By Johan Laubscher
1. The Weekend
Focussing on the weekend of 1 - 2 March 2014
2. The Events
- South African Production Cars
- Super GT Suzuka test days
- Super Taikyu
- SVRA
- Carrera Cup (RCCO)
2.1.
South African Production Cars
The 2014 South African Bridgestone Production Cars
Championship got underway at Zwartkops this weekend. Four Audi S4 cars were fielded by two different teams. The cars showed well during practice and
pole position went to the Audi squad.
Terry Moss Racing is back with their two-car Audi S4
Engen Xtreme team. Reigning three-time Class A champion, Michael Stephen, is
racing alongside his new teammate, Simon Moss.
The new look to the Audi squad is Sasolracing, who
is sponsoring two Audi S4 cars prepared by VM Innovations. Gennaro Bonafede and
Hennie Groenewald are behind the wheel of the two Audi Sasolracing S4s.
The first of three practice sessions got the ball
rolling early on Friday morning. The first session concluded with the two ADF
Motorsport BMW 335i cars of Johan Fourie and Gavin Cronje topping the time
sheets. The Audi squad was headed by Gennaro Bonafede in third, ahead of Hennie
Groenewald, Michael Stephen and Simon Moss.
The second session saw the two Audi Sasolracing Audi
S4 cars jumping to the top, with Hennie Groenewald leading Gennaro Bonafede.
Johan Fourie was third fastest in his BMW, ahead of Michael Stephen's S4, Gavin
Cronje's BMW and Simon Moss' S4.
The third and final session was again headed by an
Audi S4, that of reigning champion, Michael Stephen. He was followed by Gavin
Cronje's BMW, the Audi Sasolracing duo of Bonafede and Groenewald, Simon Moss'
S4 and Johan Fourie's BMW.
Qualifying concluded the track running on Friday.
The qualifying session was dominated by Audi Sasolracing. Hennie Groenewald
took pole position on his debut in the Audi S4. He qualified ahead of his
teammate, Gennaro Bonafede. Gavin Cronje qualified third, ahead of Michael
Stephen, Johan Fourie and Simon Moss. The entire Class A field was separated by
less than 0.8 seconds.
Race day saw a warm up session and two races on
Saturday. The first race got underway with overcast weather in Pretoria
Third place was taken by Johan Fourie in the ADF
Motorsport BMW 335i, ahead of the two Terry Moss Racing Audi S4 cars. Reigning
champion, Michael Stephen, finished fourth, right ahead of this new teammate,
Simon Moss. Gavin Cronje rounded out the Class A field by placing sixth in the
second ADF Motorsport BMW.
The second and final race took place later on
Saturday afternoon. It was a case of wet quattro weather and the scene for yet
another Class A Audi victory. The reverse grid saw Gavin Cronje starting on
pole, ahead of the two Terry Moss Racing Audi S4 cars of Simon Moss and Michael
Stephen. Johan Fourie's BMW lined up fourth, followed by the race one winning
Audi Sasolracing duo of Gennaro Bonafede and Hennie Groenewald.
By the end of the second race it was a quartet of
Audis at the top of Class A. Reigning champion, Michael Stephen, lead home the
Audi squad. Gennaro Bonafede finished second in the race and took the overall
win for the day. Hennie Groenewald finished third, ahead of Simon Moss in
fourth.
The next round of the South African Bridgestone
Production Cars Championship will be taking place at Killarney in Cape Town
SPCC.co.za [Paul
Bedford]
2.2. Super GT Suzuka test days
Official Japanese Super GT test days were held at
Suzuka on Thursday and Friday this week. Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama was
present with one Audi R8 LMS ultra and performed very well amongst the GT300
competitors.
Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama’s one all-black
carbon-fiber #21 Audi R8 LMS ultra was driven by Richard Lyons and Tomonobu
Fujii.
Two test sessions were held on Thursday and Friday.
Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama topped the first session during the morning,
setting the fastest time within the GT300 class, a lap time of 2:09.842. The
team did not take part in the second session during Thursday afternoon.
Friday saw the final day of testing at Suzuka. Audi
Sport Team Hitotsuyama again set the fastest time within GT300 during the
morning session, setting a lap time of 2:00.558.
The final session on Friday saw the Audi R8 LMS ultra
as the fourth fastest GT300 runner with a lap time of 2'00"853, versus the
fastest time of 1:59.870, set by the #55 ARTA Mugen CR-Z GT.
The Japanese Super GT season will be getting underway
at Okayama
2.3. Super Taikyu
Suzuka hosted the “Motorsport Fans Appreciation Day”
this weekend. A number of displays and exciting events were on hand for the
fans, including special Super Taikyu track events. Nova Engineering, Team Nova,
entered their #8 Audi R8 LMS ultra.
The Super Taikyu hosted three events at Suzuka this
Weekend, two demonstration races and one test session. The test session got
underway early on Saturday morning. Saturday's proceedings were concluded with
a nighttime demonstration race, with the twenty-car strong grid taking part.
The second demonstration race was held on Sunday morning.
Team Nova’s #8 Audi R8 LMS ultra was driven by Seiji Ara, who also drove the car during the 2013 Super Taikyu season.
The Super Taikyu also revealed the provisional 2014
season entry list this weekend. So far the list includes one Audi, the Audi R8
LMS ultra of K's Frontier.
The 2014 Super Taikyu season gets underway with an
official test day at Twin Ring Motegi on 9 March, followed by the venue hosting
round one of the series from 29-30 March.
2.4. SVRA
The 2014 Spring Vintage Classic was hosted at Sebring
this weekend. The SVRA historic racing event saw the participation of two Audi
race cars. Travis Engen’s GMT Racing run Audi R8 LMP (#606) was out on track
and also an ex-Champion Racing Audi S4 Competition driven by Mike Fisher.
2.5. Carrera Cup (RCCO)
The 2014 rallye racing Carrera Cup (RCCO) Slotcar
Championship got underway on Wednesday. The series hosted the "20 minutes
of Hamburg " at the PROTOTYP
Museum in Hamburg
Audi Team tv racing entered two Audi R8 LMS slotcars.
It was the debut for the new GTD version of the Audi R8 LMS in the Carrera Cup.
The defending champions squad was headed by the #1 Schaeffler Audi R8 LMS with
Thomas Voigt and Jan Hennen. Their teammates, Martin Kummerow and Felipe
Fénandez Laser, were behind the controls of the #77 Speedpool R8 LMS.
The liveries of the Audi Team tv racing R8 LMS cars
were designed by berzerkdesign.de.
A selection of Audi R8 Cup cars also took part in the
event.
During practice the #1 R8 LMS was fourth fastest and
the #77 eleventh. Qualifying saw pole position going to the #3 Joest Racing Bentley.
Voigt and Hennen qualified sixth, ahead of Laser and Kummerow in eighth.
The race itself finished with the #1 R8 LMS of Voigt
and Hennen finishing second, behind the race winning Joest Racing Bentley of
Eldert Hedden und Volker Paulun. It was a thrilling finale to the evening.
It was a very exciting evening of racing and the
series will be hosting round two in a few weeks time, at SRC Hanse Racing
Hamburg e.V. in HH-Harburg on 26 March.
2.6. Other Audi News
Sébastien Loeb Racing received their Audi R8 LMS ultra
cars on Tuesday this week.
They are one of the newest Audi Sport customer racing
teams for 2014 and will be competing with a two-car team in the French GT Tour
and a single car entry in the European Le Mans Series.
The new PK Carsport Audi R8 LMS livery was revealed on
Thursday. The team will be competing in the 2014 Belgian Racing Car
Championship (BRCC).
The #1 Audi R8 LMS will be driven by reigning BRCC
endurance champions, Anthony Kumpen and Bert Longin. They will be joined by
Frank Beliën.
The new PK Carsport livery was designed by
berzerkdesign.de.
ABT Sportsline will be competing in the 2014 FIA
Formula E Championship, with the team name of Audi Sport ABT Formula-E Team.
Their red Formula E car will be on display at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show.
The ABT Sportsline Formula E drivers were recently
announced as Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt.
The 2014 Geneva Motor Show will be held from 6-16
March.
DragonSpeed is hard at work preparing for the 2014
Pirelli World Challenge. The team was out testing at Sebring on Wednesday this
week.
They will be running a three-car team in the PWC this
season, including two Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 cars and their 2012 Audi R8 LMS
ultra.
Elton Julian will be driving the #65 DragonSpeed Audi
R8 LMS ultra in the GT-A class.
All three of their cars were out testing at Sebring on
Wednesday, including Julian in the Audi and the Ferraris of Mike Hedlund and
Henrik Hedman.
The first round of the PWC will be held at the Grand
Prix of St. Petersburg, from 28-30 March.
Six Audi R8 LMS and ultra cars will be taking part in
the first round of the Pirelli World Challenge. GMG Racing will be fielding
four cars and JCR Motorsports and DragonSpeed will each be fielding one car.
Two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will be seen in the GT
class, James Sofronas in the #14 GMG Racing Audi and Elton Julian in the #65
DragonSpeed R8 LMS ultra.
The four remaining Audi R8 LMS and ultra cars will be
seen in the GT-A class, with #21 Andrew Palmer (GMG Racing), #32 Bret Curtis
(GMG Racing), #95 Bill Ziegler (GMG Racing) and #99 Jeff Courtney (JCR
Motorsports).
RS Werkes Racing will also be fielding the #01 TT RS
for Don Istook in the GTS class.
The first round of the PWC will be held at the Grand
Prix of St. Petersburg, from 28-30 March.
LMS Engineering will be fielding two Audi TT RS cars
in the VLN Endurance Championship this year.
Their second Audi TT RS has arrived at the LMS
Engineering workshop and it will also be converted to the two litre version of
the TT RS five cylinder power plant, allowing it to compete in the SP3T class.
The new engine debuted with the LMS Engineering team last year, when they won
the SP3T class on their debut with the new 2.0 SP3T class TT RS.
LMS Engineering is also busy preparing their primary
TT RS for the 12H Italy
The VLN test day will be taking place from 21-22 March
and the opening round of the season a week later on 29 March.
Belgian Audi Club Team WRT announced their 2014 plans
and driver line-up on Thursday. The team will be entering up to four cars
within the Blancpain GT Series and taking part in two 24 Hour races.
The new Blancpain GT Series is a combination of the
Blancpain Endurance Series and the Blancpain Sprint Series, for teams who are
able to commit to both individual series.
The team will be entering four cars in the Blancpain
Sprint Series and three cars in the Blancpain Endurance Series, with an
additional fourth car at the Spa 24 Hours. Three of their four cars will then
be in the running for the combined Blancpain GT Series.
WRT will be joined by G-Drive Racing during 2014, with
a G-Drive car fielded in the Blancpain Sprint Series and the Nürburgring 24
Hours.
WRT will also be fielding an Audi R8 LMS ultra in the
V de V Endurance Series in France
Blancpain Endurance Series
#1 Laurens
Vanthoor – Marc Basseng – César Ramos
#3 Christopher
Mies – Frank Stippler – James Nash
#4 Yves Weerts
– Jean-Luc Blanchemain – Christian Kelders
Total 24 Hours of Spa
#1 TBA
#2 TBA
#3 Christopher
Mies – Frank Stippler – James Nash
#4 Yves Weerts
– Jean-Luc Blanchemain – Christian Kelders
Blancpain Sprint Series
#1 Laurens
Vanthoor – César Ramos
#2 René Rast
(D) – Enzo Ide (B)
#3 Roman
Rusinov – Stéphane Ortelli (G-Drive Racing)
#4 Vincent
Abril – Mateusz Lisowski (Silver Cup)
Nürburgring 24 Hours
Stéphane Ortelli – Edward Sandström – Roman Rusinov –
TBA
Audi Sport Italia has revealed the first driver of
their 2014 EuroV8 Series campaign. Tomáš Kostka will be joining the Italian
squad in an Audi RS 5 quattro.
The EuroV8 Series is a new Italian based series, which
replaces the Superstars Series for 2014.
Audi Sport Italia’s Audi RS 5 quattro cars, that have
dominated the previous two Superstars Series seasons, will again be out on
track this year.
The team recently completed the build of their fourth
Audi RS 5 quattro race car.
One of these four cars will be entrusted to Tomáš
Kostka from the Czech
Republic
Tomáš Kostka is no stranger to Audi race cars, as he
has been in a variety of Audi A4 DTM cars since 2007. His highlight with Audi
was when he competed in the 2009 DTM season, driving the #20 Audi A4 DTM R13
(2007) entered by Kolles Futurecom-BRT.
He also drove for the Bohemia Racing Team (BRT) in the
Czech National Championship from 2007-2009 and 2012, competing in various Audi
A4 DTM cars: R11 (2004), R12 (2005) and R13 (2007).
More Audi Sport Italia drivers for the EuroV8 Series
are expected to be announced soon. The 2014 EuroV8 Series will be getting
underway at Monza
The preliminary entry list for the 2014 Super Taikyu
season was released on Friday. So far one Audi team has been entered in the
ST-X (GT3) class.
K's Frontier / Direction Racing will be entering their
#32 Audi R8 LMS ultra. This is the ex-GAINER DIXCEL R8 LMS ultra that was used
in the 2012 Super GT. K's Frontier acquired and entered the car in two Japanese
European Touring Car Challenge (ETCC) races last year, when they evaluated the
car for use in the 2014 Super Taikyu.
Team Nova Engineering took part in the bulk of the
2013 Super Taikyu and also took part in the Super Taikyu demonstration race at
Suzuka this weekend, but they are not currently listed as 2014 season entrants.
The preliminary season entry list can be seen HERE.
The 2014 Super T aikyu season gets underway with an
official test day at Twin Ring Motegi on 9 March, followed by the venue hosting
round one of the series from 29-30 March.
Rob Austin Racing took part in more BTCC testing this
week. They were seen on track at Brands Hatch on Thursday. Rob Austin was
behind the wheel of the all-black Audi A4 NGTC.
Belgian Audi Club Team WRT is currently busy preparing
for the 2014 Blancpain GT Series, wherein they will be fielding up to four
cars.
The team recently revealed that they will be running
four cars within the Blancpain Sprint Series and three within the Blancpain
Endurance Series, thus also having three cars in the running for the overall
Blancpain GT Series. They will also enter a fourth additional car at the 24
Hours of Spa.
The WRT squad will be joined by Roman Rusinov and
G-Drive Racing for 2014. WRT will be providing technical support for G-Drive
Racing and an Audi R8 LMS ultra driven by Roman Rusinov and Stéphane Ortelli.
The team was out testing at Nogaro in France this week
Endurance-Info.com website [Oliver Whisker]
Sasolracing revealed their new 2014 Audi S4 liveries
on Thursday. The cars of Hennie Groenewald and Gennaro Bonafede were on display
at a Sasol fuel station ahead of the first round of the South African
Bridgestone Production Cars Championship at Zwartkops this weekend.
Absolute Racing is busy preparing for the 2014 GT Asia Series. The team was out testing with two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars at Sepang this weekend.
The two all-black R8 LMS ultra cars at the
test were listed with drivers Philip Ma / Alex Yoong and Jeffrey Lee / Marchy
Lee.
Absolute Racing entered three full-season
Audi R8 LMS ultra cars in GT Asia last year. This team was strong enough to
clinch the GT Asia teams' title for Absolute Racing, who was using the team
name of Team R8 LMS Ultra.
The 2014 GT Asia season will get underway
in Korea
Young South African, Kelvin van der Linde, had his first test with Prosperia C.ABT Racing this weekend. Kelvin was the 2013 Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup champion and he will be competing with the team in the 2014 ADAC GT Masters.
3.
Next Weekend’s events (8-9/03/2014)
-
- V de V Test Days
