By Johan Laubscher
1. The Weekend
Focussing on the weekend of 5 - 6 April 2014
2. The Events
- DTM Testing
- Nürburgring 24 Hours Qualifying Race
- Japanese Super GT
- ELMS Test Days (1-2 April)
- Audi R8 LMS Cup Testing
- EuroV8 Series
- RCN
2.1. DTM Testing
The
DTM hosted the official ITR test days at the Hungaroring in Budapest
Audi
Sport arrived with four new 2014 Audi RS 5 DTM cars and all eight of its
drivers. The four cars each came from the four (three) entered teams: Audi
Sport Team Phoenix, Audi Sport Team Rosberg, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline and
Audi Sport Team Abt (latter two teams both run by ABT Sportsline).
The
liveries of the four cars were also revealed at the tests, the cars of Mattias
Ekström, Timo Scheider, Miguel Molina and Jamie Green.
The
Audi Sport drivers alternated in their team cars during the four days of
testing.
Monday
kicked off well for the Audi squad, as the day ended with the four Audi RS 5
DTM cars topping the time sheets, a 1-2-3-4 lead by Miguel Molina. Tuesday
again saw Audi on top, this time with new Audi DTM rookie, Nico Müller, ahead
of Mattias Ekström. Wednesday saw Mercedes Benz’s Christian Vietoris setting
the best time, with the fastest Audi driver being Adrien Tambay in sixth. The
four days of testing concluded on Thursday. Christian Vietoris was the fastest
driver on Thursday. Edoardo Mortara was the fastest Audi on the final day,
fourth.
Nico
Müller set the fastest Audi time at the Hungaroring this week, his 1:37.505
from Tuesday afternoon. The Audi Sport squad totaled 7154 km of testing with
1633 laps competed during the four days of testing. Official DTM testing will
resume at Hockenheim from 14-17 April.
The
2014 DTM season will be kicking off with the first round at Hockenheim on 4
May.
2.2.
Nürburgring 24 Hours Qualifying Race
The ADAC Nürburgring 24 Hours Qualifying Race
was held this weekend. A total of seven Audi race cars took part, including
five Audi R8 LMS ultra cars.
A forty-seven car grid was on the entry list and
all were fighting for ten available spots in the top thirty qualifying
shootout, which will be held during the Nürburgring 24 Hours race week from
19-22 June.
Prosperia C.ABT Racing and Audi race experience
(TKL Motorsport) each entered two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars this weekend, along
with one R8 LMS ultra from G Drive Racing (WRT).
Rotek Racing fielded two cars, their SP4T Audi
TT RS and their SP8 Audi RS 4.
The six hour race concluded with the G Drive
Racing (WRT) #17 Audi R8 LMS ultra of Roman Rosinov, Stephane Ortelli, Edward
Sandström and Nico Müller finishing sixth, the highest placed Audi.
The next Audi home was the Rotek Racing #108
Audi TT RS of Rob Huff, Kevin Gleason and Richard Meins. They won the SP4T
class and finished ninth overall.
The two Audi race experience R8 LMS ultra
entries finished twelve and thirteenth, car #18 ahead of #502. Felix
Baumgartner successfully qualified for the Nürburgring 24 Hours, as one of the
drivers behind the wheel of the #502 machine.
The Rotek Racing Audi RS 4 finished thirty-fourth overall with Robb Holland, William Benson Caswell, Rob Austin, Dieter Schmidtmann. They won the SP8 class.
The list of retirements unfortunately included
both of the Prosperia C.ABT Racing R8 LMS ultra cars.
The Nürburgring 24 Hours race week will be held
from 19-22 June. A total of eight Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will be taking part,
fielded by five different Audi Sport customer racing teams.
2.3. Japanese Super GT
The team performed very well during the race and
recovered from their sixteenth position qualifying slot, all the way up to a
top ten finishing result, eighth within the GT300 class.
Round two of the Japanese Super GT will be
taking place at Fuji Speedway on 4 May.
2.4. ELMS
Test Days
The European Le Mans Series hosted two days of
official testing at Paul Ricard this week, Tuesday to Wednesday.
One Audi Sport customer racing team entered the
event and are also entered for the 2014 ELMS season.
Sébastien Loeb Racing is running a single Audi
R8 LMS ultra in the GTC class, alongside an Oreca 03 Nissan in LMP2.
For the testing, the #51 Audi R8 LMS ultra was
driven by Henry Hassid, Mike Parisy, Anthony Beltoise and Roland Bervillé.
Five test sessions were spread across the two
days at Paul Ricard, morning and afternoon sessions on both days, including a
night session on Tuesday.
The #51 Audi R8 LMS ultra was driven to a
1:59.546 lap time on Tuesday morning, the fastest set by the Sébastien Loeb
Racing R8 LMS ultra during the two days of testing. They were classified
thirty-seventh fastest in the combined classification, last in GTC.
Silverstone will be hosting the opening round of
the ELMS, from 18-19 April.
2.5. Audi R8 LMS Cup Testing
The Audi R8 LMS Cup was at Zhuhai in China
Sixteen drivers were behind the wheel of the
various Audi R8 LMS cars during the test and up to twenty-four cars will be
taking part in the series during 2014.
The one-make Chinese Audi series will be hosting
six rounds this year, getting underway at Inje in South Korea
2.6. EuroV8 Series
The new EuroV8 Series, which is replacing the
Superstars Series, got underway at Monza
Kostka narrowly missed a podium finish during
race one and finished fourth, ahead of Stancheris in seventh. The two Audi
Sport Italia drivers repeated those positions during race two. These results
were enough to ensure that Tomas Kostka is now third in the points.
Round two of the EuroV8 Series will be held at Vallelunga
on 4 May.
2.7. RCN
The RCN hosted its first round of 2014 at the Nürburgring
on Saturday. Four Audi race cars took part.
2.8. Other Audi News
YACO
Racing will be returning to the 2014 ADAC GT Masters with an Audi R8 LMS ultra.
The
team revealed their driver line-up and new livery on Monday. Philip Geipel, who
also drove the YACO Racing R8 LMS ultra during 2013, will be joined by Audi
factory driver and former DTM racer, Rahel Frey.
The
2014 ADAC GT Masters will be getting underway at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
from 25-27 April.
Belgian
Audi Club Team WRT has been very busy testing their Audi R8 LMS ultra cars in
recent weeks and they added to that list by testing at Spa-Francorchamps on
Tuesday.
They
have been at a number of European circuits recently, including: Zolder, Silverstone,
Monza, Nogaro and the official test days at the Nürburgring (VLN) and Paul
Ricard (Blancpain GT Series).
The
Belgian team is hard at work preparing for a multi-car assault on the 2014
Blancpain GT Series, with up to four cars planned to be entered. Three cars
will be entered in the Blancpain Endurance Series, with a fourth car planned
for the 24 Hours of Spa. Four WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will be seen in the
Blancpain Sprint Series.
Two
Audi R8 LMS ultra cars were seen testing at Hockenheim on Monday.
The
first of the two cars was one of the Prosperia C.ABT Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra
vehicles (pictured above). Slobodan Cvetkovic from Prosperia has often competed
with R8 LMS and ultra cars in German series like the DMV TCC and Spezial
Tourenwagen Trophy. He has already been mentioned as an entrant for the 2014
STT in the Prosperia C.ABT Racing R8 LMS ultra.
The
second Audi R8 LMS ultra spotted at Hockenheim was the blue and white ex-Phoenix
Racing car from 2013, the car that was used by the Stuck family. The car is
currently with Vulkan Racing - Team Mintgen Motorsport, who acquired the car
earlier this year and competed in the TCC Winter Challenge.
The
entry lists for the opening rounds of the Blancpain GT Series were released on
Thursday. Multiple Audi Sport customer racing teams will be fielding Audi R8
LMS ultra cars in both the Blancpain Endurance Series and the Blancpain Sprint
Series.
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.
Forty-four
entries have committed to the Endurance Series and twenty-two for the Sprint Series.
Blancpain
Endurance Series:
Seven
Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will be taking part in the Blancpain Endurance Series
season opener at Monza from 11-13 April.
Belgian
Audi Club Team WRT will be fielding two R8 LMS ultra cars in the Pro Cup and
one in the Gentlemen Trophy.
Sainteloc
Racing will be entering one Pro Cup Audi R8 LMS ultra entry and another in the
Gentlemen Trophy.
Team
Parker Racing will be debuting their Audi R8 LMS ultra in the Gentlemen Trophy.
The
seventh Audi entry is from the Chinese Brothers Racing Team (BRT), who is
entering one Audi R8 LMS ultra in the Pro-Am Cup.
Blancpain
Sprint Series:
Seven
Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will also be present in the Blancpain Sprint Series,
which gets underway at Nogaro from 19-21 April.
Four
Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will be coming from Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, one of
which is entered under the G Drive Racing banner. One of the three Belgian Audi
Club Team WRT banner cars will be in the Silver Cup.
Phoenix
Racing will be entering two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars, along with a single R8 LMS
ultra from Team Novadriver.
The
entry lists can be seen HERE.
Brothers
Racing Team (BRT) from China will be entering the Blancpain Endurance Series
this year, joining a number of Audi Sport customer racing teams already entered
for the European series.
Earlier
during 2014 it was announced that the Brothers Racing Team will be increasing
their involvement with Audi Sport customer racing during 2014. The Chinese team
fielded a two-car team in the 2013 Audi R8 LMS Cup and will be increasing that
number up to four cars in the 2014 edition of the Chinese Audi one-make series
and also competing in European GT events.
BRT
was out testing their Audi R8 LMS ultra at Silverstone recently (pictured
above). “Franky” Cheng Congfu and Sun Zheng have already been mentioned as two
of the team’s three drivers for the Blancpain Endurance Series.
The
2014 Blancpain Endurance Series will be getting underway at Monza from 11-13
April.
On
Friday Audi revealed that five Audi Sport Customer racing teams will be entering a
total of eight Audi R8 LMS ultra cars for the 2014 Nürburgring 24 Hours. Two
cars each will be entered by Phoenix Racing, Prosperia C.ABT Racing and Audi
race experience (TKL Motorsport), joined by single car entries from G Drive
Racing (WRT) and Twin Busch Motorsport. The official Audi press release can be
seen HERE.
3.
Next Weekend’s events (12-13/04/2014)
- Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy
- Pirelli World Challenge
- Blancpain Endurance Series
- VLN
All photos are hosted at their respective websites, which are listed within the Weekend Round Up
