TT RS, the #959 entry, was driven by Michael Minshall and Kirrilee
Gentleman in the 4WD Showroom Sports class.
Michael
Minshall and Kirrilee Gentleman finished first in the Showroom Sports class
with their Audi TT RS. Matt Close and Gary Mourant finished eighth amongst the
Modern Outright runners.
2.3.
Zwartkops Passion for Speed
Zwartkops
in South Africa
2.4. Other Audi News
Audi
Sport will be revealing their FIA World Endurance Championship driver line-up
during February. Currently it is known that Tom Kristensen and Filipe
Albuquerque have been confirmed as part of the drivers. The 2013 driver-line up
is pictured above.
The
final 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship calendar was released this week.
The change in the calendar was regarding the 6 Hours of São Paulo
Sébastien
Loeb Racing has announced that they will be switching to Audi R8 LMS ultra race
cars for their GT program this year. The team is switching to Audi after
running a pair of McLaren MP4-12C GT3 cars during 2013. Sébastien Loeb Racing’s
2014 GT program is still being finalised and will be announced soon.
Rob
Austin Racing had their rollout on Thursday, where they unveiled the first of
their two updated Audi A4 NGTC cars. The car, still in an all black livery, has
undergone a lot of work during the winter. On Friday the team was out testing
at a very wet Silverstone. Rob Austin and his team were very positive after the
testing.
Phil Laughton Photography FB page
Phil Laughton Photography FB page
DRIVE
has released their latest video part of the "Inside quattro GmbH"
series. This video features a twenty-one minute look into the world of Audi
Sport customer racing.
Leo
Parente tours through the Audi Sport customer racing facilities and speaks with
key personal, including Jürgen Zürn and Romolo Liebchen.
It
is a very insightful video and is well worth the watch. It can be seen HERE.
Two
Audi R8 LMS cars were seen taking part in testing at Zolder on Thursday. The
cars from PK Carsport and MOMO Megatron DF1 were both used at the test.
Anthony
Kumpen was one of the drivers on hand at Zolder this week. Neither teams have
announced their 2014 plans as of yet, but it is very exciting to see both of
these cars taking part in testing.
The
Belgian Racing Car Championship, wherein PK Carsport won the 2013 Endurance
title with Anthony Kumpen, Bert Longin and Maarten Makelberge, will be hosting
its official Zolder test day on 20 March.
Rotek
Racing recently announced that they will be entering one Audi S3 sedan in the
2014 British Touring Car Championship. Shortly thereafter Rotek Racing
announced that their fans would be able to vote for their favourite possible
livery. The team provided twelve possible liveries and the votes were counted
this week and a winner was announced. Option one was the winning livery,
pictured above, and it will be seen on Rotek Racing’s Audi S3 race car this
year.
PK
Carsport’s Audi R8 LMS was on display at the Liège Motor Show this weekend. The
team won the 2013 Belgian Racing Car Championship (BRCC) Endurance title with
Anthony Kumpen, Bert Longin and Maarten Makelberge.
RS
Werkes Racing (Istook’s Motorsports) will be fielding a new car in the SCCA
Pirelli World Challenge this year. They will continue using their Audi TT RS in
the GTS class, alongside a brand new Audi A3 TDI in the new TCA class. RS
Werkes will be using the older Audi A3 type vehicle, the 2010-2013 chassis
configuration. The new Audi A3 models, based on the MQB chassis, are not
available in the North American market as of yet.
Rotek
Racing will be taking part in the Bathurst 12 Hour next weekend. On the entry
list they are listed as Rotek Racing, but this week it was revealed that the
project includes both Rotek Racing and Peter Conroy Motorsport, who have joined
forces for the event.
They
will be running the Peter Conroy Motorsport #14 Audi R8 LMS in Class B, a class
for older specification GT3 machinery. Peter Conroy Motorsport competed at the
2013 Bathurst 12 Hour and finished within the overall top ten, in eighth place.
Their 2013 entry, as pictured above, was driven by Peter Conroy, Rob Huff and
James Winslow.
The
2014 entry from Rotek Racing and Peter Conroy Motorsport includes a four driver
line-up: Oliver Gavin, Rob Huff, Richard Meins and Kevin Gleason.
The
team was out testing at Sydney
Motorsport Park
A
total of six Audi R8 LMS and ultra cars will be taking part this year. Four
cars in Class A from Phoenix Racing, United Autosports and Melbourne
Performance Centre; and two cars in Class B from Equity-One Motorsport and
Rotek Racing / Peter Conroy Motorsport.
The
latest Bathurst 12 Hour entry list was released on Wednesday and it confirms a
total of six Audi R8 LMS and ultra race cars from four different teams.
Four
of the six Audis are entered in Class A GT3 Outright, a class for the newer GT3
machinery. The two remaining Audis are in Class B GT3, for older GT3 cars. The
six Audi R8 LMS and ultra cars had been confirmed some time ago, but this week
the driver line-ups and race numbers were also confirmed.
Four
Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will be taking part in Class A. Phoenix Racing will be
fielding the only 2013 specification Audi R8 LMS ultra in the race. Three 2012
specification cars will be fielded by United Autosports (x1) and Melbourne
Performance Centre (x2). MPC is fielding the cars for their customers: Rod
Salmon and Mark Eddy / Marc Cini.
Class
B will see the participation of two older 2011 specification Audi R8 LMS cars.
Rotek Racing will be running with a R8 LMS for the first time and they will be
joined by Equity-One Motorsport (MPC) and their R8 LMS.
The
latest entry list now only includes six Audis. Eight Audis had previously been
entered for the 2014 event, but Absolute Racing withdrew their Class A Audi R8
LMS ultra entry, along with the withdrawal of Rotek Racing's Audi RS 4 in Class
D.
The
2014 Bathurst 12 Hour will be taking place from 7-9 February.
Drivers:
Rahel Frey, René Rast and Laurens Vanthoor
Rod
Salmon - Melbourne Performance Centre - #5 Audi R8 LMS ultra (2012)
Drivers:
Rod Salmon, Warren Luff, Jason Bright and Liam Talbot
Mark
Eddy / Marc Cini - Melbourne Performance Centre - #9 Audi R8 LMS ultra (2012)
Drivers:
Mark Eddy, Marc Cini and Christopher Mies
United
Autosports - #25 Audi R8 LMS ultra (2012)
Drivers:
Markus Winkelhock, Mark Patterson and Eric Lux
Rotek
Racing - #14 Audi R8 LMS (2011)
Drivers:
Oliver Gavin, Rob Huff, Richard Meins, Kevin Gleason
Dean
Koutsoumidis - Equity-One Motorsport / MPC - #71 Audi R8 LMS (2011)
Drivers:
Dean Koutsoumidis, Dean Fiore, Dean Grant and Michael Loccisano
3.
Next Weekend’s events (8-9/02/2014)
All photos are hosted at their respective websites, which are listed within the Weekend Round Up
